Eastward Bound!
- Deb
- Apr 3
- 2 min read
Our time with friends in Arkansas and Texas came to an end. Now time to head northeast to see family and then home. We worked our way through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Virginia. We decided to drive Skyline Drive of Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Two years ago when we visited it we encountered rain and fog which resulted in zero visibility. Great decision to revisit!
The trees have no leaves yet but that made for some interesting photos! It was a beautiful day. And less people around too! We saw around 40 live deer along the drive.
Congress established the park in 1926. It is 200,000 acres and spans the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Shenandoah’s history also boasts the first national park to host the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The 10,000 CCC boys who lived and worked in Shenandoah National Park from 1933 – 1942 built visitor centers, picnic grounds, trails and much of the infrastructure visitors still rely on. Civil Rights is also part of Shenandoah’s history. Lewis Mountain in the park’s Central District was the segregated area of the park from 1935 to 1950. The “Negro Area” sign from Lewis Mountain is now part of an exhibition honoring the history of the park at Byrd Visitor Center.
Sadly around 500 families were displaced for the building of Skyline Drive. We stopped at the Byrd Visitor Center to learn the meadow behind they had recently done a control burn of one third of the meadow. The second third they mowed and the last third they left to grow. Every year they alternate. Shenandoah National Park is home to large mammals like black bear, whitetail deer, and bobcat. The park also is filled with birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians, including the globally rare Shenandoah salamander—found on three ridge tops in the park and nowhere else on the planet.
We were very happy we returned to visit this wonder!
On to See Family!
The last leg of this adventure was the biggest treat ever! We landed at Kara and Peter’s in Maryland. Their back yard is a perfect spot for our motor home! Also we were able to meet Peter’s parents for the first time. We cooked for them in Dutch Ovens!
THEN was the best surprise ever! On Monday Kara drove us to Conowingo Dam on the Susquehanna River to view over 50 eagles! 🦅 I am a crazy eagle fanatic so this was a dream come true for me! My head was spinning they were in every direction! Between the ones we could see and the ones high in the air there had to be 100! So unreal. The turbines of the dam stun many of the fish that come through and some sadly are killed so it is easy pickings for the eagles and other water fowl. Many photo enthusiasts come to take photos. I took some of my own.
What a special place!
A final visit with some folks we have not seen in several years who are good friends with Kara and our final trip home 🏠. Most definitely goes into the books as a great adventure filled with new friends, old friends, family, beautiful scenery, and of course dogs.
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