Skyline Drive We picked up the Skyline Drive right at the start in Front Royal to get the full effect. The Skyline Drive is a scenic highway that runs along the top of the Blue Ridge Mountain Range. It was built as part of the FDR's Civilian Works program to help get the country out of Depression between 1931 and 1939 at a cost of $50,000 per mile. You need to pay $15 to access the park, but that gives you a full week to experience it and really isn't a bad price for all that is there. There are lots of trails running through the park (including a portion of the Appalachian Trail) as well as campgrounds, picnic spots and even an auditorium. It apparently gets pretty crowded when the trees are turning colors, but we found that it wasn't that busy this time of year. You can either stop and take a few hikes (which we did), or just drive as there are a whole lot of pull-offs to get the view. Seems like a great place for motorcycles or convertibles. The last thumbnail is a map to give you an idea of where we went and where our cabin was. The green highlighted part is where we adventured Click images for super size, hover over them to change the image
	Compton Peak Compton Peak is one of the first trails (mile 10.4) and was really neat because it was a fairly secluded trail. It was a pretty rough path, much narrower and rockier than the other ones that we did (2.4 miles round trip, 940 foot elevation gain). Really seemed like few people bothered to hike up it which worked out great for us. There were plenty of HUGE boulders strewn along the side of the trail (that's where the first few photos are), although most of them had big spider webs all through them, so we decided not to climb around them much. I was also nervous of copperheads as they are pretty common in this park. The view at the end of the trail was awesome. The photos don't really capture it, but you are right on a cliff edge. One more step and *poof* down you would go, never to be found! Amanda was pretty nervous going anywhere near the edge, but I was a little more bold and climbed out. We were both probably real wusses to the hardcore mountain folks though. You also can't really tell from the photo, but the cliff edge that Amanda is on sloped pretty well downward making it that much spookier. The bright red berries are I believe from the American Mountain Ash. On the hike down from the peak, we came across a small momma bear with cub in tow getting ready to cross the path. Was probably about 40-60 feet away when I spotted it and she spotted us. We slowly backed away from the trail and she herded her cub a safe distance away and then stood there eyeing us. We slowly walked down the rest of the path to let them be. Even though Amanda really wanted to get a photo, I decided not to push our luck by giving any appearance of threatening motions and vetoed that option. I do sort of wish we could have gotten a shot of it though as it was awful cool. I hadn't ever been that close to a bear before. Click images for super size, hover over them to change the image
	Our cabin After a successful hike to Compton Peak we got back in the car and drove down the Skyline drive towards our cabin. We made a quick stop in at the local Food Lion to get the fixings for spaghetti and then hit the rural roads. We had a little scare getting up the gravel road to the cabin. It was pretty steep and had a sharp turn on the hill that was a bit of a challenge in the Mustang. For a moment, I really thought I was going to be pushing it out of a ditch. A little controlled fish-tailing and gentle application of gas in first gear though did the trick and got us up the hill. A 4-wheel drive vehicle, or heck even a front-wheel drive car is probably a good idea for anyone who wants to check these cabins out. I was a little bummed to see that the cabin wasn't really on its own lot but rather was in a little development of 3 cabins. Still, you are plenty far away from the other cabins so it isn't a real big deal; just don't expect to be completely secluded. As you can see in the photos though, the views off the deck were awesome. We arrived just in time for a great sunset, the bit of rain and clouds made a nice mist in the valley and plenty of spots for the sun to color. Amanda even got a nice artsy shot of the lone tree near our cabin. I will admit to doing a *little* photoshopping on the images to bring the colors out a bit better. We don't have a super-fancy camera and we didn't bother adjusting the settings for evening shots so I just compensated with photoshop a bit. The cabin was fully furnished with the pots, pans and implements we needed to cook a meal as well as wine glasses and plates. There weren't champagne flutes though, so it is a good thing that I thought ahead to pack them. Everything was clean and fresh and the woodwork really was impressive. Even though the towels were mismatched colors which was kind of weird, they were soft and fresh smelling. One weird thing was that it wasn't very easy to figure out how to play the radio (there wasn't a real stereo), but Amanda found a satellite TV channel that played some nice jazz. If I were going again though, I might bring a little portable radio. The hottub was great, the air was cool enough to make the water feel nice and warm but not too overpowering. Some great jets and little LED lights around the tub were good as it allowed us to leave the back porch lights off and just stick with moonlight and the tub lights. Note: the last 3 photos are from the cabin website, I didn't take any shots of our cabin. You can find more information on the cabin we rented here: [official website] [satellite view] Click images for super size, hover over them to change the image
	Stony Man, Dark Hollow Falls, and Hawksbill Mountain Summit Little Stony Man Cliffs Little Stony Man was a cool little hike, only .9 miles round trip with a modest 300 foot elevation. Seemed like a pretty popular trail though and we passed a couple people along the way. It opens up to a great craggy set of cliffs. Once again you don't really get a feel for how precarious some of the shots are. There aren't railings anywhere, you just go up as far as you feel. There are a few more shots of me at this location than Amanda for that reason! It may look like I am just sitting against a pile of rocks, but that is a straight drop down the cliff face right behind me. At Stony Man, I think we got our favorite shot of the trip with Amanda sitting near that little pool of water. Dark Hollow Falls The Dark Hollow Falls are one of the larger falls in the park (71 foot drop), but I think that we are too spoiled after living in Ithaca. They are pretty, but the downside is the hike to get to them is pretty tough. Let me rephrase that, getting *down* to the falls is easy, but on the way back it is straight uphill for the full .75 miles. I was pretty tired by the end of that hike. Even though it is a wide path and not really all that long or steep (only 440 ft elevation), this was probably the hike that tired us out the most. Hawksbill Mountain Summit Another moderately short and easy hike - 2.1 miles with 520 foot elevation gain. The trail is very wide and easy to see, but it does have a steep section at the very end before it joins up with the Appalachian trail. It opens up to a really big area that would probably be great for a picnic (there are even picnic tables there). There is a stone shelter built there and a nice 360 veiwing platform. Unfortunately we didn't get a lot of photos as [a] it was getting pretty cold [b] our camera ran out of batteries. We picked up a coule good ones though including one that I think Amanda likes with rays of light coming down from the sky. If I were to do this again, I would recomend packing a lunch for this hike and hanging out at the top for a bit. Click images for super size, hover over them to change the image
	Luray Caverns Luray Caverns is a natural cave system discovered in 1878 and is very popular. We waited until Monday to go and there were still plenty of people there, although not really crowded. I would certainly recomend trying to go at some off peak time as it is hard to get photos with so many people milling around. Amanda and I were really impressed by the caverns, pictures don't quite capture it but some of ours do a decent job. What is really neat is that you can get right up close to the rock formations rather than having to stay back a bit. A few highlights for us were: Dream Lake There is a shallow lake where the water is so clear it really tricks the eye in to seeing double as it reflects the stalagtites from above. It was quite spectacular to see. Saracen's Tent. These are a representation of a rock formation called "draperies" where the water deposites carbonates slowly as it trickles down a slope. In the lower album, they are the 5th photo in and look like fabric draped down. They are very thin (almost transparent) and multi-hued. Bone Wall That's not its real name, but that is what we are calling it. See if you can spot the photo that looks just like some strangely morphed skeleton bones. For more information on the Caverns, you can check out their offical website here. I am going to link you directly to their photo section as that is kinda neat: [offical website]. One important note if you are going to go to Luray Caverns is to bring along your Giant BonusCard as it will give you 50% off a second regular adult ticket. That's like $10 right there.