road

We got up and headed to Virginia.  We are traveling through the mountains and it was wonderful.  The trees are turning green and many colors, but not the Fall ones they are the Spring ones.  

I am going to put the pix in sections.  First the road and Second the flowering trees and bushes and flowers we spotted from the road.



 
   
A small town at the base of the mountains

  A field of yellow

   A herd of contented cows near the river.






Eastern redbud (the purple looking one) is a large deciduous shrub or small tree, native to eastern North America from Southern Ontario, Canada south to northern Florida. typically grows to 20–30 ft tall with a 26–33 ft spread. It generally has a short, often twisted trunk and spreading branches. A 10-year-old tree will generally be around 16 ft tall.
The flowers are showy, light to dark magenta pink in color,  ½ inch long, appearing in clusters from Spring to early Summer, on bare stems before the leaves, sometimes on the trunk itself. The flowers are pollinated by long-tongued bees such as blueberry bees and carpenter bees. Short-tongued bees apparently cannot reach the nectaries. The fruit are flattened, dry, brown,  pea-like pods,  2-4 inches long that contain flat, elliptical, brown seeds ¼ inch long, maturing in August to October.
In some parts of southern Appalachia, green twigs from the eastern redbud are used as seasoning for wild game such as venison and opossum. Because of this, in these mountain areas the eastern redbud is sometimes known as the spicewood tree.

   Close up of the redbuds

More beautiful trees we saw on our travels.











  Flowers growing beside the road too.


 
This is where we are staying.  Yogi Bear Jellystone Campground.  It is very nice and out of the way.  The only noises are the frogs and once in a while a train way off in the distance.  We are only staying here one night.  So we are off on another road trip tomorrow.