My favorite season is fall, hands-down. I love jumping in the piles of leaves. Then hiding in those leaves and waiting for the kids in my neighborhood to come by so I can scare them. It’s all in good fun! But I do see myself one day either being sucked up by those leaf suckers or being run-over by a car while hiding.

My favorite thing to do on Friday afternoons/evenings when I’ve left the office is to go for a drive in western Loudoun. It’s where I get my best thinking done, while I chain smoke in my car listening to some angry music, just letting the week roll off my shoulders.

It helps me unwind and it’s incredibly beautiful out there. I love the landscapes, the rolling hills and the sun setting in the background painting the sky like a brush. It brings me back to growing up here and searching out new ways to get around through back roads and finding the hidden gems of the county. Who would want to take some boring highway when you’ve got miles and miles of dirt roads with old farm houses scattered about. Come on, you’re the only one out there, why wouldn’t you?

Most of the time I have trouble with the season changes. But with fall, I just sort of fall into it. Especially since I can roll my windows down and let my arm move like water in the ocean through the wind. It’s not too cold and it’s not too hot - it’s perfect.

On those drives, although the time is passing by on my clock, I feel like I’m being transported to a different time. There’s no one around, just me, my car and the big open road - along with endless different directions I could take.

If you could go anywhere where would it be? I don’t think I could pick just one place. I want to go everywhere and anywhere ... I want to soak up the world. But I guess for now, I’ll be soaking up the winding roads of LoCo. And no, I won’t divulge my secret hideaways. It’s what keeps me sane (to a point) and I want to keep that for me.