shenandoah valley, virginia
having lived a large part of my early childhood in virginia, i came to love trips to the shanandoah valley, in particular the blue ridge parkway. dubbed "america's favorite drive", it's 469 miles of meadows, split-rail fences, old farmsteads and historic structures complement spectacular views of distant mountains and neighboring valleys.
the parkway connects the shenandoah national park in virginia with the great smokey mountains national park in north carolina. about 1,000 years ago, when i was a boy scout, we would take our camping trips to the shanandoah national park. there is nothing like the smell of a campfire in the chill of the morning, waking up to a scene like this;
aside from the spectacular views and quaint towns, the shanandoah valley is rich in early american history. the wilderness road, carved out from native american trails, is a combination of several roads taken by early pioneers, such as daniel boone and, lewis and clark, in their trek west. during the civil war, the shanandoah valley was a major thoroughfare for both armies and saw no less than 325 conflicts in 4 years of war.
southern california doesn't have much in the way of nature's color pallet. most everything is brown, tan, or sage. i miss the green. don't misunderstand me, i think the desert and scrub has a beauty of it's own. but there's few places around here that can even come close to the shenandoah valley.so this weekend, i want to go here and enjoy some of the best nature has to offer....
2 comments:
This is a good one! It reminds me of that song from the Reader's Digest Family Songbook- Oh Shenandoe.
My best childhood memories are from this area (and points east, of course, namely Ft. Monroe). If I ever get back to the Blue Ridge, I'll probably never leave it.
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