So Who Would Have Guessed It?

Roanoke is a treat. It is a very attractive city, with a most livable downtown - galleries, coffee shops, hippies, the same kind of street people you see in Seattle (looking like they've been at sea too long), etc. And they are building a new art museum that will look like a Frank Ghery creation (designed by a Los Angeles architect named Stout), and will become a tourist attraction. It is right downtown, next to the 365 day a year outside market. The museum is currently housed in a building which has a number of museums, as well as a theater (not a movie house), which is very nice in and of itself. I also went to the Virginia Transportation Museum, which has a lot of old N & W Railway cars, some automobiles (but not enough) and a great electric train setup. It is probably worth going for the electric trains, but not yet for anything else.

Driving south, the country is beautiful and the vibrancy of the towns continue to depend on the presence or absence of universities. But by and large, they are more pleasant than one would think. No reason that a week could not be spent in and around them, looking at history, architecture, scenery, and eating at a variety of restaurants.

In Bristol VA/TN tonight. Ate downtown at the very noisy State Street Bar and Grill. Considering my grouper, cole slaw and sweet potato fries cost $9.99, it was excellent. Not going to stick around Bristol tomorrow, too far to drive. But I was surprised to see that downtown is virtually all antique shops, and some very fancing ones at that.