The Blue Ridge Parkway - Nelson County, VA

Sometimes, you've just got to take a drive.

Last weekend I decided to fight off the mid-winter, cabin-fever, is-spring-ever-gonna-come blues by hopping in the car and heading west.  With a friend sitting shotgun, a cheap Sheetz sandwich on the dash, and the aviator sunglasses on, we ignored the 18̊ thermometer reading and set out for a good old-fashioned, mini road-trip down the Blue Ridge Parkway of Nelson County, Virginia!

The Blue Ridge Parkway is 469 miles of breath-taking scenery and has been the most visited "national park" of the U.S. National Park system since its inception in 1936 (it's an unofficial national park, hence the quotation marks and why I wasn't able to get a stamp in my NPS passport).  The park's northernmost point is just west of Charlottesville, VA, where it connects with the Skyline Drive*, and it stretches south to Cherokee, NC, near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  While the dead of winter admittedly doesn't afford the best temperature for enjoying the scenic overlooks, it does guarantee less people and more open roads.  Plus the winter scenery was actually quite beautiful:

Frozen, anyone?

Sadly, we were not able to drive the entirety of the park (we'll save that for another day!).  Besides, we had a date with some breweries and cideries in the area, and a cold pint in hand was becoming infinitely preferable to a cold nose on the face.

"From the Blue Mountains we come,

From the mountains, ah, so far from here,

On the backs of our horses we ride round the earth,

From the Blue Mountains we come. ..."

(Translation of "Den Blauen Bergen" [a German folk song] by yours truly)

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Have you visited the Blue Ridge Parkway?

Linking up with Bonnie Rose for #TravelTuesday!

* Although Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway are similar, there is a charge to visit Skyline Drive (ranging between $10-15 per carload depending on the time of year), but the Blue Ridge Parkway is free!