Okay, here goes!
Summer is a great time to spend afternoons at Fairystone Beach. Not completely clear in this photo is the expansive kids only area, with floating soft animals and other fun stuff!
BTW, a public beach just opened up on Smith Mountain Lake east of Rocky Mount!
September in Franklin County is beautiful, almost like a second Spring:
Late September brings Monarchs over the Roanoke Valley and Boones Mill. I remember during September '05, a sunny morning that was interrupted by a short light rain. The rain cleared while I was weed trimming along a pasture lane. Then from out of the sky, thousands upon thousands of Monarchs landed on trees all around me, so much that the limbs began to sag, and I could see them flitting about everywhere. As soon as their wings were dry, they were gone. It was pretty magical and I doubt I'll ever experience it again. But if you've got something like bottlebrush buckeye bushes in plain aerial view, you're in for a treat every September guaranteed:
Foliage begins to turn around the middle of October:
You'll enjoy fall colors that rival the best that New England has to offer:
Taken last Halloween, on Stanley Street in Roanoke. Stanley Street is Halloween HQ, the street is blocked off from car traffic to make it safe for trick or treaters. The entire street gets into it with creative and appropriately whimsical or spooky "sets" in front of most houses. Imagine nearly 1,000 trick or treaters approaching your home in 4 hours! Amazing.
Taken at the end of October '06, on Wades Gap Road, which crosses from Roanoke County to Franklin County over Cahas Mountain:
Late October means tens of thousands of acorns falling from our white oak tree (12' around, 80' tall, 70' wide crown). This brings out the Deer and Turkeys who feast on them for about a month, until they're all cleared out:
Autumn colors dwindle although persist through November, particularly because Oak, Dogwoods and Basswoods thrive so well in this area:
We head over to Floyd and visit our favorite Christmas Tree farm every year:
During the winter you'll usually see a couple of good snowfalls that are melted off within a day or so:
Winter high temperatures rarely stay below freezing, so outdoor activities are still possible. But even though Roanoke brings in great events every month of the year, winter is a good time to enjoy what the city has to offer. Pictured below is a scene from the annual Kazim Temple Circus:
April brings Spring in like a lion:
I wish I had more shots of Roanoke city itself; hopefully others can step up!
If you want to view the BEST candid photo gallery of Franklin County events, then you can't go wrong with:
Photo Gallery (broken link)
The site is woefully under-promoted and not many folks know about it, but the photo galleries are all organized by event and are very representative of life and culture in Franklin County.
Sean
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