Monday, June 24, 2013

June 24: Rollin', rollin', rollin'...

Today our car wheels were rolling, rolling, rolling.  Who can identify the them song the title is from (without the date, of course)?  I'll put it at the end of this short post.  Short, because we drove from Arlington, Virginia to Winston-Salem, North Carolina; that's it.  We did, however, drive part of the way through the Shenandoah National Park.  Very pretty--through the Blue Ridge Mountains of the southern Appalachians.  Lots of pretty summer flowers and vast panoramic views from the lookouts and the road.  We stopped a few times for photos and for lunch at a picnic area.  It is smaller than some national parks, but larger than others.  It has the same type of wooden signs and wood and stone ranger stations.  It is very pretty with camping and hiking.  The Appalachian Trail (see June 17 post) runs though it (the park is very long and skinny).   There are about 100 lookouts built by the CCC during the depression.  As well as stone walls and a tunnel through Mary's Rock.  The website states:

The 600' long Marys Rock Tunnel was completed in 1932 and the public considered it a scenic wonder. It became iconic and tunnel images were used on everything from post cards to jewelry.

Cute!  Following are some photos of the "panoramic vistas" previously mentioned.



The ranger station


to the lower right is one of a bazillion stone walls throughout
the park built by the CCC (in the 30s)



This is the pretty picnic ground we had lunch at.

Tomorrow we visit the University of North Carolina School of the Arts for a tour, then another day in the car heading to Savannah.
  

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