Fancy Gap

I recently went on a trip with my husband. On our way back home as we were traveling through Virginia on Interstate 81, we could see the mountain tops in front of us were white with ice and snow. I knew I wanted to take pictures when we reached this part of the mountain. We exited the interstate on the mountain at Fancy Gap exit, and went down a side road. The beauty was surreal. The trees were coated with ice, and glistened in the sun. There wasn't any place to pull over so I busily snapped pictures through the windshield of the truck.

At the bottom of the mountain we decided to take other backroads to see if we could get a good view of the snow covered mountains.

I was struck by the beauty of the mountains as they loomed up behind an elementary school. I thought, what a gorgeous backdrop for a playground.

I was so excited as we started back up the mountain. Because on our way down, as we traveled down the mountain we were captivated by the ice covered trees, and gorgeous views of the mountains, all of sudden we rounded a curve and saw a beautiful old stone building. Nestled in a little clearing just off the side of the road, it seemed somewhat out of place surrounded only by snow, rocks and trees, and abandoned.

My husband carefully entered the pull off area which was covered with several inches of snow. I was glad we had a 4 wheel drive, and that my husband is good at driving in the snow.....we would have been stuck if not :)

The evergreen trees were bent under their heavy load of ice and snow, and sparkled in the early evening sun. The beauty of the winter wonderland scene was impossible to capture on camera. The pictures only hint at the site my eyes beheld.

A view of the old stone building from the edge of the road. My wide angle lens makes it look like it is much farther from the road than it is.

We crossed the road and walked slightly below the building for this view. I zoomed out so you could see more of the surroundings and how the land lays. The area in front of the building was so covered with snow, you couldn't tell if it was lawn or a pull off area. The little narrow mountain road was busy with vehicles buzzing up and down it. There was only about 18-24 inches of space to walk on between the white line and the deep snow.

Here is a view from the road, slightly above the building.

Snow Birds

These cute little birds were glad to have bread crumbs and sunflower seeds after our last heavy snowfall. I enjoyed observing them and shooting them with my camera.

Snow!