I hope ya’ll have a great Thanksgiving and holiday weekend.

Over the next few days I’m going to try my darndest:

1) not to overeat

2) not to be within  a 1-mile radius of either Tanglewood or Valley View (maybe I should make that 2-mile radius)

3) to enjoy some great times with friends and relatives

4) to just overall try to kickback and relax as much as possible!

Since the early 1990s, my dad has been purchasing Virginia Tech season football tickets for all the home games. When I was younger I remember going to several of the games throughout the year.

And back before the football program gained a more national notoriety, I even remember a season when I believe the team only won 2 games. We still went to the games. It goes without saying, but the stands weren’t exactly packed back then, and you weren’t as likely to see VT car magnets and window flags either. But that’s a whole other post.

In recent years, usually for 1 or 2 games out of the year, I’ll go with dad in lieu of his wife. The entire 2008 season was nearly over (just 2 games left) and we hadn’t made it to one of the games yet. But we weren’t about to break tradition.

So, this past Saturday we bundled up and headed to the game. And, all I gotta say is, it was dang cold!

Recent snow had yet to melt around parts of the Virginia Tech campus.

Heading to the stadium. Short sleeves were a bit out of style for this kind of game.

Kickoff was set for right around dusk, and I believe the temperatures around then had to be in the mid to upper 30s. By the time the sunlight retreated and the game was underway, I’d say that temperatures may have been flirting more with the 20s. I could see my breath the entire time. It was cold, and it only was going to get colder as the night went on.

Pregame festivities on the field.

Considering the frigid temperatures, I was surprised to see a decent crowd turnout for the game. I believe it was on TV on some ESPN station. And because of that, for some ticket holders, being able to recline back in the old easy chair at home was probably considered a bit more comfortable than a cramped and cold stadium.

Occasionally, I caught the smell of various liquid “spirits” that had been smuggled in to, if nothing else, help to numb one from the cold. I wondered why I didn’t think of that, but I’m not really much of a drinker anyways.

The home team makes their entrance on the field.

Before going, I think dad and I had both suggested that if the game was considered “over” by the 3rd quarter then we would go ahead and leave. But, as the 3rd quarter rolled around, the game was hardly over by any means. (The game itself wasn’t the most exciting one I’ve ever seen, and if you watched it or read the news then you know what I mean.)

Doing the Hokie Pokie before the start of the 4th quarter.

As the 4th quarter starts, VT is still only ahead 7-3, and my toes were starting to go numb from the cold. My face and cheeks felt like I had just left the dentist’s office after having a cavity filled. And, as tempting as the warm sanctuary of a running car heading home was, I had already decided to tough it out one way or the other.

The game really did go down to the final minute or so when the defense scored and pretty much clinched it. I had to take a photo of the scoreboard to prove we stayed to the end!

Scoreboard at the game's final.

And, as an extra and unexpected event after the game ended, they set off a series of fireworks that lasted for a few minutes. As I watched, I nearly forgot how cold I was.

A short fireworks show to end the game.

On the way home we listened to the post game reports on the radio, and I think it was said that this was the 2nd coldest home game since Beamer has been the coach. I would certainly believe it!

Overnight Roanoke received somewhere in the middle a few flurries and a measureable amount of of snow. Just enough to gently coat the grass areas, the roads in my neighborhood and when driving to work were clear.

Roanoke receives a trace of snow this morning (11-18-08).

It’s barely a trace, with the fallen leafs and grass having to strain a little to reach above the icy cold covering. I don’t recall from recent years Roanoke as having received any noticeable amount of snow this early in the season.

Is it a small sign of the kind of Winter that may be coming?

Once again, I’m reminded of a weekend back in September when here in Roanoke the temperatures outside were well into the 90s. And the entire city was host to the most crazy gas panic I’ve ever seen.

Hard to believe that weekend wasn’t really all that long ago.

But, things certainly have changed

Now that most of the leaves had fallen, the wind picked up a good bit this weekend and helped to scatter them about from yard to yard. There is a big tree in my back yard so I get alot of leaves from that. But, my back yard is also fenced in around most of the perimeter so a great many of the leaves stay on the lawn.

I suppose on the other hand the fence also acts as a partial shield against leaves from other areas, too.

I haven’t even started doing any outdoor Fall yardwork yet, have you? In addition to raking the aforementioned leaves, there is modest list of duties which primarily consist of tasks I put off during the Summer because it was too hot.

“It’s too hot outside to be moving that brush pile to the corner for the City to pick-up, or to be doing some minor landscaping for the front flower bed. I’ll wait until it cools off a bit in a few months,” I told myself back in July and August.

Now, I’m looking for a new execuse!

As for the gas prices, I paid $1.85 yesterday afternoon. The cheapness of gas didn’t really sink in until the handle clicked after a full tank, and I saw the total on the screen. The gas tank in my car still had about 1/4 left so it wasn’t completely empty to begin with, but I was still astonished when the pump stopped filling at around $15. Great stuff!

The cheaper the better of course, but for me the $1.75-2.50 range on gas is very much in my comfort zone. I can and do pay the price when it’s $3+ but there is just something about being able to fill-up a tank for around $20 or so that takes me back to the real good ole days.

It seems like all of the sudden last week Fall arrived in Roanoke. At my house, there are trees in the front and back yard, and they just last week provided a great sense of privacy. Now, in large part, those same trees are just a bunch of empty branches.

After the sun sets (which is basically around 5PM now), the wind of Fall whips through those branches and causes my old house to be a bit more drafty than I’d like.

But, that’s the season of Fall.

In driving around town recently for my usual commutes I snapped a couple photos that are of nearly the same scenes as a couple of previous posts, but now offer a slightly different perspective.

Scene 1

Traveling along Brandon Avenue towards Salem in early November:

Traveling along Brandon Avenue in early November 2008.

As compared with just about the same spot from 2 months ago in a previous post:

Traveling along Brandon Avenue in mid-September 2008.

Scene 2

The recent scene looking out from atop the bridge on Brandon Avenue (near the intersection with Colonial Avenue) :

The same scene back in early September from a previous post:

With all of the talk about “going green” the season seems to be causing just the opposite outside!

Mill Mountain provides some Fall colors recently.

Mill Mountain taken over by Fall colors (11/7/08).

And as for my yard, I don’t know what color this bush would be now, but I assure you it was as green as could be just a few weeks ago.

I remember many months ago when the first talk of the new Art Museum had begun, and then earlier this year the actual construction and overall shape of the building starting taking real form.

(A few weeks ago I snapped some photos of the museum in a previous post.)

To say the design was greeted with mixed reviews is probably an understatement. I encountered people who thought it was “pretty cool”, others who thought it was “different”, and also a number of people who considered it an eyesore and very out of place in regards to the downtown area.

I fall into the “pretty cool” category.

I always thought the museum design to be very futuristic looking, it’s far from the typical 4 square walls and a roof kind of building. And I’m still amazed at how it was somehow squeezed into a rather small area at the corner along Salem Avenue and Williamson Road, and just adjacent to the railroad tracks.

Parts of the museum even stretch out rather close to the Williamson Road bridge nearby which stretches over the railroad tracks.

The museum design itself, combined with its modest footprint, all adds to the uniqueness I think.

I couldn’t make it down for the grand opening this weekend. But, sometime in the coming weeks I hope to check it out from the inside, after having marveled at the outside.

Were any of ya’ll able to make it down for the grand opening? First impressions?

And as a final note, as for the naysayers, the museum is there and now in all of our backyards, and I don’t know that talking about it under a negative light is particularly productive. (I’m trying to be nice.)

Noke News explores parts of Roanoke by foot, equipped with a camera and a notepad, in hopes of learning something new. Perhaps you will too.

This is Part 3 in an Exploring Roanoke series that covers the current (as of Summer 2008) entire 3 1/2 miles of Lick Run Greenway. The path runs from the Historic Gainsboro sign on the East end of Wells Avenue (near the large water fountain), all the way out to the Valley View area at the 4700 block of Valley View Blvd (near Best Buy).

(For a general introduction to the greenway system in Roanoke, you may want to first visit a previous post.)

Distance: approx. 3/4 mile

When I left off last time in Part 2, things were just about to get a little more interesting as the greenway path leads directly through a section of the nearby forest.

Along the way here I have actually encountered more life in the form of scurrying wildlife, than of fellow greenway travelers. For a short while I even forget where I’m at because the only real signs of civilization in sight is the very path I’m traveling on.

Eventually, a little ways ahead a short wooden fence has been established to help guide the way. Small touches like this are probably unnecessary, but overall are a nice addition to the greenways I think.

Not too far ahead there is a clearing.

Then, I begin to notice the first signs of a playground area.

And it turns out to be a familiar place, indeed. I have reached Brown-Robertson Park (which I had visited and wrote about long before having traveled along the greenway.)

The greenway path continues along the side of the park, with the play areas and basketball court off to the right. Occasionally, I have observed a game being played as I zip on by riding my bike.

But soon enough I’ll have to slow down and stop briefly, as another road crossing is coming up. This is the crossing of 10th Street SW and is a relatively heavy traveled road.

It’s usually around this spot that I rest for a few minutes before crossing the street and continuing on my way. I believe this is roughly around the halfway point of the greenway.

So, I’ll stop here for now and pick back up next time. There is still probably 2 more parts left in this series including the culmination of being able to safely cross over I-581/Route 220 while looking down at the cars speeding past below.

Very cool, and worth the journey I think. We’ll work our way towards the end in Exploring Roanoke - Lick Run Greenway (Part 4).

Well, I had written what I thought was a respectable follow-up to the outcome of the election with my thoughts on the entire matter, including my political beliefs to support the way I voted. Yesterday afternoon I was one click away from posting, but then I got to thinking. I ended up scrapping it, which I’ll briefly explain below.

Firstly, as I wrote about on Tuesday morning, I made a point to wake up earlier than normal and register my vote before work. At that time the line was fairly lengthy stretching outside the school, and the entire process took me about an hour. But, I was convinced that after work during those final couple hours the line would be even longer.

Well, the curiousity got the best of me so after leaving work I decided to do a drive-by at my voting precinct, which is Virginia Heights Elementary School. Much to my surprise I saw no line outside the building and even the parking lot was only about half-full. I probably could’ve walked in and out in under 5 minutes!

Oh well. I’ll have to remember that in 2 and 4 years.

Yesterday, I had written several paragraphs essentially outlying my political beliefs and ultimately showing why I voted the way I did. I’m not sure why because I don’t particularly care to talk about politics, it’s just not a major focus of my life. I do my own research and make my own decision and that’s enough for me.

But I admit, I became passionate amongst all the hoopla in regards to the election and was anxious to put in my 2 cents. But, I got to thinking…

I don’t particularly like politics being shoved down my throat, and I wasn’t about to do just that and by using this site as a medium.

I established this site to write about Roanoke and my experiences living in this quaintly unique city. I’d just assume keep in that way, because I much prefer writing about that stuff, and hopefully you much prefer reading it.

On that note, I’ll update again tomorrow with a new post on Lick Run Greenway. Next week, I hope to update with some pictures of the changing season in the Roanoke area.

As always, thanks for reading.