It’s a Real Job

To the average reader, authors are more of a mystery than the stories they write. We never see them bent over the keyboard or editing a first draft with a red pen, so it’s easy to misunderstand what their lives are really like

by Bill Glose

River Country

River Country lends itself to the independent explorer. A day’s outing could be filled with visits to half a dozen antique shops, a walking tour of a courthouse town or lunch in a quiet fishing village where watermen haul in their catch of blue crab or croaker. Those willing to get a little lost may explore back roads leading to former plantation estates or a river marsh where otter and turtles swim and great blue heron stand sentry

by Mary Burnham

Happy Trails

Whether you’re a novice cyclist terrified of traffic or an ace rider with a zillion—speed bike and lots of spandex, bike riding at the Outer Banks keeps getting better. And spring is a perfect time to ride with blue skies, slightly cooler days and surf that’s just the right temperature to wash off a few miles’ worth of sweat. The ambitious can plan rides to check out all four banks lighthouses

by Karen Queen

Spring Fling

From the military pageantry of the crowd—pleasing Virginia International Tattoo, with 650 performers and this year’s promise of “more pipes and drums than ever,” to the contemplative, intimate appeal of chamber concerts and free verse, the Virginia Arts Festival crisscrosses the region from Williamsburg to Virginia Beach with 93 world class performances of every flavor in just 32 days

by Montague Gammon III and M.D. Ridge