But this country, the Shanendoah Valley, is so incredibly pretty; there are birds chirping outside the RV, and Mark is putting together a little kite we have, to try flying it this afternoon. Tomorrow maybe the fog will lift in the mountains and we'll explore Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway. Here is the beautiful spot we have in Luray, Virginia, just west of the Blue Ridge Parkway. There are rolling green hills, cows and sheep on the next door farms, thousands of birds in the trees, even bunnies hopping in the grass.
Here is Katie running down the hill to look for the sheep next door.
The Blue Ridge Parkway was very pretty, but I bet it is even better after the leaves arrive on the trees, and the wildflowers appear, and the visitors centers all open. We're a little early for all that, and we saw pictures of this area in the fall that show it must be breathtaking when the trees turn (Oct. 10 - 25 is the height of that season). Part of the history of the area is that many mountain families were forced to move in the 1930s so that the Blue Ridge Parkway could be built and the area could become a national park. Folks were lobbying for a national park near Washington DC to sort of jump-start the park system, and there was a woman who wrote a scathing account of mountain folk, called Holler Folk I believe, in the early 1930s. She was a well-meaning, ambitious young teacher who saw the people here as almost savages and starving to death, but really she only saw a small percentage of the people of the area, and she created stereotypes of the mountain people that persisted for generations. Anyway, we get to enjoy this area that those families worked hard to make their own back then. Now it is enjoyed by millions of people who drive through or hike on the trails (there are 500 miles of trails, including the famous Appalachian Trail).
Here is a section of the parkway:
We stopped and hiked a short (.6 mile) but steep trail down to a waterfall. Here is the waterfall:
Katie did fine going down the hill, but, true to 4-year-old form, wanted to be carried out. We resisted carrying her, though, and she made it to the top all by herself, despite a lot of whining, and more stopping to play and look at things (like a fuzzy caterpillar) than maybe Daddy would have liked. She's learning though! Here she and Mark are, on the way back up:
We took this next picture to show just how high the mountains here are. I don't know if you can read the sign, but I think the elevation is about 3600 feet:
Katie and I drove the back roads to a nearby town so we could mail some boxes back home (containing stuff we're just not using--to try and make some more room for all the junk, I mean stuff, we do have). On the way, we saw a big sign, "Farm for Sale" and called the number. The farm had a large, fancy brick Victorian farm house, another white building from the Civil War (it was called the White House and I think had something to do with Stonewall Jackson), and a lot of pretty fields bordering the White River in Luray. The owner said that the farm has 270 acres and they're asking 2.8 million. Looks like a great development opportunity to me, you could divide it into twelve 20-acre lots, everyone could have their own little farm along the river. Anyone got 3 mill burning a hole in their pocket?
Here's Katie having an ice cream cone at a real soda fountain at a pharmacy in Woodstock, VA where we stopped to do the mailing:
I couldn't get enough of the beauty of these hills and the pretty, historic farms. Here we are eating dinner outside to watch the colors deepen close to sunset. This has to be one of the prettiest, if not the prettiest private campground we have stayed at so far. It'll make our Best/Worst list for sure, and I hope we get to return someday.
After our dinner, the owner walked over and chatted with us about America and this area. She is from Switzerland, and misses the trains there which can take you wherever you need to go. If this country had trains that good, and folks willing to actually use them, more people would live in places like this, which would only be a 2-hour commute by train to DC. Oh well, it's a jem of a place to visit. I took her picture on the way out; here it is:
