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Day trip to Shenandoah National Park (2 Viewers)

TheIronSheik said:
Looks like down 81 to get to the south entrance.  But also anything from the north entrance back to Fredrick, MD.
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By the north entrance, there's the less goofy Dinosaur Land.

That stretch down I-81 has some good towns with a history and arts and culture vibe (Harrisonburg and Staunton), but not much in the way of roadside attractions that would interest a teenage daughter come to mind.  There's the Woodrow Wilson birthplace in Staunton, the Cedar Creek battlefield (site of Sheridan's Ride), and New Market battlefield -- which are all good spots -- but I'm not sure they fit the bill unless she has some history nerd gene in her.

If you are taking 15 north of Frederick, I'm a fan of the Catoctin Mountain Orchard in Thurmont, MD.  The Turkey Hill Experience in Columbia, PA is a good spot if you take 30 from there (but you are probably familiar with the PA spots).

 
Winchester has a nice downtown that a teenage girl can probably find some shops she likes. 

Harpers Ferry is on the route between Frederick and the north end of the park. 

You could do the route down 15 and out 50 and stop in Middleburg, Va. 

 
We did HF 2 years ago when we did our "Haunted Tour."  We went to HF, Shepardstown (because of that goofy, but fun, ghost show "Ghosts of Shepardstown" and then Antietam Battlefield.  That was a solid trip. 

 
dgreen said:
Winchester has a nice downtown that a teenage girl can probably find some shops she likes. 

Harpers Ferry is on the route between Frederick and the north end of the park. 

You could do the route down 15 and out 50 and stop in Middleburg, Va. 
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In that area, not far from Middleburg (in Marshall) is a great bakery called Red Truck (they feature some pies made with moonshine and bourbon).  ETA: Check out the "what they're saying" page -- its fans include Obama and Oprah.  

 
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So going into this trip, I had told my wife that all I really hoped for was to see a bear in the wild.  And if I could see one, than the rest of the trip didn't matter, because it would have been a success.

So we got to the southern entrance at 9 am.  Right on time.  I paid the ranger, pulled through the gate and about 50 yards in, this animal comes tumbling out of the weeds almost as if it had been thrown out there.  As it hit the ground, it turned on all fours and looked at us in the car with a look of shock.  It was a bear that was not quite a cub, but definitely a full grown bear.  We made eye contact for what seemed like 90 minutes, then he turned and ran across the street into the weeds on the other side of the road.  I was sure a mama bear was going to be right behind it, but no bear followed the cublet.  I'm fairly certain the smile on my face was ear to ear.  Just wish I would have been prepared to snap a picture.

We stopped at almost every overlook for the first 20 miles, taking pictures and reading plaques.  It was cool.  By the time we got to the spot where we had planned our first hike, the park had become packed with visitors.  It felt more like being at a mall than the great outdoors.  So we skipped pretty much all of the hikes (which was fine anyway because the car ride was killing my back).  

We were behind schedule when we got to the exit for Luray Caverns but figured we could knock it out pretty quickly.  As we neared the entrance, there was a line and the parking lot was packed.  Now if you're like me, a packed parking lot there wouldn't have seemed that crazy.  I went to some caverns near Denver and the parking lot was like a small little gravel parking lot.  But this was like the size of an amusement park.  I was not expecting that.  We all looked at each other and I knew we were all thinking, "Screw this."  None of us felt like standing in long lines after being in the car for the past 10 hours.  So we headed back to Skyline Drive and finished the final stretch.  It was cool, but probably didn't need to do the whole drive.  I wouldn't say the trip was bad, but it wasn't my best family road trip.  When we got back to Frederick, I learned that the Bennigan's had closed, which broke my heart even more.  We ended up driving all the way back home on Saturday.  So I pretty much drove from 6am until 9:30pm.  Long day that didn't really produce the results I had hoped.

But I did see a bear.  So the trip was a complete success.

 
I can see that being a lot in one day.  I think ideal would have been to stretch it out -- do the Caverns (at least standing in line is stretching legs), and then drive back Sunday morning instead of Sat night, so not in the car as much in one day.

 
TheIronSheik said:
None of us felt like standing in long lines after being in the car for the past 10 hours.  So we headed back to Skyline Drive and finished the final stretch.  
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So because you were sick of being stuck in a car you decided to go back in a car rather than stand outside?

 
TheIronSheik said:
This might be true, but like I said, after being in the car all day, I just don't think any of us were too excited to stand in lines.  
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Having done the caverns myself a few weeks back, you honestly didn't really miss all that much.  It's cool (figuratively and literally), but after the day you had - maybe another time.  Glad you enjoyed the views and saw a bear.

 
Gary Coal Man said:
So because you were sick of being stuck in a car you decided to go back in a car rather than stand outside?
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No.  lol.  The longer answer was that we got to Luray around 2:30.  We started our day at 6am.  At that point, we knew that going to Luray Caverns would be about 2 hours.  It had already been a long day for all of us and I don't think any of us were ready to stand in lines, in close quarters with other people, to extend our trip by two hours.  

On top of that, standing is much more painful for me than sitting in a car.  Sitting in a car sucks on my back, but standing is 10 times worse.  I think if we would have hit Luray Caverns earlier in the trip, we would have done it.  But because it came at the tail end of the day, it just seemed more of a hassle than a fun time.  We all said we might try to come back some time, but it was just a lot to do in one day.

It was also an add on to the original trip.  It wasn't part of the original plan, so it was easier to skip it once we saw the crowds.

 
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