This is a retrospective blog of my seven-week exploration of Virginia along with a journey through the Shenandoah National Park and on down the Blue Ridge Parkway to Cherokee, North Carolina. 'Retrospective' means simply that it wasn't written during the trip, but is being written in hindsight a little over a year later. Baaswell Sheep accompanied me and is writing the blog in the way he's done my later blogs, since he's so good with the color commentary. Unfortunately, since I didn't plan for this blog back them, my pictures are limited to the major attractions, but I'll try to make those galleries a little bigger than I do in my later blogs.
Select/click any image to see it at double (or more) the current size. Select/click on the large image or any part of the darkened area to return to the blog page. Note: Table of contents is now located at the bottom of the page.
A quiet yet busy day. Nothing thrilling to report on, but I'll enumerate the day for posterity's sake. We went back to the cemetary where some of my companion's ancestors are buried and cleaned a few headstones. Bear in mind the heat was once again approaching the upper 90s by mid afternoon, so this was no easy task, even in the late morning. But, he succeeded in cleaning off three of them before running out of energy. Then, it was off to the laundromat, which is another place you really don't want to be on an already hot day, but unlike us sheep, humans seem to want clean clothes to wear for some reason. He finally got smart after that and went to the library to work for the rest of the day in blissfully cool air conditioning.
We went back out to the lovely Family Tree't's for dinner, this time getting the chicken Monterey with collards and apples for me. It's nice to find places like this with good food and friendly staff who seem to care about providing an enjoyable meal experience. Note: since our visit, Family Tree'T's has moved to Douthat Road on the east side of Clifton Forge.
Please note that all restaurant and product names are used simply for referential purposes and links provided as a courtesy. Reviews are the sole opinions of the reviewer: no restaurant has paid to be listed here, and no restaurant is being explicitly endorsed. In other words, go out there, try them all, and form your own opinions!
All original content ©2025 Kevin Pittman and may not be reused without permission