Monday, September 6, 2010

"LoCo" born n' raised.





Loudoun County is one of the fastest growing counties in the nation with over 300,000 residents and counting.  But it wasn't always this way.  I grew up in Sterling, in a small community called Countryside, and in fact back in 1986 its name actually reflected its somewhat agrarian landscape.  At my sister's soccer games I played in the cornfield that bordered the edge of the field.  For special occasions my mother drove us ten miles to the nearest McDonald's, and triple that to the nearest mall.  Route 7 was a two-lane road and traffic was sparse.  It's hard to imagine nowadays.

Although I have since relocated twelve miles down the road to Ashburn, even a native can't really tell where one Northern Virginia suburban village begins and another ends.  Now, there are two McDonald's within walking distance and Route 7 is one of the most heavily used roads in the state.

I've spent a lot of time traveling overseas throughout the past four years and have come to love cities such as Berlin and Bratislava, Budapest and Bogota.  After all my worldly travels, I find myself disenchanted and bored in my own hometown; I go for a run in the neighborhood and find myself lost on a street that looks like all the rest that came before it.  Locals (myself included) groan at the banality that is now colloquially known as "NoVa."  I've never really taken an interest in the area I grew up in, preferring to travel to other countries to find excitement and inspiration.

The goal of this blog is to explore all the richness that I know, somewhere, Loudoun County has to offer--but have never really seen.  Once we step out of our subdivisions and strip malls, there are dozens of community-enriching activities and unique places to visit.  We just have to know where to look for them.  From organic farms to innovative restaurants, from the Old Dominion Brewery to the Appalachian Trail, my goal for this blog is to get off the beaten path--er, heavily-traveled road?--and see what Loudoun County is really all about.

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