Ramblings

Skyline Drive in the winter

While up at Massanutten we decided to spend one afternoon exploring Skyline Drive (for those not from VA who may be reading this Skyline Drive is a 105-mile road that runs the entire length of the Shenandoah National Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.).While I had driven this road many times in the past, it had been years since I had been on the top of Skyline and neither Guy or I had ever seen it covered in snow and ice.  As we entered we were told the south rim was closed due to the snow but we were welcome to drive the north rim. So while the south is higher and more scenic we had no choice and headed north :)Starting out the roads scenery was like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That though soon changed to this as we got higher into the mountains:.  Here is also where we started to see the Ice cycles forming along the mountainside:

They looked so mystical and huge, some were 4-5 feet long and thick.  I imagine it will take a few weeks before they would melt away.

I hope that one day we are able to explore the south rim (covered in snow) to see the differences in the views but if not I would happily drive the north again. Just another reason I love living in Virginia.. the beautiful mountains!.

Until next time hope you have yourself a wonderful day.  Enjoy!

Wild (?) Massanutten Deer

One of the things I love is seeing a deer in its natural habitat.  They are such beautiful, gentle creatures but being so skittish  you don’t often get to really observe them before they run off.  I was beyond excited when Guy started pointing out all the deer along the roads and along the mountains side during our trip to Massanutten last week.  I had no idea we would see so many and was in deer heaven.

The deer in Massanutten while wild, are use to sharing the mountain with humans because they know they are safe here.  It is a no hunting mountain and so we humans basically just leave them to their lives, occasionally dropping a snack on the ground for them. Because of this they will come very close to roads, cars and buildings while just going along with their lives often not even noticing we are watching them.It was one of my favorite parts of the weekend and I can’t wait to be back to watch them again.