One week in on our journey to comply with 70 levels. After leaving NJ we drove for about 4 1/2 hours. Doug was fairly decided that we would have liked to a minimum of get out of the Northeast Hall earlier than we may cease for the evening. He even tried to inform me that we would have liked the depart the state earlier than we may take a potty break… That didn’t occur. Truthfully, I don’t even suppose we had formally left our residence county earlier than I used to be complaining that I wanted to go. However we did actually make it previous Washington DC and throughout the northern portion of Virginia earlier than we referred to as it an evening. So the place did we go? The Shenandoah River Valley.
We stayed within the Shenandoah Valley on the Shenandoah River State Park in Bentonville, Virginia. This place was excellent. Before everything, it was hotter than the climate we left in NJ. So for two individuals looking for hotter days, this labored. Actually the day earlier than we left, the each of us had been out salting and plowing roads. Right here, there was barely any snow on the bottom and the temperature was above freezing. I’m not going to say that we had been heat but, or that it was even remotely near 70 levels, nevertheless it was positively higher. Temps had been within the 40’s and the solar was shining shiny after we began our first official day. Heat sufficient to take a pleasant hike down alongside the river with our canine Lagertha and discover the world.
On high of the marginally hotter climate, Virginia has carried out a superb job making their state park a vacation spot for the RV group. Our web site was massive with an exquisite view of the mountains throughout. The bathhouse was clear with showers and a laundry room. We had water and electrical on the web site, with a dump station completely situated as you exited the tenting space, and it was all fairly priced.
Proper now we do our highway tripping in a fifth wheel camper. However it wasn’t that way back that each one our highway journeys had been carried out in our every day driver, largely our Suburban, however typically in a small sedan. State Parks are an distinctive choice for the sort of traveler as lots of them supply primitive websites for tent tenting, or cabins for the much less outdoorsy. The bathhouses are cleaned and maintained by the park rangers recurrently. And, like I stated earlier than, the worth is mostly proper.
Entrance to the Shenandoah Nationwide Park was a ten minute drive down the highway. Right here one can find the northern begin of Skyline Drive, an exquisite byway that really permits you the chance to journey the ridgeline of the Blue Ridge Mountains. 105 miles of mountain high driving with breathtaking views of the valley’s under. The highway continues and finally turns into Virginia’s portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway. We didn’t drive the whole factor, however we did go for about an hour stopping at a lot of the scenic overlooks alongside the best way.
In a brief driving distance there are a number of caverns (Skyline, Luray, Shenandoah, Grand and Infinite – simply to call a FEW!) within the space, all providing guided excursions for about $30 per individual. We’ve carried out a number of cavern excursions previously with Jayden when he was youthful. They’re definitely enchanting, and typically it’s arduous to grasp that this panorama is slightly below our toes. Strolling by means of a few of them you may really feel like you might be on a far-off planet. However on this journey by means of the world we opted to skip them in favor of getting misplaced down nation roads to see what else the world needed to supply.
Luray Virginia didn’t disappoint. In our pursuit of getting misplaced we stumbled upon Cooter’s Place. Now, I do know the tv present Dukes of Hazzard went off the air again in 1985, however the present maintains an honest following of followers. Right here at Cooter’s Place in Luray Virginia you may tour the museum of all issues Dukes of Hazzard at no cost. They’ve a reproduction of Cooter’s Storage with the unmistakable Basic Lee and several other different of the enduring automobiles from the present. There’s a eating space for some eats, and you may peruse an array of merchandise. Their webpage boasts a live performance by Cooter himself each Saturday, nevertheless it was a Monday after we had been there so no backstage passes for us this time.
We awoke Tuesday morning to a balmy 17 levels.. Which meant it was time for us to maneuver on. We had solely spent 2 nights right here within the mountains, nevertheless it was now manner too chilly for us, and we have now manner too many different locations to go to and other people to see! That is definitely an space that we plan to return to in a hotter month to make the most of some extra mountaineering and fishing of this prestigious panorama. Maintain following our journey right here, and on our YouTube channel to take a look at a few of the cool video footage of the place we are and what we’re doing!