Vacation Time at Shenandoah National Park

Yesterday, we began our summer vacation, and we sure didn't have to drive far to find a BEAUTIFUL place to go! So, we traveled about 2 hours SW of our home to the Shenandoah Valley. Even the drive here was fun...especially when we found a small mountain town of Lydia, Virginia! Of course, our Lydia just had to get a pic ;-)

Living in Virginia makes vacationing quite easy ;-)
It's simply GORGEOUS here! :-D

Today we began to explore the Shenandoah National Park. The Park was dedicated July 3, 1936, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. So, the Park is celebrating it's 75th anniversary this year! What a year to come visit :-) I have a feeling that this will definitely not be our last time here! In fact, I think this might be the beginning of a very special friendship between the Park and our family :-)

The day was quite overcast and rainy, but it didn't seem to matter. The Park was still quite peaceful and beautiful in its own way :-)

Traveling Skyline Drive is a wonderful scenic byway! It runs 105 miles from North to South through Shenandoah National Park. However, today we only drove about 15 miles of it ;-)

We LOVE the National Park Service! Since living in Colorado, our family has really tried to visit as many National Parks and Monuments as possible. It just seems like visiting such places provides a temporary refuge from the stressors of daily life. We all need that!

Many offer Junior Ranger Programs for kids where they learn about the park, explore the area, attend Ranger programs, and eventually earn badges and become official Junior Rangers. It's both educational AND fun for the kids! And Mom and Dad ;-)

 The kids also enjoy meeting the Park Service Rangers :-) Today, we all attended two Ranger-led programs; one was a Junior Ranger Program led by Ranger Kate.

The second Ranger program was led by Ranger Garrett; he told us all about the Appalachian Trail. Did you know that the Appalachian Trail (AT, for short) is over 2178 miles long and extends from Georgia to Maine. Many "thru-hikers" make it through Shenandoah National Park during this time of year on their treks down (or up) the AT. It takes an average of 6 months to hike the length of the trail!! Wow! After the Ranger talk about the AT, both girls are ready to get started! (Christopher said he wasn't interested because he might get dirty, and he thinks his feet might hurt :-P) Who knows. Maybe someday we'll hike at least SOME of it!

The Byrd Visitor Center (at Mile 51) had some beautiful displays showing the history of Appalachia and of Shenandoah National Park. They were very respectful to pay tribute to the some 450 families that years ago had to leave their land, their farms, and their homes, so the National Park could be conserved and dedicated.

We even had Botany lessons as the kids read about and examined lichens on trees and rocks in the Park. I told y'all this was educational! Homeschoolers never truly get a summer break ;-)

To top off this Father's Day, we treated Dad to a Barbeque dinner (with a whole rack of ribs) at a "hole-in-the-wall" local restaurant, Log Cabin Barbeque. It was SO good!! We love finding these Mom-and-Pop shops to eat at. They provide the best food in a great environment (usually) ;-) For dessert we got hand-dipped ice cream and pecan pie! YUMMY!!!

Overall, it was a TERRIFIC day in the Blue Ridge Mountains!! :-D