One week in on our journey to observe 70 levels. After leaving NJ we drove for about 4 1/2 hours. Doug was fairly decided that we wanted to a minimum of get out of the Northeast Corridor earlier than we may cease for the evening. He even tried to inform me that we wanted the depart the state earlier than we may take a potty break… That didn’t occur. Honestly, I don’t even suppose we had formally left our residence county earlier than I used to be complaining that I wanted to go. But we did in truth 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. First and foremost, it was hotter than the climate we left in NJ. So for two individuals looking for hotter days, this labored. Literally the day earlier than we left, the each of us had been out salting and plowing roads. 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 vibrant once we began our first official day. Warm sufficient to take a pleasant hike down alongside the river with our canine Lagertha and discover the realm.
On prime of the marginally hotter climate, Virginia has executed a superb job making their state park a vacation spot for the RV group. Our website was giant with a gorgeous view of the mountains throughout. The bathhouse was clear with showers and a laundry room. We had water and electrical on the website, with a dump station completely situated as you exited the tenting space, and it was all fairly priced.
Right now we do our highway tripping in a fifth wheel camper. But it wasn’t that way back that every one our highway journeys had been executed in our each day driver, largely our Suburban, however generally in a small sedan. State Parks are an distinctive choice for such a traveler as a lot of them provide 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 mentioned earlier than, the value is mostly proper.
Entrance to the Shenandoah National Park was a ten minute drive down the highway. Here you’ll find the northern begin of Skyline Drive, a gorgeous byway that actually permits you the chance to journey the ridgeline of the Blue Ridge Mountains. 105 miles of mountain prime driving with breathtaking views of the valley’s under. The highway continues and ultimately turns into Virginia’s portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway. We didn’t drive the complete 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 Endless – simply to call a FEW!) within the space, all providing guided excursions for about $30 per particular person. We’ve executed a couple of cavern excursions previously with Jayden when he was youthful. They are actually enchanting, and generally it’s arduous to grasp that this panorama is slightly below our toes. Walking by a few of them you may really feel like you’re on a far-off planet. But on this journey by the realm we opted to skip them in favor of getting misplaced down nation roads to see what else the realm needed to provide.
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 a good following of followers. Here at Cooter’s Place in Luray Virginia you may tour the museum of all issues Dukes of Hazzard without cost. They have a duplicate of Cooter’s Garage with the unmistakable General Lee and a number of other different of the enduring autos from the present. There is 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 once 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 method too chilly for us, and now we have method too many different locations to go to and other people to see! This is actually an space that we plan to return to in a hotter month to reap the benefits of some extra mountaineering and fishing of this prestigious panorama. Keep 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!