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 after-the-fact, 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 when I was doing the trip, my pictures are limited to the major attractions, but I'll try to make those galleries a little larger than I do in my later blogs.
Select/click any image to see it at double (or more) the current size. While viewing a large image, use the left and right arrow keys to view other images on this page. Select/click on the large image or any part of the darkened area, or press 'Escape', to return to the blog page. Note: Table of contents is now located at the bottom of the page.
Today's a big day. It's the start of week six of our seven-week adventure, and we begin our trek down the Blue Ridge Parkway. But first, we have to take care of a little business.
I wouldn't normally ever highlight a laundromat, but this one was interesting, as it had a resident cat outside (there was actually a little cat house there, though we didn't get a picture of it). My companion dubbed the cat 'Elsie' derived from 'L.C.' which stands for Laundry Cat. Elsie was willing to let my companion come close and pet her gently, but didn't seem interested in getting up on his lap. If you noticed that one of Elsie's ears is clipped, that's what they do with feral cats when they go through a Trap-Neuter-Release (or TNR) program. That way, TNR workers can tell quickly that it's been neutered and will just release it from the humane trap rather than take it in off the street a second time.
Having to go through Waynesboro to get to the start of the Blue Ridge Parkway, we stopped off for a stromboli, but weren't terribly impressed with the restaurant. We checked out an antique store near downtown, but it was badly lacking air conditioning, making it hard to seriously consider any of the merchandise on a rather hot July day. Needless to say, we moved on pretty quickly.
And we began our Blue Ridge Parkway journey at milepost zero just southeast of Waynesboro. If we could drive the entire parkway then it would be 469 miles to the other end at US 441 above Cherokee, North Carolina. However, with a good chunk of the parkway closed in northern North Carolina (between Boone, NC and the Virginia state line), we'll have to do a detour around about 75 miles of the parkway. Still, that leaves 394 miles of parkway to explore over the next week. Today, we're covering the first 85 miles down to the Peaks of Otter lodge, where we'll be staying for three nights.
Our first real stop was the Jack Albright Loop trail, across the parkway from the Humpback Rock Visitor's Center. We hiked the one loop, which was about 3 miles with a bit more up and down than my companion had been expecting. But, the views were nice and it was a great introduction to the environments of the parkway. If we can get back here again in the future, we're going to do the Humpback Rocks Loop, which my companion thinks will have even more interesting views.
After the hike we needed a rest stop, and the visitor's center also has a short walking trail through a small collection of 1800s farm buildings, which was a nice way to wind down before hitting the road again. A couple of notes on the pictures: the one with the wooden beams crossed like 'X's in the front and back is a "Bear Proof Hog Pen", and the 'V' shaped hopper was used to create lye from old fireplace ashes.
This cliff is named for the fact that twenty minutes after sunlight falls on the rock face, it will be dusk down in the White Rock valley down below.
While this scenic point is labeled Yankee Horse Ridge, it is more notable for the Old Logging Railroad exhibit, which shows a reconstructed sample of narrow gauge railroad track (including a small bridge) as used by logging companies in the early twentieth century.
A couple more of the scenic overlooks we stopped at briefly. There were others, but we didn't always take pictures or notes. Sometimes you just have to kick back and enjoy the ride and not try to be constantly documenting everything.
Our last notable stop of the day. We're not too far from Peaks of Otter – just 22 miles to go. Otter Lake, by the way, is not at the Peaks of Otter. That lake is Abbot lake. Confusing, isn't it? We're likely going to come back here one day while we're at the lodge and explore the lake a little more, but we're running out of daylight today. More to come tomorrow after we get a good night's sleep.
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