Amy and the Chipmunks

At first light we left our cosy sleeping bags in the cold cabin at Yogi Bear Resort to go to the shower block down the hill. After sharing the shower with a large spider, Sam had one last bounce on the large pillow trampoline, we hit the road to see more of the beautiful Shenandoah National Park along the Skyline drive. We stopped at about 3 of the many outlooks before doing a 2.6 mile round trip hike to Rose River Falls. This walk was recommended in a guidebook as a moderate walk, to a short, but pretty waterfall. 

We found the walk to be very enlightening, as we started we all spotted some small creatures that we couldn't identify at first running through the forest amongst the fallen trees and leaves. They looked a bit like rats, but on closer inspection we were delighted to realise that they were chipmunks! Amy couldn't believe that chipmunks were real, but we thought these ones really looked a lot like Alvin, Simon and Theodore with the racing stripes on their faces.

The waterfall wasn't much to write home about, but we spent a few minutes getting some photos with Sam nearly falling into the rock pool getting the money shot, before commencing the long and very ardous journey back up the hill.


Tired and sweaty after the long walk we pulled into a place a few minutes down the road called Big Meadows for an early picnic lunch. We were very proud of our effort to get food the day before and save money by making our own lunch. Pickles come with any dish that you order from a menu and we kept with this tradition by getting pickles for our homemade sandwiches, they really make a sandwich.

After buying a few sweets and BBQ sunflower seeds in the store we carried on with the drive along Skyline Drive and only stopped at one more outlook before the route ended. The sunflower seeds didn't turn out to be quite as tasty as expected and spitting out the shells is pretty gross.

We headed to the Natural Bridge outside of Lexington and we stopped for gas where Amy and Sam got talking to some friendly locals who were very interested in our journey. The Natural Bridge was quite amazing and we got a free presentation about the rock formations by a fairly dry but informative guide. We were able to go to see a butterfly exhibition with our tickets and saw some lovely butterflies and moths. One amazing butterfly flew onto the end of Fraser's nose and took some persuading to get off.

A Highway still runs over the top

We had missed out the first 90 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway by seeing the Natural Bridge, but now we headed up the mountains to drive along this scenic roadway. It was much flatter and straighter than the Skyline Drive had been, and we didn't have to pay to enter the National Park. We stopped a few times at the outlooks, and arrived in Roanoke, which is the largest urban area on the Parkway. Our guidebook suggested dinner at a tavern called The Roanoker, Amy tried the Key Lime Pie cocktail, which was quite tasty. Our waitress was lovely and was quite astounded at how old we are when she asked to see our ID to purchase the wine. It has been quite amusing being asked for ID at a number of restaurants and bars since we've been here.

Beer of the Day:
Yuengling Traditional Lager Bottle, possibly old - Thin feel, little malt, watery with an unpleasant after taste. The $10 for a dozen price should have been an indicator.