Virginia, Part 2

Left Front Royal, Virginia and headed down the Skyline Drive through the Shenandoah National Park. The weather was rather chilly, as we were at a higher altitude, but here the leaves were turning.

We stopped at one of the park Visitors' Centers for a brief movie on the history of the area, and a look out over the valley. Then we headed south on the road. The speed limit was about 35 m.p.h., so no one got anywhere very fast. It was a bit overcast, but mostly dry.

Established as a national park in 1935, Shenandoah contains about 196,000 acres, which are home to many plants and animals, including 66 rare plant species. The Skyline Drive is the only public road through the park. You can pull off and explore 75 scenic overlooks (we only stopped at a few).


Much of the road and stone work was done by the Civilian Conservation Corps, established during the Great Depression to put people to work.

About midway through the park is the Big Meadows area, one of the few fairly flat places along the route. If you look carefully at the picture, you can see a couple of people, which will provide some perspective for the area. This is across the road from another of the Visitors' Centers, which includes a walk-through display of area history.

The park is lovely, but it takes about 4 hours just to drive through it. We discovered we would have to change our route if we wanted to make it to Stuart, Virginia that night, where we had reservations. We got back on Route 81 South until we crossed Route 8, and then spent half an hour navigating the narrow and twisting road through the countryside. It was a little like riding Space Mountain at Disney World.

We finally found our accommodations, a Bed and Breakfast called the Chocolate Moose. It's run by a couple who are very much into healthy living -- all of the breakfast food is organic, there is a garden outside the breakfast window for bird watching, and the owners counsel people on maintaining a healthy diet.

Our reason for coming to Stuart was to visit the Wood family. My father met Delano Wood when they both served in Korea, and they've kept in touch ever since. The Wood Brothers have owned and operated race cars for many years, particularly the famous #21. They also maintain a racing museum, which we were allowed to visit during our stay. At left, we're posing with one of the versions of car #21.

More on the Woods, and Stuart, in the next post.