Virginia

Virginia is for lovers, and I am definitely a lover of Virginia. I might be a bit biased (growing up and living here for 18 years) BUT it really is an incredible state. I’m talking about the reeeall Virginia here, not to be confused with it’s inbred neighbor West VA, who constantly tries to give Virginia a bad name. Just thought we should make that clear. Anyways, Virginia has beaches, the Shenandoah National Park, the Blue Ridge Mountains, the historical triangle, (Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown) and is enriched in history and culture. Naturally this seemed like a great place to start our journey. We packed up our Uhaul, moved up from South Carolina, put some essentails into storage, and finished our last minute journey preparations. Being Fall, it seemed only appropriate to paarticiapte in some Fall Festivities before hitting the open road. With my family still living in Chesapeake, Va, we spent three days at “home.” As part of fall festivities, we went to Burgey’s Bread Basket (an amazing local farm), decorated pumpkins, make Cider Moscow Mules, and broke out the old Apple Cider Press. They dug this thing out of an attic somewhere and it looked like it had been purchased straight from some old antique store. The boys rebuilt some of the rotten wooden components and before too long (to everyones surprise) it was ready to go. By camp fire light and a few beams of hope from our cellphones, the group squeezed its first Carter Mountain Virginian Apples into the old machine. It actually worked really well and the apple cider it made was really to die for. With our belly’s full of cider and apple pie, we spent our last night with the Plummer Family. 

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On October 25th the Great Slack Road Trip began. Our first stop was the capitol, Richmond, VA. We got the opportunity to stop and see some very sweet friends Peggy and James Gardner. They welcomed us with warm hospitality, a delicious lunch, told us about their favorite journeys, broke out the maps, and wished us well on our way. Once we finished our visit, we went and view St. John’s Episcopal Church, which is the famous church where Patrick Henry gave his “give me liberty, or give me death,” speech. From there, we headed to Carytown, which is an artsy strip of streets covered with unique books shops, antique stores, arcade themes, and local art.

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After some quality exploring, we made our way to the James River Pipeline Park. It was a little tricky to find the parking and involved some minimal amounts of illegal parking, but it was well worth the struggle of finding. This walkway is a really neat little hike that the city has built over an old pipeline. You walk down some stairs and take a little latter to get down to the main “sidewalk,” but once you’re there its a really scenic walk. With the hike being over a pipeline, it literally takes you out over the water. We watched the sunset over some rapids and the rushing James River directly to our side. It was really beautiful and one of my favorite highlights of Richmond. 

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After hiking around and watching the sunset, we went to meet up with some good friends, the Nobles. We met for dinner at the highly recommended River City Diner. Food was delicious and the company was not bad either!  Tim and Ciara showed amazing hospitality and let us spend the night at their beautiful country home. After a quick goodbye visit in the morning, we were back on the road. Virginia is home to many historic sites and founding father plantations. Naturally, we thought it was appropriate to visit Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. We took a bus up the mountain, toured the gardens, took a little journey through time, and eventually viewed the home. Even though it was wet and rainy, it was still a very good visit. Monticello is packed with genius ideas, unique architecture, and a bit of America’s dark history. 

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Once completing our tour, we headed across the road to Carter Mountain. This mountain is known for its impressive orchards and ample amounts of apple trees. They have a country store up at the top where you can purchase all kinds of goodies, including, apple pie, apple cider, and fresh apple cider doughnuts. With fully bellies we headed north to the Luray Caverns. Luray is a town located right through the Shenandoah National Forest and was opened as a tourist cavern back in 1878. People have come from all over to climb 16 floors below the earth and view natures wonder. The cave is about a two mile trail that takes you on a journey through stalactites, stalagmites, flow-stones, mirrored pools, and a grand finale of the Great Stalacpipe Organ performance (an operating organ that uses the various stalactites acting as organ pipes to create beautiful music). Before exiting the tunnels, make sure you pay your respects at the veterans of Page County Memorial. Overall, a visit well worth your time!

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Finally, we finished our cavern tour and headed East towards Washington DC. So with the windshield wipers blaring, and the sun setting we journeyed back across the Old Dominion State. Well that’s pretty much a wrap for Virginia, but please join me on the DC post for our late night capitol adventures. With wrapping up our little trip through America’s finest, I would like to leave you with this one thought, “A lot of good things start in Virginia; a lot of good things have started in Virginia. We’re no strangers to firsts.” -Robert Hurt

Sic Semper Tyrannis, McKayla