The Blues and Greens of West Virginia

For a week, we were immersed in a spectrum of blues and greens. With some pent up pandemic-centric cabin fever, we decided to hit the road for a change of scenery and a strategically-planned socially-distanced vacation. Original plans for the summer had been a family vacation to Myrtle Beach, but for every reason we chose that place (aka: a lot to do), it was every reason we decided to bow out. Especially thankful after we saw the rise of some 36 states with their Covid cases.

Instead we decided to head to Nowhere, West Virginia... more exactly Lansing/Fayetteville and the New River Gorges area. Perfect place for a socially-distanced vacation. Packing our bikes, helmets, and paddleboards, we traversed about 5 hours from home. We had a week of outdoor adventure. Biking (yikes the hills of West Virginia!!). Water sights and scenes. Time on and in the water by way of inflatable kayaks, paddleboards, stream-exploring, and swimming. We got to see the breathtaking sites of New River Gorges Bridge, Summerville Lake, paddling by once-boom town Hinton, hiking amidst the ghost railroad town of Thurmond, and a whole lot of windy mountain roads in between.

More than once, surveying the landscapes: the blues (periwinkle, sky, cornflower, robin egg, azure, cerulean, denim, indigo, Prussian) dotted with clouds or birds, or dazzling in its aquatic sparkling reflections. The greens (moss, asparagus, lime, emerald, shamrock, viridian, hunter, pine, forest), where you could focus on each individual leaf to the sum total of those leaves per tree and those collection of trees into forested walls. Rock formations and the height of the mountains. The depth of the green & blue hues. The vitality and beauty. The richness and the vastness. The healthiness of it in a world that seems more than just “pandemically sick.”

In gazing about, I took great comfort in feeling small amidst the immensity of the world that surrounded and encompassed me. Humbled by its greatness. Perspectivized. (Yes, a word of my own concoction, but a word that fits.)

Rest, relaxation, rejuvenation... surrounded with Vitamin N, forest bathing, and blue mind... and just plain not long enough!!

Pictures from my camera, compiled in the Pic Edu App.