Made our way to Virginia on Halloween. What a beautiful place, the Virginia Appalachians. To us flat-landers, even 4,000 foot elevations are spectacular. There are three parts of the Appalachian Chain in this area: Blue Ridge Mountains; Shenandoah Mountains; and, Allegheny Mountains. One interesting fact is that Dale grew up in Staunton IL. The RV Park we chose is just outside Staunton VA. In Illinois the name is pronounced STAWN-ton; in Virginia it is pronounced STAN-ton. Patti wondered if it was weird for Dale with all the Staunton references. "Not so much," he says.
On Sunday we decided to take a short drive to the George Washington National Forest and visit West Virginia. Interesting - no cell service for either Verizon (Dale) or Sprint (Patti). We saw some beautiful sights and only got lost once - GPS not working without cell service. Seriously, we did drive around one mountain near Brandywine WV once too many times. When we ended back in the place we started, we asked for directions. Dale was certain he heard the Deliverance Banjos playing, but all was good. We got back on the road to our home away from home and noted our misstep when we got to it. Then it became funny, but only then. That short trip turned into an almost all day trip. Beautiful Trip!
Then Monday we headed across to the eastern side of the Shenandoah Valley to the Blue Ridge Mountains. This range is the site of the Appalachian Trail through Virginia. We first drove north along Sky Line Drive, through the Shenandoah National Park. After an hour, we turned around and went south. After retracing our route on Sky Line Drive, we headed south along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Both directions were beautiful. We could have traveled 100 miles in each direction. When we looked west we could see across the Shenandoah Valley to the Shenandoah Mountains. When we looked east we could see toward Charlottesville and Richmond VA. Many of the views were breath-taking. We were amazed at the lack of guardrails on some of the roads, pretty steep drops.
174 miles traveled October 31, 2015.
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| Shenandoah Valley |
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| Valley, Mountain, River |
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Blue Ridge Looking at
Shenandoah |
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| Almost Tame |
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| Looking at the Blue Ridge |
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Interesting Work by the
Utility Company |
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| Downtown Staunton |
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Past the Peak
Beautiful None the Less |
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| Lake in the Mountains |
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| Sea to Shining Sea |
#shenandoahvalley #blueridgemountains #blueridgeparkway #skylinedrive #stauntonva
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