It all began in 2020. Our annual Mother’s Day escape.

Four years ago Ralph Northam’s reign of Covid despotism was underway and we were desperate to shake off the suffocating restrictions he imposed on a weekly basis. (The governor’s Thursday press conferences were a source of stress and dread for many of us.)

Confident that rural Virginians were as skeptical as we were of masks, social distancing and not gathering in groups larger than 10, our family snuck out of town, rented an Airbnb in Meadows of Dan, and celebrated Mother’s Day. Pre-pandemic style.

For four glorious days that first year, when the pandemic was in its infancy and the lunacy was cranking up, we were able to forget that society at large was losing its collective mind.

Thus began our annual Mother’s Day weekend trip to explore Virginia with those near and dear.

In 2021 we went to Onancock. Next year it was a river house in Gloucester. After that, a creek-side place  in Madison.

This year we found ourselves in a sprawling log cabin on Lake Anna. Big enough for 11 of us - plus three dogs.

This year’s short-term rental came with a fire pit, hot tub, dock, kayaks, paddle boards and a two-person paddleboat.

Best of all, the skies cleared Saturday night long enough to give our night owls - who’d been up playing board games - a glimpse of the Northern Lights.

To think my daughter, granddaughter and I traveled all the way to Iceland to see the lights in March. (That trip was worth it! Highly recommend hopping a cheap flight to Reykjavik. Can’t wait to go back.)

By Sunday - after a day of water sports and great food - we declared ourselves to be “Lake People” and vowed to only stay near lakes from now on.

As we navigated the rolling country roads between Mineral, Virginia and the interstates that would take us home to Virginia Beach on Sunday, we were reminded once again that rural Virginia is blessedly not overrun with the woke, insufferable lefties who thrive in the more urban areas.

You won’t see signs like this in Richmond, Charlottesville or Northern Virginia!