Road Trip!

The Foodie Girls are on a road trip. 

 We decided we needed some girl time and carefully planned and plotted our great adventure.

More on our destination later.

On the way east, we passed fields of Yellow Rocket.

The view east over the hills of Brown County, Indiana.

After a couple of hours we arrived in Ohio...

Where we made our first stop.

Being Foodies, we had to stop at Foodie Land, otherwise known as Jungle Jim's International Market.

An hour or so later we were once again headed east across Southern Ohio.

We arrived in West Virginia in the mid afternoon and continued driving eastward.

We were chasing the weather as we traveled.

We finally reached the mountains.

It's a long drive down.

We drove through rain in the mountains before arriving after 9 pm in Staunton, Virginia.

We checked into the hotel, rested for the evening, and then headed to Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive in the morning.

We had thought to do a couple of hikes while in the park.  As it was, we decided that the South River Falls Trail was more than enough of a hike for us for the day.

The trail is listed as being 2.6 miles long unless one chooses to travel on part of the Appalachian Trail on the return trip.  Then the hike is 3.3 miles long.  We took the longer route.

This trail was listed as being moderately strenuous.  

A wealth of wildflowers were in bloom along the trail.

Wild strawberry.

Yellow violet.

Yellow rocket.

Yellow rocket and wild geranium.

Despite being a vigorous hike, there were beautiful sights every where.

Please enjoy the hike as we travel along the trail.

It was a cloudy day with patches of fog in the mountains.

Wild geranium.

Lichen on a bolder.

Colorful millipede.

We found the first of many small waterfalls 

Trillium in bloom.

Another waterfall.

 

A larger waterfall farther downstream.

Looking downstream.

After much hiking we found the main falls.

Beautiful.  But then it was time to head back up mountain.

White trillium.

More trillium.

Common lousewort, or Pedicularis canadensis.

A stack of stones, or cairn, mark the trail.

Trillium.

We finally found our way back to the parking lot and headed back south along Skyline Drive.

We stopped at every overlook that was open along the way to appreciate and photograph the views.

Massanutten Mountain can be seen in the distance.

We drove in and out of the clouds as we traveled along the Drive.

 

A prime location from which to view Massanutten.

This weathered sign talks about the problems with air pollution and visibility across the valley.

I don't think that air pollution is the problem with visibility today.

It's hard to believe that these pictures were taken on the same day, and often just a mile or so away from those that were entirely enveloped in fog.

The views were magnificent, but our time on the mountains were drawing to a close.

Virginia Spiderwort, or Tradescantia virginiana.

Thank you for coming along with us.

Next time: Monticello.