Shane and I booked a somewhat last minute trip over the memorial holiday weekend to return to Virginia, specifically near the Shenandoah area. We visited Shenandoah National Park back in November right after Thanksgiving last year and enjoyed it very much that we wanted to go back to see the mountains all green and the flowers bloomed.
I was searching through air bnb on 5-26 and came across the cutest place. Immediately I thought no way is this place going to be available on the holiday weekend....but it was! Welcome to the shire!😍
*insert hobbit music here*
Loved seeing the poppies and other wildflowers around the property.
We did a couple hikes in the Shenandoah National Park. We did Mary's rock which is close to the Thornton gap entrance of the national park. We saw Lots of people and dogs on this trail. The elevation change isn't too bad. Pic of us at the top:
Outside of the park we did the storybook trail which is really nice for families not looking to hike. It was completely paved with a lookout. Wheel chair friendly as well. You can see the platform with the overlook in the picture below:
I had an episode of elevation sickness when we first arrived after our 5 hour drive to the park from Pittsburgh. It was strange since I didn't think the elevation change was significant enough and since we were at the park before and I had zero issues then. So just a word of advice when hiking in higher elevation: always hydrate before hitting the trail and take it easy on your first day. We tried to do hawksbill mountain but not too far in I got light headed, my heart rate dropped, I got hot, and had to sit down on the trail. It wasn't the first time I had this feeling but it wasn't fun. I knew I could no longer finish the hike but better to be safe. We stopped at a couple overlooks on skyline Drive instead. We saw an indigo bunting while viewing the mountains:
Virginia is also good for wine country ! Picture of Third Hill winery this trip:
They always say Virginia is for lovers 🤩 and id have to agree that you will fall in love with the state if you've never been! cheers!
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