THE SILVER LINING OF NOT BEING ABLE TO “JETSET”
For some of my initial blogs, I have transferred some of my FACEBOOK prose, so that new readers can have a glimpse of what I have been putting out there over the past 5 months. I spend many moments feeling “cooped up” , wondering when I will be able to safely plan that next holiday that involves a plane…… Here is one from May that addresses our common fate.
So you don’t want to get in a plane, and you don’t want to go to the beach. You want to do something different, and get away from the home you have been stuck in since March…. There are plenty of great drivable destinations from the NY Metro area. I have covered some in past posts, ie St. Michael’s MD, Maine, and Palmetto Bluff SC. I would encourage a visit to any of these wonderful spots, but often overlooked is the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway, and the Shenandoah Valley. This region, which lies mostly in Virginia, yet borders West Virginia offers a multi tiered experience. The hiking and vistas are breathtaking. This region also borders may of the sites of Civil War battles, providing a chance to gain insight into the region and events where so many American soldiers lost their lives. I was first introduced to this area back in the 1960s and 1970s by my father. He was a history buff and he loved road trips. Since he spent some time down in Norfolk and Newport News in his time working for the Navy, he knew Virginia. Naturally, he wanted to show us this beautiful state and force some history lessons on us along the way! I can still remember hot summer afternoons walking along the Petersburg Battlefield and feeling sad and somewhat terrified by what had happened in this bucolic park.
The love of this region, the love of history, and the love of road trips stuck with me, so in 2006, when we took our epic summer long RV trip, our first stretch of country road would be Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway. We had just “forced” our boys to visit Monticello…..and they came out of this visit with a better sense of the history of Virginia. Then we got in the car and set out to discover the Shenandoah Valley. This was their first taste of real country outside of the occasional trip out to see the NJ Cardinals in Sussex County NJ! They were still in shock that we had robbed them of a summer at the beach and were still thinking they could act badly enough to ground the trip to a halt. What occurred during our few days in the Shenandoah Valley was a transformation and an opening of their minds.
They embraced the views from the RV along the Skyline Drive and indulged me in tales told of my family vacations down here… but what won them over was the hike to the Humpback Rocks which sits where Skyline Drive meets the Blue Ridge Parkway. We had planned for multiple hikes on the trip, and this was the first. It began with groans and ended with a revelation that excitement and adrenaline can come from nature, not just a video game. This hike is not too long, but takes you from a trailhead where there is a farming education center ( boring for boys), to a trail winding through a forest with a gradual incline that is not quite evident. Then, the views!!!!! It took my breath away, as I had underestimated that the panorama of the Shenandoah Valley would be our destination. This, and the rocks to scramble, the near death acrobatics of jumping from one to the other above a sheer drop off…this is what hooked them in, and brought about a change of heart.
In the two days we continued along the Blue Ridge Parkway and cut through the southern hip town of Bristol, eventually ending up in Great Smokey NP. There were more hikes along the way. We were officially out of our comfort zone, and we were ALL loving it.
There are many RV campgrounds that dot the entire Blue Ridge Parkway and the Shenandoah valley. But if you want to drive a car and need some cushy amenities for lodging, then consider a few of the wonderful resorts in the region as your final destination. There are great family resorts like the Greenbrier ( about an hour from the parkway), or Omni Hot Springs. There are also some that cater to the adult crowd, notably Primland. There is a lot to do in the Shenandoah Valley if you embrace the outdoors, enjoy farm to table dining, and have an interest in our nation’s history. Either way, it is a region that you can easily reach from NJ, that will melt the stress and awaken the soul. And you may even have a life changing moment, like our boys did.
