Day 13, April 28, Start with Skyline, End with Wine!

Today was a great day, to once again experience wonderful new natural sites, to visit local attractions, and to learn some new things about the RV.

We started this morning doing a little clean up and laundry, when first we awoke. We then packed up and departed for our morning destination, the Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park (SNP). The park and the road are located in the Blue Ridge Mountains section of the Appalachian Mountain Range. For the first time, we were able to use the Lifetime National Parks Pass that Doug received as a retirement gift from his former ARC colleagues!!

We entered the park at the Thornton Gap entrance and drove south stopping for lunch at the main Visitors' Center at Big Meadow. We drove up, along, and down the mountain along scenic Skyline Drive. It is a winding road that goes to the highest point in this mountains range -- elevation 3680 ft above sea level.. The drive is famous and frequented for the many wonderful views and vistas of the Shenandoah Valley. It did not disappoint. The weather also cooperated, being in the mid-5o's in the high elevations, and a sunny, blue sky with scattered, puffy white clouds.

Patrise drove from the entrance, until we reached the Visitors' Center, to allow Doug to photograph different sites along the way, either from the car or outside of the car at the various overlook points along the drive. After lunch at the center -- complete with blackberry cobbler for dessert -- we continued the drive until reaching our departure point near Elkton, VA. Doug drove this part of the trip.

Here are some of the views of we saw today.

(Here we are at the Thornton Gap entrance to the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park.)

(A view early in the Skyline Drive journey.)

(Selfie at the highest point on the drive.)

(Information sign about the early history of SNP, located at the main Visitors' Center.)

(We now have a national parks passport that we can stamp every time we visit a new national park or national historic site. These are our first three stamps: (1) the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site in Greeneville (sic), TN; (2) the Appalachian National Scenic Trail and (3) the Shenandoah National Park stamps, which we obtained today.)

(View from the Skyline Drive overlooking the town of Elkton and nearby areas.)

(We stopped to eat at the lodge nearby the Visitors' Center.)

(The Visitors' Center Lodge is known as the Big Meadows Lodge, because that is the primary geographical feature of the park near the lodge location. It has been a popular destination inside SNP, since the park was opened.)

(Eagerly awaiting the grub!)

After lunch, we stopped at a nearby overlook location that was very close to the Appalachian Trail. The trail begins in Georgia and terminates in Maine. Maybe one day we'll think about doing that for a long trip, but for today, we fulfilled a dream of Patrise's just to be able to walk along it for a while. Here are the pics of that moment.

(Patrise walking along the Appalachian Trail.)

(Standing near a scared tree on the trail.)

(No famous site is complete without a selfie, of course!)

(Viewing the trail as it winds southward toward Georgia.)

(Viewing the trail as it winds northward toward Maine. We couldn't decide which direction to go, so we just got back in the RV and continued the Skyline Drive journey. LOLOL!!)

After we left the park, we stopped to visit the Brix and Columns Vineyard in McGaheysville, VA, on the outskirts of Elton. It is a lovely, small vineyard that is owned by a relative of our dear friends Ann-Carole Pence and Anthony Rodriguez. The owners are related to Ann-Carol; in fact they are her cousins. Ann-Carol grew up in nearby Harrisonburg, and we think she went to James Madison University. The vineyard was located in a bucolic setting, with plenty of green grass, shrubs, and young grape vines.

(Arriving at the Brix & Columns Winery.)

(Stephanie Pence, Ann-Carol's cousin.)

(Walter, the winery's mascot. Walter is a big, friendly Great Dane.)

We sat outside and savored a flight of the sweet wines that they produced. One of them, White Brix, won a gold medal in the Virginia Governors Wine Competition in 2020 and 2021. Doug loved three of them and purchased a bottle of each.

(Enjoying the views and some snacks.)

(The flight of wines to be sampled, but Doug was up to the arduous task.)

(Views of the winery and vineyards.)

(More of the vinyards.)

After we left the winery, we went literally across the main street to Hank’s BBQ and picked up BBQ to go for dinner.

We took a circuitous route back to the campground where we refilled the RV's propane tank with assistance from one of the campground workers. Also with the assistance of the campground workers, we finally figured out how to connect cable to the RV, and for the first night we had TV for a couple of hours.

We decided to wrap up the evening early and prepare to leave for West Virginia tomorrow.