Road Trip – Blue Ridge Parkway

We left Washington , D.C. around 10:00 in the morning. Traffic was long but I considered it fast at 60 miles per hour. A few minutes later , along US 50, we saw the welcome sign of Virginia.

It was my first time there, so we stopped at the Visitor Center to get their travel brochures. The lady at the center was very accommodating. I should have asked her how they got their logo – Virginia is for Lovers. 🙂 But well, I thought about that after we left. haha

Armed with a bag of fliers and brochures, we headed towards Blue Ridge Parkway.

Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway noted for its scenic views. And one of the best times to visit the park is during autumn when the leaves have turned to a myriad of beautiful colors. It runs a total of 469 miles (755 kms) passing through 29 counties in both Virginia and North Carolina.

Here are some of the photos I took during our road trip.

US 50 became US 29 as we continued…. Fall colors were visible already along the highway.

Beautiful right? This is what I like about road tripping in America. The roads are very nice. I often tell the hubby that they are well thought of. And that it seems like artists planned them.

I found the truck’s message funny. ha ha Sheetz , by the way, is a fast food chain in the US.

At 2,148 feet. We found the Rock Fish Valley overlook. We stopped for a few minutes for some photo op.

As we continued to go up, the view got better. And with the colorful trees around us, it made the trip so awesome! 🙂

So now I understand where John Denver was coming from when he wrote the song “Take Me Home, Country Roads”.

To borrow some of his words – “Almost heaven, West Virginia. Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River. Life is old there. Older than the trees. Younger than the mountains, growing like a breeze…”

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong,
West Virginia,
Mountain mamma, take me home
Country roads….

Gorgeous is too meek a word for the Parkway’s stunning sceneries.

What made it better was that we had no expectations. At all. That’s what traveling has done to us. We had no idea what was in store for us. And yet, we were gifted with this amazing experience.

I remember sitting on a rock looking at the panoramic vista below. Without the crowd, watching the sunset and the mountains was somewhat melancholic but very peaceful.