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.)

1) Commute to work and around to all areas of town quickly and comfortably in my own car, and I don’t have to set foot in a dirty and cramped subway.

2) Being able to look down at your city below, without the use of an elevator.

View From the Mill Mountain Star

3) An abundance of city parks, greenways, and biking/hiking trails for use, or being able to just take a casual drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway to temporarily get away from things, without having to actually go too far away.

4) Tacky and gimmicky? Perhaps. But a lighted star at the top of a mountain is rather cool in its own unusual way.

Beautiful Mill Mountain as Seen from the Elm Avenue Intersection with Route 220/I-581.

5) Many other Roanoke area bloggers who, whether with positive, neutral, or negative commentary, are still compelled to write about their own experiences and thoughts of Roanoke.

6) With the beautiful mountains providing a backdrop in just about any outdoor image, even an amateur-at-best photographer like me can snap decent pictures.

View Along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

A short and informal dissertation about why this blog tends to focus on the bright sides of Roanoke.

As readership of this blog has increased modestly over the past several months I have become more and more conscientious about what I post. I don’t mean that I censor myself or place restrictions on what topics to post about. But, I mean that I genuinely try to provide thoughts, pictures, and overall hopefully enjoyable insight into a few of the many aspects that make Roanoke unique.

Long-time and new readers alike can proabably pretty easily observe that as a whole Noke News tends to focus on positive aspects of Roanoke. I suppose this came about naturally. I live here, as do many of you, and it makes sense to me that I should write more about the pluses, and not so much about the minuses. If I wrote too much about the minuses this site would actually seem to me to be a series of reasons to move away.

And that’s certainly not how I feel and it’s not the message I want to convey.

Now, I know Roanoke does have its share of crime, hot-button issues, crooked politicians (or just plain irresponsible ones), poverty, and other unpleasantries.
 
Those negatives exist without question, but in large part I’ve choosen not to put them in the limelight or give them publicity on this site.

Why?

Well, it’s not because I don’t have a personal opinion on a particular matter.  The answer is simply because I sometimes find that Roanoke is victim to a bit too much negativity already. And I believe there are many other unique and favorable aspects about this great city that are more deserving of the limelight.

From a greenway down by the river, to a quaint park with paths made out of pebbles and small boulders for sitting, to a meaningful memorial at the top of the mountain, there really is a lot of neat stuff around Roanoke.  Even now in looking back at the over 120 articles posted here I’ve only scratched the surface in mentioning just a handful of them.

But, to me all of this stuff deserves a place at the front of the line (or on the front page) every now and then. And I’m here to put it there.

In other words, I think being positive about Roanoke can be contagious and I hope to pass it on.

Gas prices were up, and so were the temperature and humidty (pictures below) over this past weekend in Roanoke.

I may go so far as to call the former the Gas Price Panic of 2008 in Roanoke. By the time I left work in the early evening on Friday, all gas stations I passed were jam packed with at least 2-3 car deep lines waiting to fill-up. I had never seen anything like it before.

Normally, out of habit, I keep my tank at a minimum of 1/2 full at all times. This is partly for pyschological reasons so when I see the total on the pump I’m not shocked at the huge amount. Also, by just keeping plenty of gas in the car it’s one less thing to worry about in my busy life. I have a smaller car and only about a 12-gallon tank anyways.

But, I was scheduled to go out of town this weekend and had let the gasoline gauge fall to below 1/4 of a tank. Big mistake.

So, I just went home, fixed dinner and went about my normal business.

Later in the evening around midnight I went back out and managed to fill-up at the Sheetz at the corner of Apperson Drive and Electric Road. At that time they only had the 87 grade and for $3.79. I didn’t have to wait in line but most of the pumps were kept busy.

On Saturday, I traveled to Covington and along the way don’t recall any gas station being out of gas completely. As in with blank price signs or grocery bags on the pump handles. And most of them were $3.79-3.99 with no lines or anything.

I wonder why things seemed to go so crazy in the Roanoke area? I certainly hope no one paid anything in the $4 or higher range!

We also had a real hot and hazy day yesterday in Roanoke. I had nearly retired my A/C unit for the year and had to crank it back up. That machine probably ended up getting more work this past weekend then it had the whole previous week.

But, it looks like things will be cooling off now.

I’m ready.

 Here are a couple pictures I took yesterday while driving to Salem.

Clear view to the mountains in the background as seen when traveling on Brandon Avenue towards Salem. (9/14/08)

Apperson Drive in Salem, VA. (9/14/08)

A brief history of how I came to call Roanoke home.

