the education of henry

Day 32: Shenandoah National Park, Cedar Creek Battlefield, and West Virginia

2023-10-15

This morning we got up early and drove a few miles to Shenandoah National Park. We drove Skyline Drive from Rockfish Gap to Front Royal. It was a beautiful drive - we watched the sun come up, we drove through clouds, we saw so many trees turning yellow and orange and red, and the views into the valleys were amazing.

Sentry duty outside the hotel this morning.

I heard a noise....

Choices. We chose Skyline Drive.

Looking into the Shenandoah Valley.

Then sun breaking through the clouds.

So, I don't remember where this was because we turned into so many overlooks. Sorry for the lack of labels - just trust me the whole thing was beautiful.

One of the 14 deer we saw.

A panorama shot from one of the overlooks.

It was cool to watch this cloud roll up the mountain.

There was even a tunnel on the road!

From Skyline Drive we went to Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historic Park, which recognizes the Battle of Cedar Creek and the nearby plantation. There was a small museum there, with a few artifacts - actually, more than there were at Appomattox, from what we saw. Every year they have a recreation of the battle on the original site. The lady at the visitor center said they have close to 2,000 people signed up to come next weekend to re-enact the Union victory.

We didn't get any pictures of the battlefield. Sorry. It really was just a pasture with some rocks in it, so you can probably imagine that.

A period uniform.

A couple of rifles from the battle.

I got a book about the battle to learn more.

After the battlefield we headed to our hotel in West Virginia. We drove for four hours without a stop along Highways 48 and 50, which even took us into Maryland for a little while. Both roads wound through, over, and around beautiful mountains and countryside. Since we didn't stop, the pictures are from the car. Pictures from Mom and Dad's phones can't really capture the beauty of the landscape, anyway.

This bridge had a sign that said trucks and busses had to take turns.

Dad had fun with this road - he said it was like playing a rally racing game with all the twists, turns, ups, and downs - and all the signs telling you how fast to take the turns.

We arrived at the hotel around 5:00 PM - and it is much nicer than the other West Virginia hotel we stayed at. We were all tired after our longest stretch in the car for the whole trip, so we had Dairy Queen for a treat: Blizzards all around!

And that was the day - thanks for reading!