Road Trip to Virginia! (Day 3)

October 13, 2012 (Saturday)

Shenandoah NP - Hiking

We headed back to Shenandoah after breakfast at the hotel. We stopped by the Dickey Ridge Visitor Center to get some recommendations on hikes and waterfalls to visit.  All along the 105-mile Skyline Drive there are scenic pull-outs. We stopped at a lot of them throughout our trip. Our first hike for the day was the Stony Man trail (near mile post 42). The trail was 1.6 miles and fairly easy.  There was a nice rocky overlook at about the halfway point of the loop.

We continued driving and stopped to hike the Rose River Loop Trail (near mile post 49). The trail was four miles long and a bit more challenging. Along the Rose River Trail, there is a stream and waterfall. The waterfall was a disappointment, but the hike along the stream was nice. We were able to branch off the trail and checked out Dark Hollow Falls, which only added a short distance to the hike. The Dark Hollow Falls was not very impressive during our visit.

Shenandoah NP - "Big Meadows"

We visited the Byrd Visitor Center at Mile Post 51. The visitor center was very busy in the early afternoon and we had to wait for a parking space to become available. The Byrd Visitor Center had a nice display set up and they also show a video. Across from this location is an area that is called “Big Meadows”. It is basically just a big field with some trees at random. People were out there running around.

Monticello

Initially, we planned to drive the entire 105 miles of Skyline Drive, but we decided to hop off at mile post 65 (Swift Run Gap) so we could head to Charlottesville and visit Monticello. Ticket prices for the house tour and grounds a bit steep $24/adult (during the season we visited) and $8 for ages 6-11.  The guided House Tour allows you to view the homes on the first floor and lasts about 35 minutes. Prior to visiting, the house there is a 20 minute film that describes the importance of the home to Jefferson’s life and work. There is also an exhibit gallery that is quite nice.  Kid friendly activities are available at this site. Personally, if I decided to go again I think that I would skip the ticket for the home tour and just walk around the grounds and look at the other displays.

Our goal for the night was to make it to Richmond, mostly because hotel rates at Charlottesville were really high. We ended up staying at Comfort Suites in Glen Allen. The hotel room was large and clean. Our only issue was that the refrigerator was making really annoying noise, we had to unplug it for the night. When we checked out, we mentioned it and some other people said they had the same problem. We had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory – yum!