Shenandoah

From Wikipedia – Shenandoah’s Blue Ridge Mountains are covered by hardwood forests that teem with a wide variety of wildlife. The Skyline Drive and Appalachian Trail run the entire length of this narrow park, along with more than 500 miles (800 km) of hiking trails passing scenic overlooks and cataracts of the Shenandoah River.

• Established: 12/26/1935
• Annual Visitors: 1,264,880
• Size: 199,224 acres

We have travelled over 6,000 miles through 19 different states and Shenandoah is our 17th National Park so far this trip. Tomorrow will mark 6 weeks on the road. Rangeley continues to be great and has loved the grass and trees of the east. The blue line on the map is what we have done, the red is what remains for this trip. The green through California is a future trip.

Millersburg , Ohio October 10-14, 2020

We arrived in Millersburg and were invited to have dinner with our Amish friends who are the breeders of our now 5-month-old Silver Lab, Rangeley. Lorianne, a 24-year-old mom of almost 22 mo. old Charity, made us grilled Frogmore. Frogmore Stew, or Lorianne’s favorite way of making it is to grill it, is a common Amish group meal originally started in Frogmore, South Carolina and adopted by the Amish as they moved west and north. Lorianne’s variation consisted of sausage, chicken, bacon wrapped shrimp, potatoes, corn on the cob rolled in parmesan cheese and sour cream and great spices. Yum! She also made rhubarb soda. Rhubarb from their garden processed with sugar, frozen and then served mixed with ginger ale. She finished the home-made meal with individual fruit topped cheese cakes. (yes, a very rich and filling meal that we enjoyed immensely!) Then Lorianne got Charity ready (it was a chilly evening so layers and warm socks were in order), I cleared the table and Gary and Dennis, 26, went out to the barn to harness and hitch up their 2-year-old horse for a group ‘buggy’ ride. The three of them, Gary, myself and Rangeley too! The ride on the Holmes County Rails to Trails, reachable from about the equivalent of a city block from their house, was an incredibly relaxing and beautiful way to experience a gorgeous autumn sunset in the four wheeled, two bench, open surrey.

Sunday afternoon after they attended church and had a community meal, we joined the family at their house again and exercised…ok played with… a litter of eight Newfypoos, adorable 6-week-old Newfoundland and Standard Poodle puppies. Lorianne made a great hot buffalo chicken dip and we brought appetizers to share.

Monday was laundry day for Lorianne. By the time we got there to get them at 9AM all her laundry was out on the line and Dennis had done all the AM chores. He took this off from his daily finish carpentry job. We were all off to Hershberger Farms in our van. https://www.ohiosamishcountry.com/businesses/shopping/hershbergers-farm-and-bakery

Lots to do for Charity – extensive farm animal petting zoo – and I love the Amish market, antiques store, homecooked food both to have for lunch and canned to take home, as well as a great place to ride in a buggy, surrey or wagon all run by/employed by, the Amish.

We returned to their farm to do evening chores like feed and water the puppies and horse, check on the sheep and guard-Donkey (Eeyore) and shower for dinner. Dennis’ parents had invited us to their farm for dinner so Dennis and Gary hitched up the surrey and we all ‘drove’ to Jonas and Betty’s hundreds of acres home and farm. The family has hundreds of sheep and as many lambs right now. Sooo cute! They run their entire house off of natural gas which is acquired from a well on the brother’s property. All the modern conveniences like a fridge and “electricity” but off the grid!. See pic of the farm attached.

Dinner was delicious. We had what they call Poorman’s Steak, this time made with the elk meat from the game recently shot by Dennis’ youngest brother (like a meatloaf made into patties). Side dishes of mashed potatoes, creamed corn. The family was incredibly welcoming and interested in Gary’s stories of our travels. Betty and Jonas’ grandkids were running around in the kitchen while Betty, Lorianne and I cleared and did the dishes. The men went outside for a tour of the property, Jonas’ four buggies and surreys, his work shop and more! We all got to see the barn with the new 50+ lambs running around while the ewes ate dinner, two Golden Retriever litters (4 wks and 2 wks old), and the new 8 yr. old buggy racing horse Dennis bid on for his younger brother less than a week ago. Just like Lorianne and Dennis’ Rumspringa time, the youngest brother is in his early 20’s and is driving a car, has a cell phone and can dress like us, the English. He needs to choose to join their church and live an Amish life as does his Old Order group with his family or leave the church and live as an English person. It is strongly encouraged for the young adults to officially join the church, get married and live the Amish lifestyle. If they choose to leave they can still be part of the family in an extended way. If they choose to be Amish and then leave the church they can experience a Shunning. Basically, they will need to live on their own with little or no contact with the family and community.

