Return to Pleasant Valley

On Mother's Day we were returning from a convention in Pennsylvania and we stopped for a short time in our old Pleasant Valley subdivision neighborhood in Chantilly, VA. We were amazed by the growth of the trees and bushes that surround our former house at 15201 Phillip Lee Road. 

Here is the same perspective of the house from 27 years ago. This picture was taken in April of 1985, about two months before we moved in to our brand new house. It is hard to believe how the trees have grown over the years.  

Here is the view today from across the street. The house is almost completely engulfed in the trees.

 You can just barely see the house from the street corner looking directly at the front door.

Then we drove down to a dead-end cul-de-sac where Chad would enter into the woods to explore and fish along historic Cub Run.  I think this is the trail that Chad would use back in the day.

Today there is a paved trail that heads into the woods. Bicycle riders we met on the trail told me that the trail goes about a mile into the woods and it is used by hikers and bikers.

A few hundred feet down the trail there is a beautiful bridge that spans Cub Run. Both Kirk and Chad worked at Dulles Gateway Kennel that is located nearby. They would cross the creek on stones just like the rocks visible in the picture. We took some rocks from Cub Run for our rock garden at home.

Here are the "Cub Run' rocks that have been added to our Rocky Mount rock garden. Last summer we reworked the landscaping around our home and added some stones to the newly designed area. Our rock garden now includes stones from Cub Run, plus from Cade's Cove in the Smokey Mountains outside of Gatlinburg, Tennessee and from the Whitakers, North Carolina area near our Positive Action headquarters building.