A view from skyline drive..."To everyone, especially to those who live in narrow streets where automobiles are thicker than ants in an ant hill and where trolleys clang, sirens screech, and people rush about, we say, come to this beautiful Blue Ridge area for recreation and interesting knowledge...; come, and enjoy tranquillity in the canyons where streams ripple over rocks and waterfalls...; come, and feel the stimulation of the strong wind on some lofty peaks. Do these things, and you will not be disappointed; you will carry away a memory of beautiful and interesting places and a little more strength, a little more wisdom, a little more happiness than you brought with you."
My husband and I set out for Virginia last friday, driving all the way down to Charlottesville to spend the night before driving north on skyline drive in the morning. We took I-78 through to Harrisburg, Pa, transferring to I-81 which was surprisingly pastoral if you ignore the McMansions and Highway through traffic towns. Once we got off of I-81, we headed south, twisting and turning on state routes and back roads, past rolling hills and beautiful little family farms, and by the looks of it, more free-range grass fed beef than you can imagine.We overnighted in Charlottesville, checked out the college bars and grabbed a midnight sandwich. and spent the morning wandering around the absolutely gorgeous campus with a cup of coffee. We were very tempted to roll out sleeping bags underneath this tree (left). Every kind of flowering tree was in bloom, pinks, violets, fresh cream and bright yellow forsythia, I think we finally found spring...
Click the map below to view our Route.
By noon we were heading out of Charlotteville and up through Shenandoah. Practically pushing our sturdy but well worn 1995 ford escort up the side of our first mountain to Swift Run Gap Entrance Station. Click here for nps.gov's Shenandoah National Park Map. Shortly after paying our $15 entrance fee (good for the week) we came across our first overlook and were instantly breathless. I hadn't been to Shenandoah since I was a little girl, and can remember my six year old self sitting in the back seat of my dad's ford Taurus, drawing pictures of what all the little towns looked like from "3-thousand feet up." Somehow places tend to lose their grandness when you get bigger, things begin to feel smaller and less overwhelming, and unfortunately less special. Shenandoah's blue ridge mountains may not be as grandiose as the Tetons or the Sierras, but it belongs to the east coast and is like nothing else we have.Hawks circled the wide valley below and landed on the cliffs by the overlooks as we drove along. We were fortunate enough to watch one resting on a rock about twenty yards from us for 15-20 minutes until it spread its giant wings and flew on. The wonderful thing about going to Shenandoah, or any other park for that matter, this time of year is that there are very few other cars on the road and other people on the trails. We sat at an overlook for nearly half an hour in absolute silence before anyone else drove by.
We continued up to Big Meadows, a mid-park hub and the only open campground this early in the season. We grabbed some tea from the restaurant and did a drive through of the campground to note the best sites. As much as we desperately wanted to camp that night my husband was still nursing a cough and a sore throat and being at 3,000ft. with predicted overnight temperatures dropping below thirty degrees we had to move on. We snapped some pictures of the dear that seem to own the campground...
After Big Meadows we continued up and down, ears popping, past spectacular overlooks and off the end of the world(right). Grasping every beautiful view we could before heading up to Jersey for the night.
Check out the additional photos and video of the drive below. You can also see more about Shenandoah National Park at nps.gov's Shenandoah site.
