along the Blue Ridge Parkway

We drove down the road a bit from Skyland to Big Meadows for breakfast. I deviated from the more healthy option of oatmeal today to sample a ‘short’ stack of buttermilk pancakes. I deviated a little more and ordered a side of Apple Smoked Bacon.

The pancakes came (sans bacon) and I immediately knew that there would be no lunch today. After I’d all but completed the mission to eat the pancakes, and to ensure the bacon didn’t appear on the bill, I mentioned its absence.

“Oh. The bacon didn’ come?”

“No.”

“You still wan’ it?”

Another deviation, this time into Staunton, home of the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum. He was born in this manse and spent less than 12 months of his life here before his father, a Presbyterian Minister, took a posting in Georgia.

Here’s a sample of the Blue Ridge Parkway today.

I want to end today’s post with a plea to the person whose responsibility it is for such signage as appears below.

When the Visitor Centre is a mile or two off the Parkway, and it’s closed for the season, can you PLEASE put a sign on the sign to indicate thus.  Thank you.

We made it to Floyd tonight and found a place to stay without Visitor Centre assistance.  🙂

 

 

 

a taste of the Civil War and autumn in Virginia’s mountains

Except for breakfast, which always lights up my morning, yesterday’s first activities were of a sombre nature. We began with a visit to Ford’s Theatre where Abraham Lincoln was shot. Before we knew it we were in Virginia, being blown off our feet by cold winds at Manassas. This is the location of two battles won by the Confederate Army in the Civil War, and the place where General Thomas Jonathan Jackson earned his moniker, Stonewall.

The Skyline Drive provides stunning views of the Shenandoah Valley. Many of the leaves are holding on at lower attitudes. Despite the seemingly hundreds of people on a Sunday drive, we managed to snaffle a room in this cabin at Skyland. The temperature was below zero around dinner time and thus required some red wine in the camp dining room to ameliorate the situation.