Newport News, Virginia

First, I must start out by saying that Virginia truly is gorgeous! I feel so blessed to be surrounded by God's handiwork. I have been one of those people who find beauty in EVERYTHING for my whole life! I mean EVERYTHING! When I am outside with my camera, I am struck by the sheer vastness of God's creation.
We are originally from Southern California. The Inland Empire. The dry heat is my best friend! :) I remember going to the Santa Rosa plateau and being literally struck dumb by the trees, bushes, rocks, flowers, bugs, weeds... It was hot, dry, pretty and brown, but it was still gorgeous! Josh always makes fun of me when I am so proud of the pictures I have taken when it's just nature. "Not anything really pretty like Bishop..." and "You don't even know what beauty is until you've seen Bishop" Alright, those may not be his exact words, but it might as well be.
I knew it would be greener here in Virginia. But I didn't realize how amazing it would be. I am sure people just overlook the trees EVERYWHERE! I don't. My heart swells with pride and a new understanding of how amazing God made this Earth. And it's just gone down hill from his original plans. We, humans, have torn it down, dismantled it and in it's place have put concrete, roads and buildings. And yet I am still in awe!
My favorite scenic spot so far... and please don't laugh, is a freeway on-ramp. When I leave Josh behind at Fort Eustis, I take the VA-105E. Then I veer onto the 64E towards Hampton/Norfolk. That 40 MPH zone is to die for. The trees are gorgeous. There's such a pretty curve in the road ahead. You can see the ivy climbing it's way to the tops of the thin trees. The sunlight shines down so gorgeously. It literally still takes my breath away EVERYTIME! I feel like I am in my version of Twilight right there. :) Maybe that makes me sound immature, or young. But it was a great, fast paced, well written love story that just so happened to be about vampires. **A little side note, Edward in my version was WAY hotter! :P**
Anyway, back to the matter at hand. I have only explored a little bit so far. Friday will culminate four weeks of training. That's a quarter of the way done!!!! HOOAH! I am so excited to experience more of this great country that we call The United States of America. If we do get sent to, say HAWAII (awesome dream) or GERMANY (more realistic dream, but none-the-less still a dream) I will probably drop into a coma!
Jesus, if you want to show off your creation to someone who will forever remember it. I am definitely your girl. I mean, I get excited about on ramps.