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A Shenandoah Autumn showcases colorful horizons that span the beautiful distance of Virginia.
Shenandoah Autumn
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.
Shenandoah Autumn
Shenandoah Autumn
After enjoying an incredible summer exploring the New England states, October arrived and we moved the rig from Clinton, Connecticut to Staunton, Virginia. This was a rather long travel day, covering nearly 500 miles across Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia. We parked the rig south of Staunton, VA at the Walnut Hills Campground, a lovely woodland RV park covering 44 acres in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley.
We always knew we would be returning to this lovely landscape one day, ever since our very first year of the RV Life in 2017 when we passed through on the way to a job assignment in Pennsylvania. See RV Life – Year One – Summertime Part 2
In addition to the valley’s reputation as a spectacle of fall colors, we targeted this area for a very specific bucket list location. Ever since the movie was released in 1987, Cheri has enjoyed the 80’s classic dozens of times. She has bonded over it with her niece, sharing treasured memories of pining after the teen heart throb of his day, Patrick Swayze, starring in Dirty Dancing.
Much of the film was shot in the nearby hills of Roanoke, Virginia.
About 2 hours south of our campground near Staunton is the historic Mountain Lake Lodge, which served as a backdrop for many scenes in the movie.
I chose not to ride along on this adventure, leaving it as a personalized experience just for Cheri.
The drive itself was quite nice, following Interstate 81 south from Staunton through the Shenandoah Valley. She passed by Natural Bridge, a lovely area that we had stopped at a couple times before during previous RV Life drives (Year One – Summertime, Part 2 and Year 5 – Spring). Cheri exited the interstate at the town of Christiansburg to take US Highway 460 northward into the hills of Giles County.
Near the township of Maybrook she turned onto State Highway 700, continuing higher into the hill country. There were many wonderful scenic overlooks for Cheri to stop at and take-in the vast horizon view, where fall colors emerged to brighten the foliage of the gorgeous Shenandoah Valley.
She arrived at the lodge and enjoyed an immersive self-guided tour of the property, remembering all her favorite scenes from the movie as she stood in those very locations. It was no surprise that much of the property has changed since the 1980s, but the iconic spots were still there … Baby’s Cabin, the Front Lawn, the Beach Area, the Gazebo, and of course, the Lodge itself with so many room locations from various movie scenes, including the room where Johnny taught Baby how to dance.
A significant change since 1987 was with the lake where the famous lift scene was shot.
The lake was dried up, so there was only an empty valley there. It was well marked, so Cheri could still see where the shot was taken.
Also, a large swimming pool now occupies much of the front lawn space.
For the next outing we wanted to head back to Pennsylvania. I wouldn’t call this a bucket list item, but this was a place we always wanted to experience … the Hershey chocolate factory. It is not a short drive to Hershey from Staunton. It’s over 3 hours, but we made a fun day of it.
The Hershey Story Museum was quite interesting, as we spent a couple of hours exploring the exhibits learning all about how chocolate is made. We learned about Milton Hershey, enjoying some history on how his name came to be so prominently associated with all-things chocolate. Of course, we had to sample the product! Our favorite was a flight of 6 unique hot chocolate flavors. Absolutely wonderful!
We explored the quaint little town of Hershey, Pennsylvania and enjoyed a nice lunch at a local restaurant called Macado’s. The drive back on I-81 was a pleasant one, offering scenic horizons as far as the eye could see, but it was wonderfully enhanced for us on that day as we enjoyed sweet chocolate treats all the way back to Staunton. I’m sure we both gained few pounds that day!
Up next was the star attraction, the Shenandoah Valley itself. We took multiple days to drive all over the Virginia countryside to explore this amazing valley region. Fall colors were everywhere and brilliant.
We visited Shenandoah National Park and stopped-in at the Harry F. Byrd Sr. Visitor Center. We followed Skyline Drive all the way to Thornton Gap, experiencing dozens of incredible scenic overlooks, gazing longingly into the beautiful distance of the Shenandoah Autumn.
My employer, at that time, decided to send me to a 1-week customer site visit in North Carolina. Less than 200 miles away to the south, I opted for the pleasant drive along US Hwy 220 from Roanoke to the Swing Road Procter & Gamble Plant on the west side of Greensboro. After returning from the Greensboro assignment, our time in Virginia came to an end. We packed-up the RV and moved onward to our favorite Tennessee campground … Anchor Down.
Dandridge, TN is an easy 5-hour travel day from Staunton, VA. As always, the RV site at Anchor Down was incredible and the Tennessee Smoky Mountains displayed all the vibrant fall colors we have come to expect from the region.
We enjoyed our usual favorites in the area (Smoky Mountains National Park, Gatlinburg, Cherokee), but we included a new spot this time. A short drive north to the Cherokee Lake Park & Reservoir revealed even more Appalachian natural beauty.
We returned to our home-base in Middle Tennessee about 3 hours away and parked the rig at Camp Doney, the pet-name we have given to the property of our good friends, Ralph & Patricia. We finished-out the autumn season wonderfully blessed with some fantastic memories from Year 5 of our amazing RV Life.
Cheri had already started planning for Year 6, to include more adventures in the eastern USA. Washington, D.C. and the beautiful Outer Banks of North Carolina were among our targets, but passing the winter months in sunny Arizona was next on the list!
Shenandoah Autumn
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
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