Ominous Rain Clouds
In the other post for today (James Madison University) I mentioned that we decided to drive to the beach by way of the mountains. Between JMU and the orchard, though, we stopped for gas just as some pretty impressive storm clouds were rolling in. The first picture here is taken from a gas station on Interstate 81 near Roanoke, Virginia. As we pulled back onto the highway the clouds opened up and it poured for about ten minutes. After that there was light rain off and on but nothing that affected traffic significantly. During the heavy rain, though, traffic thankfully slowed to about 40 mph.
Great Grandmother’s Cabin
We got to Glen Orchard, know more publicly as Levering Orchard, in the middle of the afternoon. My great grandfather’s brother, Ralph, started the orchard in 1908. It is now run by Ralph’s grandson, Frank. In 1936 or ’37 my great grandmother retired from her position as a dorm matron at Guilford College and her family built a cabin at her brother-in-law’s orchard. It is now owned by some of her grandchildren (Frank’s and my mom’s generation).
I have lots of good memories of the orchard from when I was young. We would either sleep in the attic of the cabin or camp in a flat area just past the cabin and next to the pool. The pool was a roughly made concrete pool fed by a spring and always very cold, even during the heat of summer. An early morning dip was a great way to start the day.
View From The Cabin
One of my two favorite memories was a time when I was in high school when second cousins from my grandfather’s side (the orchard is on my grandmother’s side) came and spent a week there with us. I recently came across a slide taken then and it brought back a lot of pleasant thoughts.
The other favorite memory was when my Uncle Bobby and two cousins, Dana and David, took a camping trip out from the orchard. We walked along and over and up the mountain, finally coming back down to the orchard from the Blue Ridge Parkway.
My third picture here is the view from my Aunt Virginia’s house, above the cabin (which is in the trees near the pole on the right of the picture). I can’t tell you how many pictures have been taken of that view and none of them really captures the feel. Montana is known for having “big sky” but this view is pretty big and on a clear day you can see about 50 miles. It was a bit too hazy for that today but still a great view.
