After spending our first Christmas in Virginia Beach with the in-laws, we decided that it would be worth breaking up the drive home with a few “local” national parks.

2021: Virginia Beach -> Shenandoah Valley NP -> New River Gorge NP -> New River Gorge NP

Day 1

We said goodbye to family, packed the car, and headed from the Virginia Beach area to The North Entrance of Shenandoah NP, 2 hour 29 minutes via I-64 W. We arrived to the Front Royal (North) Entrance Station, where we learned that all of the Skyline Drive past the Visitor’s Center was closed for inclement weather. We did get to stop at the Valley Overlook, the Visitors center, and then left via Thornton Gap Entrance Station. While much of the driving part of this park was closed in December, we still enjoyed the quiet and beautiful views.

We stayed in Harrisonburg VA which was about 30 minutes outside of the west Park Entrance and a Comfort Inn and Suites, which was clean and comfy enough for one night. Wandering into downtown area, we ate at Jack Brown’s Beer & Burger Joint where we watched the James Madison students working on the beer challenge.

Day 2

Leaving Harrisonburg VA, we drove the 2 hours 52 minutes via I-64 W to Beckley West Virginia.

After checking in to the Hampton Inn Beckley, which was again a nice choice, we headed to the New River Gorge NP. Starting at the Canyon Rim Visitor Center, the most photographed overlook, took our breath away with the magnitude of this bridge. It was beautiful and powerful and so so big. (Duh!) This park did not really have an “entrance” as the whole park weaves in and out of the local city. So we followed the one-way WV 82 from Lansing to Fayetteville stopping along the road for pictures.

That night we swung into good ole’ McDonald’s and hunkered down in the hotel as there were tornado conditions and the wind was howling.

Day 3

Getting up the next morning, the weather was temporarily on our side as we made our way out of town. The short and sweet weekend had come to a close and we made our way back to Atlanta, the whole 6 hours 10 minutes to home (so maybe that long drive wasn’t made shorter but it was a great weekend addition)