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RECENTLY, I had the bright idea of taking a long drive to see what the various parts of Stafford County are like.

I invited my friend Tomara to ride along with me--for her company, note-taking skills and excellent rhinestone sunglasses.

We started in extreme southeastern Stafford. Our first stop was Japazaws Lane, where we oohed and aahed over the beautiful "rivah" houses lining the waterfront. Tomara stayed in the car while I hopped out and snapped pictures, narrowly missing a water snake.

As we drove back out Bethel Church Road, we noticed many new houses. We then cut from State Route 218 over to Brooke Road via New Hope Church Road. These are my stomping grounds.

We passed Doug's Grocery, where you can get fresh vegetables, brown eggs and honey from bees kept by the owner's son. The same son happily let me put up a "found cat" poster on the door. (By the way, I found a home for that cat!)

Then we drove up Brooke Road, passing Unicorn Farm, breeders of Cavalier King Charles spaniels, through the swamp and past the great mystery of our tour--the "AMAA" cemetery.

I have looked in the phone book and on the Internet and cannot find any mention of such a cemetery. The place has a fence and is gated. We drove on.

By now, between the sunlight flashing through the trees and the curving roads, Tomara was feeling a little carsick. Luckily, she didn't need to take many notes at this point.

We eventually came to Courthouse Road. Now, portions of that road are treacherous, and in the past, with the same friend in my car, I have come perilously close to running off the road.

Happily, today there were crews working on straightening out that pesky road, preventing future accidents involving people like me.

By the time we reached the busy intersection of Courthouse and U.S. 1, our energy levels had started to drop. We decided to stop in for a yummy late breakfast at the County Fare Restaurant.

It turned out to be pretty informative, because the restaurant is decorated with historical Stafford County

photographs and narratives.

Our booth featured a photograph of the flying "aerodrome" designed by the world-famous scientist Samuel P. Langley. He successfully launched an unmanned test plane off a houseboat near Chopawamsic Island.

Unfortunately, the Wright brothers beat him to flying a manned airplane, and Stafford County's place in the history of flight was lost. Who knew!

After we resumed our drive up U.S. 1, we admired the beauty of Aquia Episcopal Church but lamented all the development surrounding it.

Next, we came to the giant crucifix commemorating the first Roman Catholic settlement in Virginia. We were touched to see the many bouquets of flowers that had been placed at the foot of the statue of Christ.

The statue's story is told in a Virginia historical highway marker standing underneath. The marker is one of 22 historical markers in the county. There is a Web site, dhr.virginia.gov/hiway, where you can look up any marker in the state and see a picture of it.

Then we hit the part of U.S. 1 that runs up along the edge of Quantico Marine Corps Base.

We started seeing pawnshops, used-car lots and check-cashing services. This stretch definitely had a seedier feel to it.

Our suspicions were confirmed when we spotted an establishment, which shall remain nameless, whose sign boasted "jello wrestling--girls." You would not see that in southern Stafford.

We quickly headed to the more familiar surroundings of the shopping mecca that is Garrisonville Road.

Now, many people may claim they prefer the fancier shops of Richmond, but down underneath they all love a little T.J. Maxx followed by a latte at Starbucks.

The sight of all these strip malls prompted Tomara to say (as we frequently lament), "Why don't we have these stores in our part of the county?"

I don't have an answer for that, and while I would like the shopping, I didn't much like the traffic.

It was noontime at midweek, and there were cars everywhere. Who are these people and why are they not at work?

Eventually Garrisonville Road narrows to two lanes. Again, the predominant impression is that of rolling countryside with scattered homes and subdivisions.

From there, it was pretty much farmland as we wound our way to Hartwood and U.S. 17.

Fortunately, on that day traffic was light and we were able to speed down U.S. 17, where we took Washington Street to Ingleside Drive and ended up near Belmont, the home of Gari Melchers.

I parked the car in a narrow space by the river. We decided to walk down a narrow path, with Tomara warning me to be careful.

The end of the trail was worth the trip. This part of the Rappahannock is breathtaking. If you plug your ears and ignore the Falmouth Bridge, you can almost imagine it hasn't changed in hundreds of years.

From there, we took River Road over to State Route 3, where we found another of the previously mentioned Virginia historical markers identifying George Washington's boyhood home, Ferry Farm.

We finished our trip by cutting across Caisson Road back to Route 218. The White Oak Museum there is a must-see, with its Civil War relics.

So, four hours later, Tomara and I had driven nearly all the way around Stafford County's 277 square miles. By any measure, it's an interesting place!

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