"Every Picture Tells a Story ... Don't It:" On the Road - The Colorful Shenandoah, Chapter IV | Eastern North Carolina Now

   Publisher's note: This a continuation of "Every Picture Tells a Story ... Don't It:" On the Road - The Colorful Shenandoah, Chapter III. It was a good trip, as exemplified in this journal.

    This is the time of year when Autumn unfurls its brilliant colors. There is a chill in the air, and often that change of season can be breathtaking. This was not necessarily the case on this trip; however, the weather was seasonally brisk, the sky clear, and roads clear of all obstructions. With all that to the positive, we entered Skyline Drive at the Swift Run Gap Entrance and headed south.

   Along the parkway, we were treated to some panoramic vistas on the colorful shoulders of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Shenandoah Valley. The traffic was nowhere near as congested as it was the previous Saturday, when we headed north from the Swift Run Gap Entrance to Big Meadow. This was an obvious plus, and after a wonderful afternoon, we exited Skyline Drive and re-visited Staunton, Virginia.
From one of the 75 overlooks of Skyline Drive, we look east toward the colorful shoulders of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the Virginia Piedmont below: Above. Here we look west across the Shenandoah Valley, with the most southern peak of the Massanutten Mountain Range in the middle ground: Below.     photos by Stan Deatherage
The buttery brown shoulders of the Blue Ridge Mountains: Above. The wide, expansive Shenandoah Valley north of the historic Staunton Virginia: Below.     photos by Stan Deatherage
This is the most common agrarian scene in the Shenandoah Valley - the pasture and the silo. These images were made around Solon, Virginia, just north of Staunton, Va: Above and below.     photos by Stan Deatherage
Click here to enlarge to a larger map of the Staunton metropolitan area and the Shenandoah Valley.
The city shops at the intersection of New Street / Mills Street and West Johnson Street / Greenville Avenue: Above. Federal style architecture of Staunton's City Hall on East Beverly Street: Below.     photos by Stan Deatherage