For a while now, Eddie and I had been planning our “babymoon” to the Shenandoah Valley to visit Skyline Drive. He has accumulated quite a few Holiday Inn points while traveling for work, so we were able to book a free suite for the weekend at the Holiday Inn in Front Royal, VA. (and we still have enough for another weekend….eventually.)
My wonderful in-laws took the kids and the dog for the weekend and we made the trip, which is about a two and a half hour drive from us.
Friday, the day we left, was beautiful. The fall colors of the leaves were breath-taking on the drive down, and we even saw a hot air balloon while we were driving.
The hotel was on a gorgeous golf course with great views.
This was the view Friday evening when we arrived.
Unfortunately, as you may have heard, we had a record early snow on the east coast this weekend, so this is what we woke up to Saturday morning.
We tried the park entrance twice on Saturday and once on Sunday, but it was closed because of the weather, so this was a close as we got to Skyline Drive.
No worries, though, we had a nice time just resting during the day on Saturday and going to dinner, bowling & to see the new Justin Timberlake movie In Time that evening. There was the craziest little theater in town! They made us stand outside in the snow until show time, then they let everyone in and our theater was tiny. Then the show didn’t even start for another half an hour because they couldn’t figure out how to work the projector. It could have been a frustrating day after not being able to get into the park either, but we were determined not to let anything ruin our trip.
On Sunday we spent the morning visiting some really cool antique shops and an architectural salvage store.
We tried the park again but it was still closed, so we decided that plan B would be to visit Harper’s Ferry, which we were going to have to pass through on the way home anyway. So we got to see the fall foliage after all, with a little bit of a history lesson thrown in. (Now I know a lot more about Stonewall Jackson & John Brown.)
If you’re looking for an affordable get away, you really should consider visiting the National Parks in your area. We had a great time and we really didn’t spend much money at all, no more than we would have staying home for the weekend. 🙂
Happy babymoon!! It looks like you had a nice time despite the weather. My daughter ended up staying 2 nights with my Mom in PA because of the snow fall – crazy!!! We weren’t hit so badly in the Baltimore area.