Charlottesville, Virginia is an eclectic and colorful town

This is the liberal part of Virginia, a place that has attracted people from many parts of the country. There is a fine pedestrian mall that offers Indian food, home made ice cream, CVS, outdoor bars, pizza, etc. along with strolling musicians. The Ravena trail wanders along the outskirts of town along a stream bank of dragonflies, wildflowers, many birds. We went to a presentation of a group called Wild Virgina which focuses on many environmental issues including fracking. They organize tours where people can visit areas effected by fracking and meet people who have been effected by it. We also talked with a guy with the Piedmont Environmental Council, a group that promotes policies encouraging landowners to preserve open space and not to sell land for subdivisions. On top of all this, we chatted with an oriental rug dealer who is a friend of my colleague Judy with Planet Drum Foundation. This guy is a former Digger who moved to Virginia in the 70s, bringing 12 families with him and setting up a community. He has many wild tales to tell. So yes, an eclectic and interesting town. This remains the south though. We are house sitting for our friends Ben and Sue for a few days. When we drive their car into the driveway today, we realized that an older neighbor had pulled in behind us. He had noticed the Pennsylvania license plates on cars that were here a few days ago, people who were visiting Ben and Susan then. He is from Pennsylvania (like me) and wanted to find out where people lived there. He was a jolly fellow, he told us all about his golden retrievers. He wore an IRA cap, and a t-shirt with an American eagle proclaiming, "I'll keep my guns, freedom, and money, you take the 'change'". We weren't sure he was going to leave, but he suddenly announced he had to go and gave us a friendly goodbye. We had successfully stayed away from politics... bur, it was creepy! Tomorrow, Shenandoah National Park, if it's not raining.