That Road Trip Business

I'll admit, I've been slacking.  After glancing through the last couple years of posts, I realized that the road trip posts I made (particularly the one almost exactly a year ago to the west coast) were some of my favorite things to glance back on.  Realizing this has made me really wish I would have better documented a few of our more recent trips, so, I figured I'd share some of the plans we've made recently!

We were originally planning for a fall road trip up to northern Vermont with some of Dana's friends, but it seemed shortly thereafter that it probably wouldn't fall into place.  Instead, we've decided to head south past the Mason-Dixon line into Virginia.  I've seen parts of Virginia - primarily Wallops Island, on the other side of the Chesapeake from most of the state, and the areas around Dahlgren for work.

Instead, this time, we're thinking about seeing the more southern portions of the state, specifically Shenandoah National Park.  The National Park follows the Blue Ridge Mountains southward from Harrisonburg, Virginia, and includes a road known as Skyline Drive.  This scenic byway winds through the mountaintops for a little over a hundred miles.  Skyline Drive connects up to another road known as the Blue Ridge Parkway, a National Scenic Byway that is often considered one of the top five drives in the entire nation.

After our adventure two years ago on the Pacific Coast Highway, also known as Route 1, in north and central California, we've always wanted a similar yet new experience.  The Blue Ridge Parkway is very similar - it is windy and slow, and offers some ridiculously scenic views.

Speaking of scenic drives, after researching a bit for the Blue Ridge Parkway, I discovered that Florida's A1A is also apparently a National Scenic Byway.  I happen to currently be down in Jacksonville for work, which it just so happens is near the northern terminus of A1A!  There are a lot of interesting things to check out around the area, too, so I may have to make an impromptu, regrettably solo, road trip out of it.

Either way, I'm going to write up both of these trips in the coming day or two, so stay tuned for the plans.  I'll make sure they include lots of dumb, novelty, giant things!