Virginia Mountains Blog - Share Your Experiences

Tell us about your experiences while visiting Smyth County, Virginia. Submit your story - with or without pictures, to blog@visitvirginiamountains.com.

One never really knows how much they enjoyed living in the country until they move away to the "big city." I grew up in The Valley of Many Deer, but due to my husband's work location, we now live in Atlanta. Sure, it's nice to have several large shopping malls and just about any restaurant you can imagine within a short 15 mile radius, and great paying jobs, but with those conveniences come the things I miss about living in Chilhowie. This would be not having to deal with TONS OF TRAFFIC and TONS OF PEOPLE on a daily basis. I live less than 3 miles from work, and some days, it can take up to 25 minutes to get home just because of traffic. That's something that I never had to deal with growing up in Chilhowie. Not to mention when driving down the road in Smyth County, it was rare to not pass someone that you knew who would throw their hands up and wave hello. People in the city seem to honk their horns a lot, but not usually for a friendly greeting. Plus, most people in Smyth County have yards and fields! It's so uncommon to see an open space of land undeveloped here in Atlanta. Smyth County is so beautiful with the vibrate colors of leaves changing in the fall, snow on the ground in the winter, and trickling brooks and streams to fish from in the summer and the crisp fresh mountain air in the spring - and there's no skyscrapers to ruin the view. I was shocked to find out most of the kids here in Atlanta have never been sledding down a snow covered hill because it doesn't snow enough for them to do so! But the thing I miss absolutely the most about Smyth County is being close to my family, especially with a little one on the way. I grew up living beside my grandparents and aunts and uncles, with several cousins just minutes away, and down here, my closest relatives are my in-laws in Knoxville. One last thing that I have to mention before I end this blog is how much I miss the Dip Dog Stand! Every time we go home for a visit, a trip to the Dip Dog Stand is a must!

Becky Taylor Wild
Atlanta, Georgia