Shenandoah Adventure-Loop
Shenandoah Adventure-Loop
Shenandoah National Park Area Video. photo from Adventure-Crew.com
Start your visit to the DC area in a small town like Winchester, VA. Stay in one of the smaller, family operated motels and your budget as well as your family will thank you for it.
1. Winchester, VA
Winchester, VA. Photo from video capture of The Shenandoah National Park Area video.
Fall color captured.
You want Fall color? My wife and I think that the only better place to see the leaves change than Shenandoah might be The Smokys because of the more vertical scope over Shenandoah. Other than that, Shenandoah NP is truly one of the best places on our continent to enjoy the autumn color rush.
Adventure-Crew.com, Editor.
3. The Appalachian Trail (AT)
The Appalachian Trail. Photo from appalachiantrail.org
Another interesting fact about Shenandoah is that The Appalachian Trail runs right through the national park on its way to the next historical stop, Harper’s Ferry before finishing its trek on up to its northern terminus at Katahdin, Maine. In 1921, the Appalachian National Scenic Trail was simply an idea. Benton MacKaye – an off-and-on federal employee, educated as a forester and self-trained as a planner – proposed it as the connecting thread of “a project in regional planning.”The efforts of countless volunteers made MacKaye’s idea a reality. Today, the Appalachian Trail is best known as a simple footpath, yet it also has other identities – as a greenway, a flyway, a “mega-transect”; by which to monitor environmental health. It is the mission of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy to ensure that future generations will enjoy clean air and water, scenic vistas, wildlife and opportunities for simple recreation and renewal along the entire Trail corridor.appalachiantrail.org, Editor.Skyline drive is many miles long and a leisurely or thorough investigation of Shenandoah NP requires a full day. So, if you don’t want to spend eight hours or more traveling the full length of the park on Skyline Dr, get off and head east on either Rapidan Rd, right after Big Meadows, or go on down to Hwy 33 further south. Either way, you’ll need to head towards I-95, the main North/South freeway that skirts the Atlantic. Fredericksburg is on I-95 where Hwy 17 crosses it.
#4. Fredericksburg, VA
Fredericksburg, VA. Photo from Adventure-Crew.com
A strategic location between Richmond and Washington, DC, made Fredericksburg the site of some of the Civil War’s most grisly battles. While these events are very much in Fredericksburg’s past, they are by no means forgotten. A trip to the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park includes historian led tours that inform visitors of the battles. This particular site also includes Chatham, a pre-revolutionary mansion that served, at times, as both a Union hospital and an army headquarters. Visitors can tour five rooms of the home. At the Fredericksburg National Cemetery, visitors can pay their respects to more than 15,000 Civil War soldiers. WorldWeb.com
Leave Fredericksburg and head north on I-95 into Washington DC about 35 miles away. About halfway to DC you’ll be passing right by the Quantico training grounds for many of our special forces; it will be on your right, to the east. The area through which I-95 passes over at this point is commonly referred to as The Farm by many elite forces and spy organizations globally and is the center of many of our country’s intelligence processing.
You’ll want to switch to the I-395 bypass towards Arlington if you’re going to follow our advice and park at the National Cemetery to take the shuttle around to see the monuments.
5. Washington DC
- The Capitol. Photos by Stu Marks/Adventure-Crew.com
Washington, D.C., commonly referred to as D.C., is the Federal Capital of the United States of America. As such, this city contains an incredible array of attractions that aren’t found elsewhere in the country. Among the attractions are a series of memorials and monuments, such as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. While the Smithsonian Institution has programs and facilities throughout the nation, Washington is where 16 of its museums and the National Zoo are located, displaying less than two percent of the 142 million artifacts the institute owns. National museums in D.C. include the National Air and Space Museum, the National Building Museum, the National Gallery of Art and the National Postal Museum, to name but a few. Other prominent sights while in the Capital are the cornerstones of the U.S. Government: the United States Capitol, the United States Supreme Court and the White House, home of the President of the United States.Our trip to Washington DC was greatly enhanced by taking some advice of friends and family who had been there before by parking at the Arlington National Cemetary. There we hooked up with the tram system that operates all week long and allows visitors the luxury of getting on and off each tram as individual schedules require. In this way we were able to see all of the important sites that we wished to see, when we wished to see them, as well as deciding to spend as much time at each one as we desired. The Lee family is in my lineage so we spent some extra time at the Lee mansion located within the cemetary. Another added benifit to parking at Arlington and starting and ending your tour of DC there is the security of your vehicle. No one messes with the Marines in DC. All though I never suggest leaving valuables in your car, and the guards there have posted a sign relinquishing them from all responsibility of personal affects in one’s vehicle, I still left behind some of the bulkier items locked in the car.
Arlington National Cemetery and other national monuments.
Arlington National Cemetery is open to the public at 8 a.m. 365 days a year. From April 1 to Sept. 30 the cemetery closes at 7 p.m.; the other six months it closes at 5 p.m.
Ample paid parking is available to visitors, accessible from Memorial Drive. As of June 1, 2008, the cost is $1.75/hour for the first three hours, and $2.00/hour thereafter. Commercial rates are $7.00/hr for the first three hours. During all hours the cemetery is open the Arlington National Cemetery Metro stop is regularly served by highspeed subway trains. The cemetery is also a stop on most tour guides’ itineraries, and is serviced by Tourmobile, the popular tour buses that allow patrons unlimited reboarding for a single daily rate.
A word about Washington DC;
Our nation’s capitol is best enjoyed on foot. Our National Park Service, under several presidents including the George Bushes, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan and earlier ones have done a wonderful job of keeping the city beautiful as well as accessible throughout the many changes of security requirements. Unless you have some specific reason to stay near your car (which means you won’t be visiting 95% of the city) plan on taking the tram around DC. You’ll be getting on and off low-rigged trams to see whatever you wish using a very tourist friendly system. This also applies to many with special needs so check with specific sites before planning a trip. One of my greatest joys was to actually place my hands within the engraved words in some of the monuments that completely despoils the myth that this country was founded by agnostics. Our country is the most morally upright nation on this planet which is what made us great; not our diversity or our supposed pluralism. Nobody risked life and limb to get to America for diversity. They have come by the droves for freedom and liberty; two elements that can only be maintained by a nation with moral fortitude and respect for all humans regardless of origin or faith.
WorldWeb.com, ArlingtonCemetery.org, Editor
When you’re through seeing the sites in our grand capitol city, head back to Winchester, VA and kick back in your motel room before checking out some of Winchester’s quaint eating establishments. Or, stop for dinner on the way home along one of the many shopping and eating strips along I-66/Hwy17. We ate dinner at a Don Pablo’s along I-66 and, for breakfast the next morning, we ate at one of the local Winchester restaurants known for its great morning meals. There’s also a good IHOP near Shenandoah University on Front Royal Pike in Winchester.