Strong Roots

I was born and raised in Roanoke. My father also grew up here, and my mother moved here when she was young.

Both of my parents (now divorced) still live in or in the vicinity of Roanoke. Well, my mom actually still lives in the same house where I grew up.

And those of my grandparents still alive also live in Roanoke, with several other relatives scattered throughout Virginia from here to Richmond.

I went to college at Virginia Western and Radford University and then came back to Roanoke looking for work and my place in the world. Sometime later I purchased my first home in Roanoke City, found a rewarding career, and never had a chance or consideration to look back. I suppose I could be called a “young professional” that Roanoke is looking to attract, or keep.

The big city isn’t for me

I have on occasion visited a big city and within a matter of hours realized that that kind of life just wasn’t for me. Things move too fast there, and just seem to always be moving. When visiting Chicago, I remember looking out of the window from the hotel room and at all hours of the night seeing automobiles pass and even a handful of people scurrying about.

Here in Roanoke, I like that the sidewalks tend to for the most part roll up at a modest hour. I like that various parts of the city basically shut down on Sunday, and on a holiday. I love that except for about an hour or maybe two out of the day (and even that’s a stretch), there is really no traffic to speak of around town.

Making the choice

Each of us live where we do primarily from choices that we make along the road of life. I don’t think it’s accurate to say we just “end up” certain places as much as we may move to a new area to take a job, or we pick up roots in search of a higher quality of life. All of us have our own reasons.

I also don’t think it’s entirely accurate to say that we choose the city where we live. Sometimes the city chooses us.

How did you come about to call Roanoke home?

There is a local channel that many of us have here in Roanoke, and one that I actually stumbled upon by accident.

I subscribe to the very basic service from Cox Cable, which consists of only the first dozen or so channels in total (primarily the local channels and a few others).

So, I can flip through the channels to see what’s on can in less than 30 seconds. On a particularly dull TV watching evening I came upon WCOX (Channel 9) and noticed a familiar face.

It was Gene Marrano and his show, The Interview, where as the title states he simply interviews someone of local interest in the Roanoke Valley. Some years ago I proudly worked with Gene’s campaign when he ran (unsuccessfully) for a local political seat.

On this episode he was talking with Gwendolyn W. Mason of the Roanoke City Council, someone I knew virtually nothing about by the way. Other episdoes have featured local activists, authors, and politicians.

Great show, Gene, good to see you again and doing well.

In addition to this show there are others on WCOX (Channel 9) that I plan to talk about in the future as I’m able to watch them.

1 - City, Country, or the Best of Both

Traveling from city to country, and back, can easily be done in just a couple hours. Stop at an overlook along the Blue Ridge Parkway to have a picnic (even walk a few hundred yards further for more privacy) and come back to town for some shopping at Valley View Mall or to catch a new movie release.

2 - The Views

It seems that just about any outdoor (and many indoor looking out) spots around Roanoke offer some kind of view of the mountains. We can watch them change colors and become lively with the new season and all always occuring quietly in the distance.

3 - Traffic Takes on a New Definition

From having lived in Roanoke, my idea of even the worst kind of traffic just doesn’t hold a candle to an average day in a bigger city. I can drive home after work within about 10 minutes or so and even choose from multiple different routes, none of which require a speed above 35 mph.

What would you say is unique or special about Roanoke?

A few weeks ago, I saw a representative from a home security system company walking around in my neighborhood (Virginia Heights) in Southwest City. He told me that another residence a few houses down from me had been burglarized and that he was installing a new home security system for them.

He continued with a pitch for the product/service and after several moments I politely told him that I wasn’t interested. I’m not entirely convinced that a feeling of safety can be bought, but I do think the feeling can simply be a way of life.

He indirectly suggested that my mindset makes a little sense, at least up until the point your safety is jeopardized. Then what do I do?

I Feel Safe Living in This Area, Always Have

Occasionally when I get home in the evenings from work, and until dark, I leave my main front storm door unlocked and open. The outer sreen door is primarily made of glass and hardly poses much in the way of protection. But, my (indoor only) cat enjoys sitting by the door and taking a few peaks out into the big world.

More than one time I’ve even fallen asleep accidently with the doors open and unlocked, and the only disturbance I encountered was the next morning when my alarm clock went off.

And, during several weeks in the early Spring, I keep some windows in my house open all the time, including throughout the night, with only a weak window screen separating me from the outside.

Do I live in a bubble with unrealistic expectations that nothing bad will ever happen? I really don’t think so, because I am aware of the risks. I just live my life the best I know how.

Things do seem that simple to me.