Virginia 2021 - Day 0: Road Trip

 It's been a long while, and I'm out of practice, but several people suggested I should blog our week-long trip to Virginia. We rented a house in the proverbial middle of nowhere, but near Shenandoah National Park.

When we booked this, back in February, we were looking for a place within a one-day drive of home, near something outdoorsy, and away from people. The drive down here definitely confirmed that we succeeded in the latter goal.

I just learned from reading the Wikipedia article on Shenandoah that we're in the Virginia Piedmont.

We left home just after noon, and drove the ~5 hours down to our AirBNB, outside Madison, VA (population 229). Along the way, we stopped for lunch/gas in Enola, PA, at Pizza Boy Brewing.

After we got off the highway, and suffered through the traffic lights of Front Royal, we had another hour's drive along country highways, through the rolling hills and farms of the Piedmont region.

As we got closer to the end of our drive, the Blue Ridge Mountains / Shenandoah came into view, in the distance.

It was about 6 o'clock when we pulled into our home for the next week, which is a guest cottage on a farm of some sort.

The view, from inside as well as from the small deck and patio, is serene.

We hadn't brought much food with us, as we didn't have much left at home to bring (also we forgot some of what we had planned to bring... we're a bit out of practice at all this), so we ventured forth in search of a grocery store, and were delighted to learn that the local Food Lion was an excellent option.

After a short shopping spree, we sampled some of the local delicacies, to go, and enjoyed a peaceful BBQ dinner on the patio, as the sun set behind the clouds over the mountains.

We're not sure what the plan for tomorrow will be, exactly. There are 3 or 4 options, but the high tomorrow is 93 F, which might influence the decision.

At some point in the next week, the itinerary may include some or all of: kayaking, either on the Shenandoah River or Lake Anna; hiking some trails in Shenandoah National Park; driving the Skyline Drive; touring some local caverns (there are 3 or 4 nearby); trying a local winery and/or brewery, etc.