It’s time for a little story, have you ever had one of those trips where you realize about half way through that it would have been better to just stay home? Our trip to Shenandoah, Virginia in November was that kind of trip. I would 100% classify it under misadventures.
Backstory:
We used to live about an hour away from the area that we were planning to visit in Virginia. Corey was big into hunting while we lived there and is trying to get back into it so we planned a trip with my family (Dad, Mom, Sister and Brother-in-law) to go down. The plan was for the boys to hunt and for us girls to use this (link) trip unplanner. We were going to check out skyline drive, a few caverns and a few vineyards. Sounds fun, right? Our motto IS to travel anytime we can, right?
Where it started to go wrong:
About a week out we heard that there was a snowstorm coming. We lived in Virginia for 5 years and in that time, we had 1 true snow storm. It just so happened to be while we were moving into our house. Yep, we moved in a blizzard. Anyway, we changed the day we were driving down to meet everyone in PA. We all thought that maybe we could get ahead of it. Being snowed-in at a little cabin in the mountains didn’t seem like such a bad thing.
The guys made it out ahead of the storm but had to deal with it their whole first day of hunting. It’s not so bad hunting in snow but when it turned to freezing rain the deer were nowhere to be seen.
Where it really went wrong:
Unfortunately, us girls didn’t make it out ahead of the storm. What should have taken us 2.5 hours to drive ended up taking us 6 hours. At a certain point we were just committed to getting there but it was one of the most nerve wracking roadtrips I have ever been on. Thanks to my Mom for driving! Also, tractor trailers really need to slow down in snow.
Somehow it got worse:
We made it to our Airbnb in just under 6 hours and hunkered down for the night. Nerve wracking drives really take it out of you and we were all exhausted. Thanks to all of that ice around 9 pm we lost power at our Airbnb. It was pretty darn cold for Virginia and we thought we might have to pack it up in the morning and head home.
After a little bit of sleep, we decided to put a time limit on it. If the power wasn’t back on by 2 pm then we would head home. We were really limited on options because I had both the boys with me and when I called to see if the Skyline Drive was open, guess what? It wasn’t. I hadn’t “unplanned” much that didn’t include the Skyline Drive as it is the main roadway in the park. Check back later this week for what to do if this happens to you! Not only were we dealing with no electric, but the poor guys had to deal with ice covered trees falling all around them while they were trying to hunt. It was another horrible day of hunting in the books.
Where it continued to go wrong:
The power ended up coming back on around 1 pm. On the first full day of our 72-hour trip the only thing we ended up doing (besides hanging out which is always fun) was going to the Skyline Caverns because they were less than 5 mins from our Airbnb. It was very cool. We were the only people there because it was late in the day and we ended up with a private tour.
The BEST day of our trip:
On our last full day in Shenandoah the Skyline Drive was still closed. So we ventured out a little further to Luray Caverns. I kept reading and hearing that if you are going to visit caverns these were the ones to visit. It’s absolutely true. We spent a few hours at Luray Caverns and then headed back to our Airbnb to make our Thanksgiving feast. Did I mention that this was the weekend before Thanksgiving and it was our only time to have our Thanksgiving celebration together? Well it was, and we had a great Thanksgiving meal.
It was one of those trips where we were all so exhausted from the stress of the trip that we needed time to relax afterward.
While it wasn’t the best trip we’ve ever been on we certainly made the best of it. It was a fun little misadventure. It became laughable towards the end.
Look out for a post on what to do in Shenandoah National Park if the Skyline Drive is closed and a cavern off between Luray and Skyline Caverns.
