Blue Ridge Parkway Trip - Day 3

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Traveled from milepost 85.9 to 174.1

The day started overcast and has been the best so far. It was overcast and partially sunny with the temperatures in the 60's. We had a very good breakfast at the Peaks of Otter Lodge. After breakfast the guys left for their ride and Karen and I walked around the Abbott Lake, which was about a mile hike. Along the way found Polly Woods Ordinary, which was a sort of a B & B in the early 1800's.

Peaks of Otter Lodge

Abbott Lake at the Peaks of Otter, our hotel across the water

Abbott Lake at the Peaks of Otter

Trail around Abbott Lake

Polly Woods Ordinary

Karen at Polly Woods Ordinary

After our little hike we headed out. We met the cyclists at the Roanoke River Bridge. Then stopped at the Blue Ridge Parkway Visitors Center. We overheard some people talking about this really good inn and since we didn't have a hotel reservation anywhere we found out where this inn was. After meeting up with the guys again we decided to stay at this inn since it was right off the parkway.

Roanoke River Gorge

Roanoke River SAG stop

Roanoke Valley

Viaduct

Azaleas growing on the rocks in the hill

Smart View Picnic area

Jeff's great new hair style

Rakes Mill Pond

Woodberry Inn  is right off the parkway about 100 yards to the east at milepost 174.1. They don't allow any advertising on the parkway so need to keep your eyes open or you might miss it. It didn't look like much from the outside, but is really nice and clean. Rooms are recently renovated, they have a full service restaurant with good food and breakfast is included. What could be better.

Our rooms at Woodberry Inn, milepost 174.1

Jeff in front of the Woodberry Inn

View from the deck at the Woodberry Inn

Mark, Karen and Joe at dinner at Woodberry Inn

Blue Ridge Parkway Trip - Day 2

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Traveled from milepost 0 - 85.9

We had breakfast at the hotel and then drove the guys to the beginning of the parkway. The day looked pretty good with only 40% chance of rain. It was overcast when they left but about 5 miles in it started to drizzle and then the drizzle turned to rain and it rained the rest of the day until we arrived at our next hotel. The clouds where low and some of the time we were driving either in the cloud or above it, very weird and kind of scary too since we couldn't see anything, scary especially for the bicyclists. It was good that the yellow center line was marked on the road otherwise we would not have known where the road was.

And off they go. . .

Karen and I stopped at several places. First at Rockfish Valley Overlook, then at Humpback Rocks where there was a mountain farm exhibit. After that we just stopped at several overlooks, if the weather would have been better we might have gotten more pictures, but as it was we couldn't really see much.

Rockfish Valley Overlook

Humpback Rock

Humpback Rock farm exhibit

Humpback Rock, main farm house

Humpback Rock, chicken coop

Humpback Rock

Humpback Rock, root cellar

Humpback Rock, bear proof pigsty

Humpback Rock, barn

We also stopped at James River where there was an old lock. We had to take a footbridge over the river to get there. We had a sort of small SAG stop at the parking lot there.

Rock Point Overlook

Flame Azaleas at Whetstone Ridge

James River

James River

James River Bridge, Parkway is above us.

Battery Creek Lock at James River

Battery Creek Lock at James River

Battery Creek Lock at James River

James River SAG stop

A traffic sign on top of a mountain

Driving inside a cloud

Our overnight spot was  Peaks of Otter Lodge. It is a very lovely place in the middle of the mountains and next to a small lake. Karen and I had a late lunch there. The guys finally arrived all soaking wet and freezing. They definitely needed a warm shower and dry clothes on. The hotel rooms were lovely but they did not have a TV, internet access not even a hairdryer. We had a lovely dinner in their dining-room.

One of the peaks at Peaks of Otter, view from the lodge dining room

Peaks of Otter, view from our balcony

Grounds at Peaks of Otter Lodge

Peaks of Otter Lodge

Giant Rhododendron

Blue Ridge Parkway Trip - Day 1

Friday, May 4th, 2012

We left early around 6:30am to go to the Blue Ridge Parkway trip. Poor Casey so wanted to go with us, but she had to stay home. She looked pretty sad. Our first stop was to have breakfast and ended up at the Burger King in Fishkill NY. Below is a picture of it, took it just because it looked so much different than any other Burger King we've seen.

Burger King, Fishkill, NY

Some light New Jersey Traffic

Some neat bridges in Harrisburg, PA

We decided to avoid the New York and New Jersey traffic and took I-84 to I-87 to I-287 to I-78 to I-81 and then in Harrisburg, PA headed down on Rt. 15 to Fredrick, Maryland to pick up Mark. We had lunch somewhere near Harrisburg at Wendy's. Mark and his family live on top of a mountain in this adorable old house from 1905 with carriage house and a lovely yard.

Mark's wife Karen, Mark and Jeff at their house

After we backed Mark's bike and stuff we headed towards I-81 to Waynesboro, Virginia. Karen and Joe were there already when we got there. We stayed overnight at the Quality Inn, with a whole bunch of other bicyclists who were doing the Skyline Drive. The hotel was pretty bad with noisy air-conditioner and  running toilet, we had to turn the water off for the night since it kept us awake.

Mark, Karen and Joe

Dinner at Scotto's Italian Restaurant, Waynesboro, PA