North end of Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia

We were up VERY early today (Friday Oct 17th) with 2 very rambunctious kitties.  We had them out before most people were up, and they had a fabulous walk and explore time before dog walking began.  We had our breakfast out at the picnic table - it is THAT nice out here! - and the cats hung out with us.

Dew on a spider web on the bridge in our campground.

We left them in the trailer and headed out at 10 am again and this time we started at the same start point as yesterday, but we went south instead of north, and it's called the "Blue Ridge Parkway" instead of the Shenandoah Skyline Drive".  this one is 500 miles long vs 105 so we didn't get it all done today!  We did 90 miles of it, which included a couple of hikes - along Otter Creek and Lake, and James River.  It was a beautiful sunny day with temps about 13 to 18 deg C - perfect for sight-seeing and hiking.

 
The Blue Ridge Parkway has a lot less "overlooks" but better signage as to when they are coming up, and where the trail heads are, etc.  It is harder to end up on the Appalachian Trail by mistake on the latter Parkway...

John, looking at a waterfall near Yankee Horse Ridge (mile 34)

Lily pads on the water at Otter Lake (mile 63)

The Blue Ridge Parkway is a lovely scenic drive.  It is different from the Skyline Drive, despite the proximity, in its vistas and the scope of the landscape.  The valley is more open and though there are less opportunities for pictures, the views tend to be more immense.  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera today (!!!) so had to rely on my camera phone.

Tenting... in mid October!!!  Imagine!!!  And FULL!!!

We managed to get home tonight before dark tonight which worked better for the kitties, but unfortunately, the campground is FULL!!!!  to the rafters!!!!  I've never seen anything like it.  There are halloween parties going on all over the park, and kids trick or treating between campers, and there is line dancing and 2-stepping going on across the road.  Even the tenting spots are full... there is NO room at the Inn tonight... The kitties were quite subdued on their evening walk, but it worked and both of them crashed immediately upon coming in.  Phew.

Pretty "zoo-y" as John would say...

By contrast, coming home after dark last night, I got some amazing shots on the road at sunset... Missed yesterday's blog post... but here are some highlights.

We're off tomorrow to move the trailer further down the Blue Ridge Parkway.