LOVE Captured on Valentine’s Day

While daydreaming about fun warmer weather excursions recently, I came up with an idea for my own little scavenger hunt.

Who doesn’t LOVE a scavenger hunt? Especially if it means getting out on the motorcycle (or in the car; I’m easy on my “rules”).

The tourism folks in the state of Virginia — our motto being Virginia is for Lovers — are behind a push to have LOVE artworks erected throughout the state. I’d seen a couple already, and LOVE the idea, so I thought it would be fun to try and capture pics of each one this year.

Virginia is a big state — on the map, I’m about 3/4 inch SW of Washington, DC — but I think it’s doable. I’ve actually captured three already.

 

I helped out on a dog transport yesterday. A “transport” is when a rescue needs to get a dog or dogs from point A to point B, usually over a long distance. Along the way, folks volunteer to drive 50- to 100-mile segments. It’s like a big doggie relay.

I was responsible for picking up two dogs in Staunton, VA and taking them to Strasburg, VA. They started off in Ferrum, VA and were headed to Conesus, NY. I believe their previous owner had health issues, which is why they were surrendered.

Anyway… I decided to multi-task on the mini road trip. It was Valentine’s Day, after all, and LOVE was on my mind. Sort of. (We don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day. Only because we both think it’s sorta a contrived holiday, not because there’s any lack of love.)

 

I really liked the fishing theme of the Waynesboro piece.

Once I arrived at the site, I got out of the car to snag a few pics. A youngish couple got out of their car and asked me to take a picture of them. Of course, I obliged. They got one of me, too. Then, oddly, said, “Maybe we’ll run into you again.”

I must have given them an odd look, because the guy quickly explained that they were spending their weekend visiting LOVE spots throughout Virginia. That made my heart happy. What a great way to spend Valentine’s weekend, eh?

 

Culpeper is about a 30-minute drive SW of Warrenton (my hometown). Hubby and I went there for lunch a couple of weeks ago.

 

I captured the Luray LOVE sign back in January, while en route to another Staunton-to-Strasburg transport. I’ve only seen three LOVE pieces so far, but the Luray sign is my least favorite. It doesn’t exactly stand out.

I’m actually excited about seeing more, especially since there are some located near family members I don’t often get to see. And there are others in places I wouldn’t normally visit.

There are a couple more LOVE pieces I could have captured yesterday, but they’re along an awesome motorcycle road, so I decided to save them for later. Maybe Hubby can share that LOVE with me. LOL.

Speaking of awesome motorcycle roads, it was sort of torturous to be in the middle of prime motorcycle riding country AND seeing the mountains. I was excited to be out and about, though.

Did you know that Waynesboro is near where Skyline Drive ends and the Blue Ridge Parkway begins? And Strasburg is actually near Front Royal, which is where Skyline Drive begins. I had to go through Front Royal to get home, anyway, so I decided to drive the northern segment of the drive, from Front Royal to US-211 at Thornton Gap.

It was cold, but quite interesting. We had an arctic cold front push through yesterday afternoon, so the skies for most of the day were quite moody, to say the least.

I’ll save the other pics I captured yesterday for my next post.