A Drive Down The Old Skyline Trail

Kyle’s wonderful parents came out for the weekend before Halloween to visit and take a trip down the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah to see all of the beautiful fall leaf colors. We took the trip with Uncle Ray and Aunt Kristine as well and had a grand old time.

Oh Shenandoah...I long to see you....
(yes this song is referring to the river...but it works for the valley too)

The dedicated driver and navigator.

I think National Park Service Rangers are some of the happiest people, working out in nature and stuff.

Kyle getting in the spirit of the Halloween season by finishing up
The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allen Poe.

Being from Utah, we get our fair share of the changing of the leaves but this was UNREAL. With the amount of foliage Virginia has and being by the Shenandoah valley, the hills were just bursting with color.





Really...pictures do NOT do justice.

We stopped by the Skyland Lodge, checked out their most recent critter sightings and explored the gift shop.



Sheesh! So many black bears.

Kyle got his stamp in his National Park stamp book. And I don’t know what was said by who to make him laugh, but I love this picture.

More beautiful leaves.





It's a bit difficult to see but down in the valley, they had the cutest farms that looked like they were straight out of Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

This is what I called the “Jurassic Park” area since the leaves looked tropical and I expected a velocaraptor to come bounding out at any point.

Classic photos.

I love Kyle’s parents. I married into the most wonderful family and I feel like I’ve known them my entire life.

I was able to borrow a camera since we’ve been thinking of investing in one ourselves. Here we are trying to get the right lighting and the right settings. We laugh at a few of these but there are some that I love.

The sky was really blue and pretty that day as well. Good weather all around.

After we had made it the 105.6 miles down the trail, we stopped in little Waynesboro for some food and at a hotel to stay for the night. It was the smallest, charming town with the best lemon ginger custard.

The next day we drove over to visit Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. I had been wanting to visit here for a long time and was glad we could finally go, especially with family.

Monticello was so beautiful and incredible. Jefferson was definitely ahead of his time and was always looking to gain more knowledge and enlightenment.

He built this week clock that was hooked up to a center 24-hour clock. There were heavy iron weights that would slowly head down the wall, telling what day of the week it was.

Jefferson also had a lot of gardens and grew all of his own vegetables and fruit.

A few good men.

Jefferson Family cemetery and Jefferson’s grave.

We visited Michie Tavern, a little place with lots of cute shops and the yummiest home cooked food.

It was so wonderful to spend the weekend with everyone and to cross some sites off the bucket list. And I couldn’t return the camera without taking a few shots of this guy.

I do love Kyle.