Abandoned Farm

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These pictures were taken last month along Bethel Road in Fincastle...

Driving along Bethel Road we noticed this abandoned farm so we parked and got out to walk around...we had to cross a little bridge and there was a "No Trespassing" sign which made me nervous but there was nobody around and obviously nobody lives here...we weren't too intrusive, just took some pictures from a distance...this yellow bench seems like a strange fit with the falling down house...but I thought it was neat!


Not really sure what this structure is/was...do you have any ideas?


Anyone need to use the bathroom? ;)


A little barn?


Dalton & Kaile...that's the bridge we had to cross...

Linking up with Tom's Tuesday's Treasures

Have a great day :)

Unknown General Store

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Nace . Botetourt County

I can't find anything on this other than someone else had taken a few pictures and had it labeled as "Abandoned General Store" and that the locals said the floors are collapsing so no one has been in there for years...

These pictures were taken on a very cold day last month!

Linking up with Tom's Tuesday's Treasures

Bucket Of Bolts

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Spec . Botetourt County

When we were out looking for the old abandoned cannery last month, we also found this neat old truck!


The miles this old truck must have travelled!


I can picture this parked on the side of the road on a summer day with the bed filled with produce for sale...a long time ago...


A part of a clue but I'm going to need a little more info that that!




It's almost camouflaged in there...

Linking up with Tom's Tuesday's Treasures

Old Commissary

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Remember on Friday I told you I was going to show you so much more on Tom's Tuesday's Treasures? Well I didn't lie so have a seat and let's go!

Maier Farm Road . Spec . Botetourt County

We weren't sure what this little abandoned building was at the time but doing some heavy Googling I discovered that this was the Old Commissary or Fringer General Store. Spec was a little mining town and this was the commissary for the mine workers back in the early 1900's!








I really, really loved this door knob!


Dalton giving Kaile a little help so she can look inside the window ;)



Ok, you want to have a peek inside don't you?!

These were all taken from the windows...we could have actually jumped right in but I was too chicken...


Time to go and see what's up the road! (I'll show you that next week!)


My exploring sidekicks!

Some facts and links for ya:
I found one of those "Google Books" that had some interesting info on the store, you can see that right HERE ...there's also a picture of the store with a Mr. Vassar standing in front, I think it is from the 40's/50's...funny, the boys have a friend by the last name Vassar...wonder if he is related to this man?!

I also found a good story in the Richmond Times about Spec and they interviewed a life-long resident, Mr. Bobby Falls...You can read that HERE and there are also some more pictures in the news story...not too long of a story but interesting just the same...

Linking up with Tom's Tuesday's Treasures

And in current news, school is closed for the 3rd time in a row...that makes Friday, Monday and today! I'm not complaining...we had ice yesterday and overnight so the roads were bad...before it started to ice yesterday I drove the boys to the Bedford DMV and they took the test and got their learners permits...The ladies at the DMV were so nice and the Bedford location is easy to get in and out of ....really no wait at all...all the ladies congratulated the boys on passing and said they don't like to normally get twins to come in and test because usually one will pass and the other won't which is upsetting so they were quite excited that both the boys passed!

Also, our weather will be out of the freezing range for the first time in like 2 weeks! We will be in the upper 40's which will feel like beach weather considering!

Ok, that's about all, I've caught you up now :)

Willy Nilly Friday 5 No. 157

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On Wednesday, our last day of Christmas Break, I took the boys and Kaile out for a little adventure...I had just read about this little mining town in Botetourt County called Spec...I hadn't heard of it before and it isn't even far from my house...I read about the old mine there and there's a trail people hike but what really piqued my interest was an old abandoned canning warehouse so we went in search of it!
1)
Spec was easy to find and this abandoned building was the first thing we saw when our gps told us we had arrived at our destination...I was so excited to check it out, but it doesn't really look like an old canning warehouse does it? We poked around for a while, took a lot of pictures, then headed down the road to see what else we could find...

2)
Whoa, whoa, whoa!! Wait a minute, what is that?! Not even a mile down the road is this old building...we were surprised that we didn't even notice it from the first building...Now THIS is definitely the canning warehouse! We were so excited to go investigate...we poked around for quite some time before jumping back in the car and see what else we could find!

3)
I guess we are now officially in Spec...let's turn here...

4)
These caught my eye...I really wanted to get out and walk around but we weren't sure if anyone was living in that big house so we didn't take any chances...it didn't seem like someone was living there but still...we didn't want to take any chances! So we drove a little bit further and Kaile yells from the backseat, "oh look, an old truck"...

