The drive starts in earnest now – just South of Front Royal VA begins the beautiful Skyline Drive. This twisty mountain road is part of the Shenandoah National Park and ends up near Charlottesville VA. It’s a fantastic driving road (as long as you are not stuck behind a caravan) full of twists and elevation changes with plenty of scenic areas to pull over and admire the view. This time of year seems perfect for this drive as the trees are just starting to bloom, the air is crisp and there are very few cars on the road.
At the end of Skyline we drove east and discovered a fantastic brewery up in the mountains. The Blue Mountain Brewery not only has a great selection of fresh beer, the food is excellent. Quite a surprise to discover this it what would seemingly be a very rural area. We then drove towards the home of Thomas Jefferson “Monticello”. The house tour is costly ($22) but it’s worth doing as the grounds of the home are very well maintained. I was surprised by how small the house was after seeing the opulent homes in England. It’s hard to judge the size from the image on the nickel!
Back to driving as we entered the Blue Ridge Parkway. This road was similar to Skyline Drive but was not as pristine and seemed more like a great country road. Still it included many twists in the road and great views – although not as many places to pull over for photos.
Back for more of the BRPW today.
