Blue Ridge Parkway

On Friday I hired a car for the weekend. After a somewhat epic grocery shopping trip (they had my favorite wine on sale 1/2 price - what's a girl to do?), I headed to Staunton along the Blue Ridge Parkway. It takes a lot longer this route as the speed limit is ~45mph but the view is worth it.

Unfortunately the weather wash;t great for the first half of the trip. But the views were still pretty. 

Cloud hidden mountain

View

It seems like summer is definitely over now. Some of the trees have already turned.

Fall colors.

Still there were some flowers out to remind me of summer.

Daisies. 

I stopped at a few of the overlooks. Some were more like lay-bys - the view was just the woods. Others had little walks to get to the view. I decided to go on the one which was a 6min round trip. My kind of hike!

Waltz through the woods.

For my little walk.

The sun eventually came out and made the views a lot prettier.

Sunny!

My favorite was at thunder ridge. For the most part, thanks to being a Friday I had the parkway to myself. Thunder Ridge was a few mins from the road and the view was amazing. And it was so quiet! It has been a long time since I have heard that kind of silent. Just an occasional bird and acorn falling off a tree. It was rely peaceful just watching the view.

On top of the world

Across Virginia.

There was this great viewing platform that jutted out of the hill to give a better view. Maybe it's because I have been reading the Narnia books, but it felt like there should a throne or something up there.

A view to rule a kingdom!

I could have sat up there all day but I left after about half a hour. Partly because some other people showed up (and I was feeling anti-social - it was a view best appreciated in silence I thought; they did not), and partly because I had forgotten to pack bug spray. And the bugs were loving me. Thankfully no bites but I think I eat a few flies. Yuck. Also I did have to get moving.

My next stop was crossing the James River. It was beautiful! I am hoping to go kayaking down it in a few weeks when the rest of the leaves have turned. Fingers crossed.

James River

James River

The Blue Ridge Parkway ends just as the Shenandoah begins but I took the road west to Staunton to crash for the night. I had packed some goodies in a cool bag for the evening (to save money) so chilled out in my hotel room with one of my favorite wines (seriously R collection wine is amazing!), cheeses, cured meats and crackers. Oh and anchovies. (I like them!) With all that and catching up on Sons of Anarchy, it was a very good night. :-)

Dinner!