Gary and I will most definitely return as we loved the “Simple” life. We were made to feel welcome and appreciated the openness and curiosity on both family’s sides with all our questions about life on an Amish farm gladly being answered and questions about all the adventures we are having and have already experienced in our travels over the years. We look forward to returning to visit this extended family when Dennis and Lorianne’s second four yr. horse has her first foal in March.

Tuesday was another day for us to help with chores. We washed the eight Newfypoo puppies, got wood chips for the horse and puppy stalls from Tractor Supply with our van, went to their rented freezer a couple miles from their home to stock Lorianne’s propane run fridge/freezer with the deer meat they bought for the winter and changed to go to our cabin we rented so we could cook dinner for them. Gary grilled steaks on the porch at Trailside Lodging. We had green salad, baked acorn squash, homemade pickles from Hershberger Farms and brownies with strawberries for desert. I did the dishes while the four of them could walk Rangeley on the Holmes Country Rails to Trails in the backyard of the cabin. We sadly had to say good bye to Dennis as he had to work the next day.

Wednesday, we drove a few miles to Mt. Hope to experience an every Wednesday cattle, sheep and more auction. Lots of buggies (see pics)! We treated Lorianne to a fabric store. I was not sure who had more fun! Me watching her pick out enough material for three matching dresses she will make for she and Charity plus blanket making material or Lorianne having the time of her life picking them out! We saw a bit of the fast moving, rapid talking auction, wondered through the many tables at the flea and farmers markets, and were thoroughly amazed at the lines of cars, trucks, trailers, buggies and bicycles waiting to weigh and count their livestock, hoping to sell them at the auction.

We returned Lorianne and Charity back to their house and sadly departed one of the best times we have had with friends in a long time!

Shenandoah National Park October 15 – 16, 2020

Driving from Ohio to Virginia we passed through West Virginia 3 times because of the odd shape of the state. We also went through western Maryland and southwest Pennsylvania. This area of the country is beautiful. You have the hills and changing leaves, but it also seems the locals have a lot of pride in their region. The lawns were well taken care of, the farms clean and neat, etc. It was a very enjoyable ride.

Shenandoah National Park is breathtakingly beautiful in October right now! The leaves are displaying many shades of yellow, orange and reds and the expansive views one gets from the northern section of the park’s overlooks, coupled with the tree’s canopies over Skyline Drive make for an extremely pleasurable drive! The wooded, dog friendly, Appalachian Trail paths with lichen covered boulders make for fabulous hiking as well! Gary thru-hiked the entire 2,100+ mile trail from Georgia to Maine in 2014. It was a long 4+ months without him at home and it was a pleasure for Gary and I both to revisit a few of the huts, shelters, trails and lodging he has experienced in his three different times he has section hiked this portion of the AT!

I was in awe of the many miles of hand laid stone guard walls in the park. A quote about them is below and pics attached that we took.

Originally built in the 1930’s… “The CCC built many of the stone walls along the (Skyline) Drive, particularly those in the South District and those at overlooks. Beginning in 1983 many of the original walls have been rebuilt by the Federal Highways Administration…”. https://visitskylinedrive.org/discover/skyline-drive-history/

I can now see why the AT is so enticing to Gary. It’s been a wonderful time and I can see myself coming back to this park to hike portions of the AT again with Gary!

The distance between National Parks is much larger in the east than the western parks. We are staying in hotels only one night along the way to the next park but have been checking ahead for dog friendly and grass surrounded hotels to stop at.

Our next National Park is Congaree in South Carolina.