5)
Wow! This is just parked on the side of a gravel road with a little river running next to it, which was frozen! While we were there taking pictures of it, a truck was coming down the road and pulled over...a really nice older gentleman told us "it's not for sale" haha...so I asked him if he knew anything about it and he said he's been living just up the road for about 10 years and it has been there the whole time but he didn't know anything more...told me this was the old stagecoach road and not far up the way was the old inn...I asked if we could drive up and see it and he said "sure, but you will be disappointed"...I thought, surely I won't be...but yeah, it really wasn't much haha...someone does live in it and it really just looks like any other old farmhouse...so he was kind of right haha....it was getting late and I had told Ashlyn I would bring her Christmas stocking stuff by before she had to head to work (I had forgotten to give it to her on Christmas)...so we turned around and went downtown to Ashlyn's...and since we were downtown we of course had to run into our favorite pizza spot Benny's for a slice...then back home we went...it was a really fun day!

I of course have SO many pictures of the stuff we saw and will share with you at Tom's Tuesday's Treasures! Don't want to give it all away in one post...that would be a really, really long post! ;)

That's my 5 friends!! I hope you will join in too! Post 5 randoms, link back and visit others!! Stay warm and have a great weekend!!


School was cancelled today because of this freezing weather...the wind has it feeling in the negative!!

Happy Halloween

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Buchanan . Botetourt County

Doesn't this old abandoned house look like it has a face? Spooky!

Linking up with Tom's Tuesday's Treasures

Willy Nilly Friday 5 No. 135

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1)
More from The Bridges/Dr. Pepper Park in Roanoke...this is the Speedy Gonzalez edition...getting Ashlyn moved this morning...

2)
We were going to get a moving truck but thought she didn't have too much to move and the heavy stuff like bed and dressers could fit easily in Nick's truck tomorrow...

3)
Boy were we wrong...you would not believe the sea of boxes sitting here waiting to be loaded into my Explorer and her little tiny car...

4)
This morning it will just be me and Ash and the boys moving all this...we get to pick up her keys at 9...in an hour...I see a few trips back and forth in our future...good thing her apartment is only 10 miles away!

5)
Her friend and boyfriend will help later today when they get off work and Nick will help with his truck tomorrow when he is off...hopefully by tomorrow it will just be the bed and dressers...I better get going! We have a busy day ahead!!

That's my 5 this week and I hope you will join in too! Post 5 randoms, link back and visit others!! Have a super weekend :)


I'm linking up with Mascha's Weekend Green & Five on Friday

P.S. Thank you so much for linking up last week and I apologize for not getting around to visit everyone yet...it's been a busy week with getting things ready for Ashlyn's move and other clean-ups but I will get to you eventually, I pinky promise!

Doors

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These are all from the same area I showed you on Thursday and Friday, "The Bridges/Dr. Pepper Park" Roanoke:


"A very little key will open a very heavy door."
Charles Dickens

Linking up with Mersad's Through My Lens

Willy Nilly Friday 5 No. 134

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More from yesterday's post around "The Bridges" in Roanoke:

1)
I liked the ice cooler with the old dilapidated buildings...

2)

3)
I wanted to see what the graffiti said but was a little nervous about getting too close to that end of the bridge...

4)
The message made me a little more nervous so I turned around and went back the other way haha

5)

This was such a neat area to explore!

That's my 5 this week! Now it's your turn! Post 5 randoms, link back and visit others! Have a great weekend :)



I am linking up with Mascha's Weekend Green & Five on Friday

Some One On One Time

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The Bridges . Roanoke
The stage for "Dr. Pepper Park" is just to the right of those stairs.

On the 4 of July we last minute decided to go see the Red Not Chili Peppers (that's right, I said NOT..they are a tribute band of the Red Hot Chili Peppers) at the Dr. Pepper Park. It was our first time seeing a show at this venue and we had a blast...the RNCP were great and I loved the open air and all the old abandoned warehouses around it, plus it was pretty cool that we were literally "under the bridge" when a thunderstorm rolled in with lightning and trust me, that wasn't lost on me when the Red Not's sang "Under The Bridge" haha...anyways....I wanted to come back and check out the area so today I did just that, with Braden:



Today I am thankful for my day spent with Braden! Dalton went to the water park for the day with his girlfriend and her family so it was just me and Braden. He wanted me to take him to Dick's Sporting Goods so he could pick up some stuff for football...then I took him to lunch at his favorite place Benny's for a slice of pizza. Then off to explore the area of the "Bridges". As "bored" as he may look, he was really a good sport and not once said "can we go home now?"! This was definitely a day to be thankful for! Linking up with Michelle's Thankful Thursday :)

I will get Willy Nilly up in the morning so I hope to see you then!

Plus I have lots more pics of this area to show!