My father’s family was from Saltville. I’ve been there several times and I love it too. It’s beautiful there, so different from where I live now (Fredericksburg).

Jeannine! What are you doing reading blogs! You’re supposed to be enjoying your trip with Emily. I gave you a little nod–Italy!

This part of Virginia is called the Highlands because the Scots-Irish (really Scottish) settled here. It reminded them of home. It’s gorgeous but I wouldn’t want to be there in the winter!

Yes, Melissa, it is very green here. Kudzu, a foreign invasive plant, draped and curtained and covered the mountains, the trees, everything, in waterfalls of huge green leaves.

I loved sitting in that plain little diner listening to everybody talk and chiming in. I can’t imagine doing that in say, Starbucks, or Panera, (our coffee house chains) where everybody is looking at their phone or engrossed in their own business. I think that both location and the times are to blame, as you pointed out.

This isn’t a home of my heart like Shenandoah County is, possibly because I wasn’t introduced to it as a kid. I forged strong connections to the Valley pretty young and met my mother’s family.

Saltville is difficult to connect to, just as it was difficult to connect to my father. The few times I saw him, I never had a sense of who he really was. But there is much about Saltville to love–it’s incredibly beautiful in that wild mountain way.