2024 Summer Road Trip - Shenandoah National Park - 2024/08/15

Our big summer road trip is finally coming to an end. We'll be slowly making our way back to Florida, but not without a couple of stops first. Along the way, why not stop at another National Park. Shenandoah! 

You might remember that we left off at Six Flags America in Maryland around 3pm. Our next campground isn't that far, so we were able to spend our morning riding rides and having lunch at the park. 

We brought the RV along with us and left it in oversize parking! 

That's about as close as Beauty will ever get to going to a Six Flags park. 

Then it was a leisurely 2.5 hour drive to Virginia. 

To our campground, Candy Hill. 

Just there long enough to drop off the RV, and head back out. It's a site right next to the freeway, so we can see the RV as we drive away.

And our first stop, Chuck E Cheese. It's just about time to finish our Summer Fun Passes. We've going to a lot of CECs, played a bunch of games, and won a lot of tickets. 

Thanks Chuck E! 

Alli has fun on Dizzy Chicken. 

T throwing a few footballs. 

I go for the games that can win big ticket amounts. 

And win not once, but twice! 

Some cute little houses and yards, but a tight squeeze as we head back to the campground. 

We enjoyed a pleasant evening outside while eating dinner. 

The next day, it was time to head to another National Park and check another one off our ever growing list. It's Shenandoah National Park! 

It's a really good deal for the $80 annual pass that gets you into every National Park. 

But you can't beat free! Thanks to Ian and his 4th grade status, the whole family gets to visit this year for free! 

What an awesome program! 

Our drive took us up to the main Visitors Center. 

There we of course spoke to a Ranger to see what we needed to do to earn our Junior Ranger badge. 

We love the video presentations because they give us a good look at all the features of the park, and it all the seasons. Theresa said "They better be playing the song Shenandoah when we're there." Sure enough, it was heavily featured in the movie we watched. 

Back outside the kids worked on their Junior Ranger missions. 

And we walked to the edge of a field from the Visitor Center. 

Overlooking the valley. 

But we can't leave here without doing a hike. We drove down Skyline Drive, a road designed to give good views overlooking the valley, until we reached Compton Gap. 

We're headed down the Compton West and East trail, on the lookout for those rocky Prismatic Features called columnar jointing. 

Through the wooded path. Everything is lush and green here. 

We're in the backcountry. 

Summiting Compton Peak, at a height of 2940 feet. Just a little over 500 feet higher than we started. 

Continuing on the trail, there's this giant rock that looks out of place. I think we're on the wrong side of it though. 

Hiking down the other side, yep, we found it! 

It's a lot bigger than I was expecting! 

This was originally lava that came up through plates on the surface of the earth. As it cooled, it formed these weird six sided shaped. 

Hiking back down to the truck. 

And looking out at a few more views of the peaceful valley. 

Time to collect those badges! 

And get sworn in as the newest junior rangers of Shenandoah National Park! 

Love the wooden badges. 

Then on the way home, why not stop by Chuck E Cheese one more time to get a few more tickets. 

We spent it on a whole bunch of candy that we're going to give away, for Halloween to Disney Cast Members! 

When we got back to the campground, I took the kids for a walk to explore. 

Chickens usually run away. Why are they so interested in us? 

Ah, cause we might give them food. Gotcha. 

A pretty good game room for a campground. 

Driving the Candy Hill Campground bus. Nice. 

Well, that's about it for our planned travels this summer. It's about 15 hours, plus stops, to get back home to Florida. We're planning on taking an easy 3 days of driving to get there. We'll see how that goes...