Reston, Virginia

New AND old horizons

Our view in the Sky

We’re off the road. After 6,000 miles in the RV and another 2,000 in the car we were ready for a break. Thirteen states and 45 stops along the way. It’s been truly amazing, but also exhausting. Our 60+ bodies are weary. We thought, naively when we set out on this journey that we could do 14 months before stopping for a break. The plan was to travel all the way up to Maine and then into Canada, returning to Florida for the 2025-26 winter season. Florida is still on the agenda. But the northern leg is on hold.

When we arrived in Reston on May 22nd our plan was to stay about two weeks. Joan and I both have family in the area. That’s why this was a destination for us. And we both have a lot of history here. She spent most of her childhood in Reston and I also lived here for ten years before moving to Boulder in 1992. Amazingly we lived less then a mile from each other. The month I arrived, September 1982 was when Joan left for college. Then, twenty two years later we found each other, 1,800 miles away in Boulder Colorado.

We had no intention of staying in Reston beyond the two week limit at our campsite. We’d already decided we needed this break and contemplated the Asheville NC area. We’d been there the week before arriving here, thinking we might backtrack and stay in Asheville or the nearby town of Hendersonville for the summer. They’re both nice looking towns in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. But after a few days in Reston, we started to think this might be our stopping point, at least for a few months. So we started looking for a place to rent short term. We looked at a few apartments in the “old” part of Reston where little has changed since the 70’s. As has happened almost everywhere, Reston has grown, really grown. The area called the Town Center is a city within the city of Reston. High Tech has certainly been kind to this area.

There was one apartment in the Town Center that looked interesting so we took a look. It was on the penthouse level of a 22 story building called The Cosmopolitan, affectionately called “The Cosmo”, also our boys name. Our balcony view is the picture above. Neither of us had ever considered living in a high rise apartment in a city. But this place was beautiful. A pool on the roof. A gym and sauna and lots of other amenities including everything you need for your day to day life within a few blocks of the building. You literally don’t ever have to get in your car if you don’t want to. After a brief contemplation we decided to go for it. We ended up signing a 6 month lease because it was considerably cheaper at that term. And it fits perfectly into our winter plans in Florida. We’ll stay here through Thanksgiving and then head south at the end of November.

Talk about a 180 degree turn. From considering a wooded mountain town to living here. You never know what you’re going to like. We’ve had so many twists and turns the last eight months. Some literally, on the road. And many metaphorically. So here we are again, in unchartered territory, finding ourselves somewhere we never dreamed we’d be. But that’s most of what life’s about, isn’t it? At least it has been for us recently. As I stated in my last post. We’re “going with the flow”. And as Joan often says to me “life is what happens to you when you’re planning for something else”. So true. Stay tuned.

It may not be sunrise at the beach, but it’s still pretty awesome that we have an east facing apartment with the perfect AM view.

Lake Anne, where it all started in Reston in 1964. The founder Robert E. Simon’s vision for a planned community began around this lake. Focused on community, diversity, open spaces and lots of walking and biking trails. It still maintains its charm after 60 years. As Joan and I drive and walk around the area, it’s like stepping back in time. Little has changed.

Simon’s early vision was of a European style city. Town Center feels and looks very much that way with lots of plazas and open space throughout the downtown. And lots of trees, flowers and fountains.