Shenandoah National Park

On the way to DC, we planned to make a quick stop in Shenandoah National Park for a picnic. We found it so nice and cool that we decided to camp. We had booked a hotel in the DC area and they let us cancel, even though it was past the deadline. We picked a pretty little campsite by the Appalachian Trail and set up our BumbleBee tent. We are good at setting up tent, as we practiced in the front yard before we left. In the park brochure it says we have to store our food properly so the bears don't get into it, with a picture of a guy hanging his food in a tree. It was getting late, so we started looking around at the trees. There were no food bags hanging in our neighbor's trees, so we went over to ask the ladies in the camp next door. They let us know that storing food in the car would suffice to keep the bears away. After chatting with us a bit, they invited us to share their campfire and we went back and got our chairs. While sitting around the campfire, I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. I looked over to find a cute little skunk about a yard away. He was just scampering around looking for something to eat. Both Victoria and I froze and the ladies just laughed. They have been camping for years and a skunk was nothing new to them. After some chatting, we all went to bed. The next morning we took an early morning hike to Dark Hollow Falls. Victoria climbed up to the falls for a few pictures. She is a mountain goat like that. The whole way we were looking for critters. They can be seen in our Shenandoah National Park flickr album.

When we got back to camp we found that our phones were out of juice. Victoria went up to the bathroom and found an electrical outlet. She came back to camp and got a chair and both phones and with the intent to watch the bathroom to make sure no one took off with our phones. By that time, I was reading a book in BumbleBee tent. BumbleBee has a removable cover that once removed, tent becomes a screened-in area. This is key, as there were swarms of gnat-like creatures that would constantly move around your head if you were stationary too long. After about half an hour, I started to feel bad that Victoria had to sit outside of the bathroom with the gnats. I decided I should go keep her company. As I approached the bathroom, what do I find? The princess in a tower. Turns out, she met a man who offered to let her sit in his very nice and comfortable screened-in pop-up. They were chatting away. 

Shenandoah National Park was filled with beautiful nature and nice people.