WE TOOK A RIDE UP TO SKYLINE DRIVE ON MONDAY - 4-15-24

When we see the sign in the above photo, we always know we are getting close to the Thornton Gap entrance. There are several entrances, but this is the one we usually take getting there. Our route took us through Sperryville. 

We followed the mail truck for a while. 

You can read about the history of Skyline Drive at this link. It also has a map showing its length, which is 105 miles north and south along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Shenandoah National Park. We drive to Big Meadows and then carry on to the next exit at Swift Run Gap near Elkton, heading towards Stanardsville.

The road going through the mountain is called Mary's Rock.  No one knows with any certainty how it got its name, who was Mary? The story that seems to be more popular than most is that of a young girl by that name, who was lost in the mountains, and was later discovered walking down from this peak with two bear cubs. Whether or not as to its truth, the 360 degree view from the top is one of the most spectacular in the park. The first overlook as you get out of the tunnel is the one we stopped at.

The tunnel is 670 feet long and was bored through solid granite in 1932. Below is an information board with a few details.

I cropped my photo above for an easier read. If you enlarge the photos it will be even easier.

Unfortunately. the character's shovel is right in the middle of the photo below.

The tunnel was partially lined with concrete in 1958, to alleviate the formation of icicles in winter and water seepage in summer - a partially successful effort.

The building of the road was put into motion by President Herbert Hoover (31st US President from 1929 to 1933). He had a fishing camp that is still in the park apparently. President Hoover was already very familiar with the area, and it was he who proposed the building of the road. There were national parks out in the western part of the United States at that time, but none here. The Government was looking to build a park somewhere in the East and Virginia advocated very strongly for it to be built in this State.

3,000,000 young men were hired by the The Civilian Conservation Corps during The Great Depression. They did jobs like plant trees, maintain trails, control mosquitos and infrastructural projects like building Skyline Drive. 

All had to be in their early 20s and unmarried, so that part of the money that they earned would also help support their families back home. They lived in the park and were paid $30 a month, $5 of which they were allowed to keep, and $25 dollars was sent home to their families.  

There is an interesting YouTube here, telling in brief about the people who were displaced. They had lived their whole lives before it was made a National Park, and subsequently removed from their land without a choice. (I did read somewhere that elderly people were allowed to stay.)

Some were happy to go but others were not.

More history of the park can be read at this link.

Here are 15 of the best things you can do in the park.

At the time of this post, there is a $30 entrance fee per vehicle, and you can read other information at this website.  We bought a lifetime pass several years ago. Wherever we go in the United States, we can use it to get into every National Park. You can read about them here. Inpart it reads:

“The National Park System encompasses 429 national park sites in the United States. They span across 84 million acres, with parks in each state and extending into the territories, including Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa and Guam.”

There is free entry on special days of the year.

Monday, January 16th - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Saturday, April 22nd - First Day of National Park Week

Friday, August 4th - Anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act

Saturday, September 23rd - National Public Lands Day

Saturday, November 11th - Veteran's Day

This post is only a very tiny view into how beautiful this area is. We have been coming here off and on, depending on where we have lived at the time, for well over 40 years.

I'm afraid these were the only deer we saw that day, two plastic ones on someone's front yard on the way home. They fooled me for a few seconds, but doggy here saved the day.

A clearer picture of doggy fix, and the telephone lines didn't bother me a bit.

Thanks for visiting everyone, and I wish you all a very happy Thursday.

WORD OF THE DAY AND DANDELION POEMS

"Dismiss me as a weed," it laughs, 

For it knows resilience is its craft. 

Roots delve deep, seeking hidden streams, 

Drawing sustenance from heaven's sunbeams."

Which leads me to the word of the day "resilience", which means to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.  At different times we have all had to show our resilience.

"Simple and fresh and fair from winter's close emerging,

As if no artifice of fashion, business, or politics, had ever been,

Forth from its sunny nook or shelter'd grass - 

innocent, golden, calm as the dawn,

The spring's first dandelion shows its trustful face."

~Walt Whitman~

We took a trip up to Skyline Drive the other day. A lot of people had the same idea as it was busier than we expected. This was on a weekday and not the weekend. Being retired we usually go when we think it is going to be relatively quiet, but the warmth and sunshine beckoned many, including us. 

My first poem is with a little help from AI, with prompts by me, changing words to suit my own ideas. Walt Whitman needs no introduction here in the States, but for those of you elsewhere you can click on his name and it will take you to more information.

My photos are from the first overlook. After looking at the gorgeous view, I was drawn to a few dandelions. Seeing the splash of yellow several yards away was enough for me to go check them out.

I thought how pretty! And then when I got home I saw a dandelion in the garden about to shed its seeds everywhere and I went, "Oh no!", aghast at the thought. Why do we do that? Poor old dandelion! And yet when we see a beautiful sculpture of one, we go "Oh that's beautiful!" and admire it.

