Bairnhess RV Adventures: Misty Mountain for a reason

Misty Mountain, VA April 27 - May 1, 2013

We made the drive from Williamsburg to Misty Mountain without any trouble. We arrive at a beautiful campground at the base of the Shenandoah National Park and it was packed! We didn't know it was their semi-annual Jeep weekend. They gave us a very tight back-in spot that had cars parked all along the road. This was my first back-in in quite a while and my last couple of efforts had not been stellar. Luckily the new walkie-talkies worked great and we slid right in. Once we had settled in, our neighbors started telling us all about Jeep weekend and that all of the Jeep drivers were on a trail ride, but would be back soon and running around the park. Well they were right.... it was so much fun to watch. The Jeeps were driving into the creek behind us and blazing their own trails out and around. It turned into kind of a competition to see who could get up the biggest, steepest creek bank. It was very fun.

Jeeps in the creek

Boys with toys

Up the hill - we hope

The next day it was raining to we used it to check out the area and drove into Waynesboro to stock up on supplies. The only good thing was all of the weekenders were going home, so the park cleared out. We kind of missed the excitement though.

Empty camp-sights abound now

Misty Mountain beautiful campground

We saved our trip to Monticello for the next day hoping the weather would be better. This is the home that Thomas Jefferson built on his family's property and is known for being an architectural wonder. He was a truly amazing man. His thirst for knowledge drove him to creative genius. The visitor center, house tour, slavery tour and garden tour were fabulous! Grace was the best tour guide we have had in all of our adventures. She was knowledgeable, honest and enthusiastic about Jefferson and architecture. The house itself is 90% original and filled with 60% original artifacts. Even 60% of the windows were the original glass. Some Jefferson facts you may or may not know.... authored the Declaration of Independence, served as the Ambassador to France, served two terms as President, and was the founder of the University of Virginia. There is also DNA evidence that suggests he fathered 6 children with his slave Sally Hemmings who was half sister to his dead wife Martha. His passion was to inspire everyone into wanting a higher education. The Monticello organization was very honest and straightforward regarding Mr. Jefferson and slavery. It was very interesting to read his writings regarding his feelings that slavery was morally wrong yet he owned slaves his entire life. He was a very interesting man and we really enjoyed our visit.

Monticello

He labeled every plant in the garden

Thomas Jefferson's garden and thinking room

Our last day was dedicated to Skyline Drive through the Shenandoah National Park and the north end of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The weather wasn't cooperating, but we decided to go ahead since it was our last chance. The drive started out in pea soup fog, but we kept at it hoping it would clear. We decided on a hike to the South Falls. There was a beautiful hike down to a view of one of the highest falls in the park and part of the loop back was a portion of the Appalachian Trail woo-hoo. The trouble of course came when hiking back up.... I swear it was one mile down and four miles back up. We did run into a busload of Chinese students on a field trip. It was really cute because they were fascinated with Calcite and Zoe. Half of them wanted to pet them and the other half were terrified, but giggling. They took pictures and waved good-bye when we left The fog lifted for a while after that and we did get some beautiful views of the Shenandoah Valley and the Blue Ridge Mountains. We drove back to our campground through the Shenandoah Valley and it was just as beautiful driving thru as it was driving above it.
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