Fall 2010 Road Trip: Day 2

10/17/10:  Front Royal VA to Christiansburg, VA via Skyline Drive and Shenandoah National Park. 

As we entered the Park, we stopped the car to take a photo of the sign (below), and as soon as we started up again, a deer darted across the road in front of us!   (I wasn't quick enough to get a photo!)  We thought that was a good omen for seeing wildlife, but as it turned out, that was the only animal we saw all day!

What we did see was some beautiful fall foliage in the many valleys of the Blue Ridge Mountains, from overlooks on Skyline Drive - a 105 mile scenic highway, mostly on mountain ridges!.  Around every bend was an overlook and we just couldn't stop at every one!  But we did stop at many of them, as you can see! 

Massanutten Mountain (the pointy peak in the distance) bisects the Shenandoah Valley.

The requisite tourist shots:

A bare tree stands starkly against the backdrop of the Blue Ridge valley:

Somewhere along the drive that morning, we picked up a hitchhiker!  This little guy (about 1" long) rode with us for quite a few miles before disappearing.  The nearest ID I can come up with is a "shield bug".  When I posted this shot on Daily Pics, one comment suggested he was really a "windshield bug"!   Very appropriate, except that he was on the back window, not the front!

After a little over 100 miles of Skyline Drive, at 35 mph - it's pretty hard to go that slow for so long, just ask Bob :)  - the route turns into the Blue Ridge Parkway at 45 mph!  The Blue Ridge Parkway is a winding,  scenic highway, stretching almost five hundred miles north and south, connecting Shenandoah National Park/Skyline Drive in Virginia with the Great Smoky Mountains in North Caroline and Tennessee!  The Parkway meanders from the east to west facing slopes, and varies in elevation from just under 650 feet at James River in Virginia, to over 6,000 feet south of Mt. Pisgah in North Carolina.  

Right at the beginning of the Parkway on the Virginia end, is a recreated mountain farm that gives visitors a glimpse of traditional mountain life in the early days of settlement.  Here are a few shots from the Humpback Rocks Visitor Center and Mountain Farm:

Farmhouse

A visitor checking out the chicken coop:

Another farm building

A traditional scarecrow in the fields

It was getting toward dinnertime for us when we left the farm, so we got off the Parkway to look for a place to eat, then drive on to Christiansburg, VA where our next motel ( a small but sufficient room in a Microtel Inn and Suites) was booked.  It was a tired, but happy end to a great day, topped off perfectly by a lovely sunset just as we were checking in for the night!

End of Day 2...

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