The sculpture was part of an exhibit at The Norfolk Botanical Garden in 2013, a place we used to go regularly at one time, but it's been a long time since our last visit. 

Poor, maligned dandelion! A field of them looks gorgeous, but one in the garden is enough to make me run to get the weeding tool. There are a few other weeds, but I want to make sure they are not seedlings from the flowers we planted last year. A great gardener I am not by any stretch of the imagination, but I live in hope that we will be seeing a few pretties blooming soon. The hellebore is thriving beautifully.

ADDED NOTE: Saturday, April 20th, 2024.

A link that takes you to Instagram and tells you interesting information about the dandelion  Go here to see it. 

Thanks for visiting and enjoy your day!

SHORT VIDEO AS WE DRIVE ALONG SKYLINE DRIVE IN THE SHENANDOAH NATIONAL PARK - 11-14-23

I have been late getting back to you all over the last few days, but I will be catching up on my visiting very soon.  

It is late and I am behind in putting a post together. I am sharing a quick video for a change of pace, with trees, trees and more trees as we drove along Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park. Also, a little bit of a back-and-forth chit-chat. The video lasts 2 minutes and 43 seconds. I tried to keep it short-ish.

It was a beautiful drive but we saw no animals. We were hoping for deer and even bear - none today. Maybe the bear have already hibernated. It was pretty chilly up the mountains. It often seems when we are out looking for them, none appear. I saw a couple of hawks, a turkey vulture and a few small birds, but none were photo ops. Next time I hope!

There aren't too many photos, but I will share what I have eventually. I ended my video with a rather theatrical "byeeeeee", thinking this would be for the two of us, so don't mind me.  I think I channeled my dear Mum as that's how she always ended our phone calls back in the day. But Gregg always encourages me to share on my blog, and said I should post it. I did want you to see how pretty all those trees were as we drove by. We always make a short video on our outings, usually only for the two of us, and our son and daughter-in-law. It's a nice record of where we have been and fun to look at when they pop up a few years later.

(I have no clue how to edit these videos and I'll have to look into it sometime.  If anyone wants to give a tutorial on how to shorten them on an iPhone, I would love to see it.)

A QUICK TRIP UP TO SKYLINE DRIVE

 At the end of June before it go too hot, we were eager for a trip to Skyline Drive because, like so many places we have put on hold, it had been well over a year since our last visit.  For a while we followed and admired the Rolls Royce with its convertible top.  Its driver had probably been waiting for a day like this too.

 We drove through beautiful countryside and...

we reached the foothills in a little less than an hour.  

Not too long after we enter the Shenandoah National Park.  

Today was a day for driving but we did stop at a few overlooks and took in all those incredible views.

Skyline Drive is a 105 mile (169 km) road that runs the entire length of the National Park Service's Shenandoah National Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, and the road mostly takes you along the ridge of the mountains.   

You can read about the history of Skyline Drive at this link.  

The above photo I took from part of one of those explanation boards you find at each overlook.

I could not pass up the opportunity to take a few photos of wildflowers.  This is one I had never noticed before and is a species of Catchflies (Silene).  It goes by many names: Bird’s eggs, bladder campion, blue root, bubble-poppy, cobwell, devil’s rattlebox, maiden’s tears, rattlebox, rattleweed, sea pink, snappery, white bottle, white hen, bladder silene and cowbell to name a few.  

Its botanical name is Silene vulgaris and is native to Europe and western Asia but naturalized throughout southern Australia and in New Zealand. Nowadays it has been introduced in many other regions of the world, including ours.  It is very popular with pollinators, a perennial that grows in Spring, Summer and Fall.  Quite hardy too and it can survive in temperatures as low as -30 degrees Fahrenheit.  You can see more photos here.  

Next we have Yellow Sweet Clover (Melilotus officinalis).  It goes by many names also: Sweetclover, Yellow sweet-clover, Common melilot,  Ribbed melilot, Cornilla real, Yellow melilot and Field melilot.  A member of the legume family, sweet clovers are native to Europe but were brought to the United States as early as 1600 for forage and the production of honey.  The above and a lot more information was found here.

Next is a Common Milkweed which I found in the middle of tall grasses.  Its other names are Silkweed, Butterfly flower and Silky swallow-wort. Its botanical name is Asclepias syriaca and it is native to North America.  The genus was formally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, who named it after Asclepius, the Greek god of healing. Butterflies, especially Monarchs, use milkweed to lay their eggs, and it is the only plant that the developing larvae will feed on. Monarch populations are declining, and I am hearing of more and more people planting Milkweed in their gardens to help with the Monarch's migration and ultimate survival. You can read more information about Milkweed here, and there is a very interesting YouTube on Monarchs and Milkweeds here, where you will learn how important Milkweed is to this butterfly.  

One of our shorter rides up here but very enjoyable nonetheless.

Thanks for looking and enjoy your day.