We spent a night in Exmore, Virginia on the way north to visit family, and one in Winchester, Virginia on the way home – June, 2019
EXMORE
A study in contrasts, Exmore was both up-and-coming with its jaunty banners and centrally-located park, and down-and-out with more than its share of vacant real estate and empty lots.
A ROOM WITH A VIEW
From their fourth floor room in Exmore’s Hampton Inn, Bob watched Camille stroll past the scum pond towards a rat-packed ditch. Read Camille’s blog post about Exmore on Plastic Farm Animals: Stopover
THE KNACKERED AND THE QUAINT
One of Exmore’s hot spots, El Maguey was unimpressive from the outside, but we found the food to be tasty (and so did the flies). The nicer section of town was heavily landscaped in well-tended crepe myrtle.
OUT-OF-CONTEXT ART
The juxtaposition of a concrete Lady Liberty and a Western Auto store was puzzling, as was the gorgeous tile art that graced the crumbling outside wall of an ancient movie theater.
LAID BACK
We laughed when we saw someone had named their enterprise Rancho Relaxo, a name reminiscent of a 1992 episode of the Simpsons. It was Sunday afternoon and the streets were as vacant as the old train depot.
NOTHING HAPPENING HERE EITHER
Camille caught a whiff of something that smelled like goats all three times that she walked passed the Smith and Scott Funeral Home.
WINCHESTER, ONE WEEK LATER
Bob had an audit in Winchester so we drove down through Shenandoah Valley from Shippensburg the next Sunday. It was raining lightly but we went for a stroll anyway, leaving the car near the surveyor’s office that young George Washington worked in when he was sixteen years old. Old Town Winchester was well-populated despite the drizzle, and we stopped at a toy shop to get grandson Nolan a set of magnetic blocks. On the way back, we came across a wall mural dedicated to the inimitable Patsy Cline, who was born in Winchester in 1932.
PIT STOP
Our full bladders urged Bob to pull off at the Pittsylvania Wayside.