My
husband and I love to travel, but sometimes we realize there are a
lot of places in our own area we overlook or never make time for.
This Labor Day we took a last minute road trip down towards
Charlottesville, VA, Shenandoah National Park, and Luray.
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| University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville |
Because
it was spur of the moment, we only started to plan our trip on
Tuesday; 4 days before leaving. Lodging options were slim because it
was a holiday weekend, move-in for UVA, and the first UVA football
game of the season. We did manage to book a very overpriced room in a
two star hotel, but at least the location was good being close to the
campus. We also talked about camping, but again because of the
holiday all of the reserveable camp sites were already booked.
Several campsites, both in Shenandoah National Park and outside of it, did
advertise 'first come' spots so we decided to take a chance on
finding a campsite for Sunday night.
Saturday
we loaded up our car with a suitcase, camping gear, and a cooler and
drove to Charlottesville. We stopped about 40 minutes outside of the
city to visit a winery. We were looking for Horton Vineyard
which was recommended by a friend, but somehow we got lost. Instead
we decided to stop at the well yelp-reviewed Barboursville
Winery. We entered into
a modern visitors center designed to invoke Tuscany. Barboursville
had a very large and enjoyable selection of tasting wines
(tasting for $5, free tour of winery). Barboursville also had
beautiful grounds where we saw several couples picnicking between the
grapevines and the ruins of the old manor house. However
Barboursville is one of the most popular wineries in the area and it
was crowded. The free winery tour was overlooked by most of the
crowds and offered a nice opportunity to chat with staff about the
wines which we weren’t able to do in the packed tasting room.
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| A flight of beers at South Street Brewery |
After checking into our hotel we walked to the Charlottesville Historic Downtown pedestrian mall. It started to rain during our walk, but we made it into our first stop, the South Street Brewery, just as a real downpour began. The wood carved interior wasn't that of a divey brewery, but was somewhere where craft beers meet gourmet bar food. For some reason the restaurant was surprising empty. We pulled stools up to the bar and shared a flight of beers with some appetizers.
After an hour the rain let up and we were able to walk around the pedestrian mall. We expected a more vibrant energy and people at the mall, but the threat of continuing rain and the college football game kept people away.
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| Leaving our mark on the pedestrian mall. |
Sunday
morning we walked around campus briefly. The University of Virginia
is a gorgeous campus and we wish we had seen information on how to join a formal tour. However, on an early Sunday morning
after a game night we found the campus to be quiet and sleepy. Using
yelp we got bagels at the college hot spot Bodo’s
(1609 University Ave). Bodo's was crowded, fast, and suitable -
however we felt it was overated. On our way out of town we got lunch
to go from the well known Little Johns Delicatessen (1427
W. Main St), where it took us 10 minutes to select from their great
selection of interesting looking sandwiches.
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| Doyle's Run |
We left
Charlottesville mid-morning and drove to Shenandoah
National Park. We took a chance at the Lewis
Mountain Campground ($15/night) were able to rent a campsite. I
recommend the Lewis Mountain walk-in campsites for a bit more privacy
and seclusion. If you are able to get a camp site on the south side
of the hill there is a large outcropping of rocks with a great view
of the sunset. We spent the afternoon on an easy/moderate hike called
Doyle's Run which led to a waterfall. It rained during half of
the hike, but with the right gear and mild weather the rain wasn’t
a hindrance.
At our campsite joined a dozen other campers to watch
the sunset and then had a terrible time making a camp fire due to the
earlier rain. We finally got the fire going enough that one of us
could cook a hotdog if the other person blew constantly on the fire
to keep it going. We only were able to cook 4 hot dogs and we skipped
the marshmallows all together.
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| Sunset in Shenandoah |
Monday
morning
we packed up camp and drove most of the length of the park on the
famous Skyline Drive. We stopped on our way through the park to do a
short hike called Bearfence. We had heard Bearfence is called
little Old Rag which is our favorite longer day hike in the park.
Bearfence only took an hour, but had 20 minutes of rock scrambling
and an amazing 360 degree view from the top.
From
Shenandoah
we drove to Luray, VA and had lunch at the quaint Gathering
Grounds Patisserie & Café (55
E. Main Street) a yelp find in Luray. Luray
Caverns (101
Cave Hill Rd., $24) was our final destination of the trip and at
first I was shocked by the price to enter the caves, but the caves
were really amazing. Luray is probably the best cave that I've been
in to date and was a nice break from the heat outside. The tour is a
longer walk than you’d expect taking approximately about an hour.
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| Luray Caverns - Stalactites reflected in still water |
Tips:
- South Street Brewery; 106 South St. Charlottesville, VA. – Create your own flight of beers by ordering 4oz glasses of each, and you must try the Pig Wigs.
- Shenandoah National Park- Before entering the park the gate attendant was nice enough to call campsites and ask if they had availability.
Also
try;
- West Main Market – 123 W Main Street, Luray, VA (yelp)
- White Spot - 1407 University Ave, Charlottesville, VA known for their infamous Guss Burger
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| View of Old Rag |
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| Luray Caverns |
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| Luray Caverns |
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