National Park: Shenandoah National Park

So we decided to visit Northern Virginia and Charlottesville, VA over the Labor Day Weekend of 2011. It was a wonderful trip which involved seeing lots of family and friends. In addition to that, we took a visit to three of our National Parks that weekend: The Blue Ridge Parkway, Shenandoah National Park and Manassas Battlefield.

The Shenandoah National Park is a skinny park in western (not West by God) Virginia. It encompasses part of the Appalachian or Blue Ridge Mountains. The Skyline Drive is the most pronounced aspect of the park. This road is very popular during the fall for views of the beautiful autumn foliage. This being labor day, the park was very green and misty. 

Big Meadows in Shenandoah National Park

The drive through the park from the North (in Front Royal) to the South (in Waynesboro) is about 100 miles and takes about 3 hours of straight driving. However, you will want to stop numerous times as we did. There have got to 40 or so overlooks with beautiful vistas of the valley and the surrounding landscape. We also had an opportunity to have lunch at Harry F. Byrd Visitor Center at the Big Meadows area which is a visitor center roughly halfway through the drive. The restaurant near Big Meadows which had some great fried chicken.

The AT

Another popular feature of the park is the Appalachian Trail which runs from Georgia to Maine. There are other hiking trails in the park, but the AT is the most famous. One of my favorite trails in Shenandoah National Park is Old Rag Mountain. There are a few technical spots to the Old Rag hike, but nothing that even a novice hiker couldn't handle. There are also some stunning waterfalls in the Shenandoah National Park and plenty of wildlife. We also had to stop about a half dozen times for white tail deer the road. 

The great thing about Shenandoah National Park is that it is close to Charlottesville, VA which is "Grammy's" hometown. We made a point of meeting up at King Family Vineyards on our way back into town to take in the view and a couple glasses of wine. 

Enjoying a game of "tag" at King Family Vineyards