This was my second visit to Shenandoah National Park. On my first trip in February 2024, I drove to the park’s southernmost entry and headed north on Skyline Drive. This time, I entered from the northernmost point at Point Royal and took the drive south.
It was October 29th, late in the fall foliage season but still beautiful and yet less crowded than earlier in the month. As usual, I stopped at the visitors center and got the latest from the rangers on duty, plus the center had quite a scenic view of the park, too. Additionally, I had found and downloaded an audio description of scenes and historical information about the park and the native tribes that had once inhabited the area. Since much of the park is not WiFi accessible, the tracks didn’t always keep up with my location, but it was interesting anyway. I look my time and shot lots of pictures of mountain outlooks and colorful roadways that the reduced traffic allowed me to slow down or even stop to capture.
A sample of the pictures are below:
I found a great spot to see and capture the stunning sunset:
All of the pictures from Shenandoah are available at http://singin1.pics/piwigo/index.php?/category/Return-to-Shenandoah-103024. The opening page’s map shows where the pictures were taken along my route.
I took my time leaving the park because the animals–especially the deer–that had avoided the roads in the daylight took over once night had fallen. I had no desire to play tag with the teaming masses of fauna. This map shows the route from Maryland, through the park, and to my next stop.
There was one time-sensitive part to this trip. I had to be at the pickup point in Key West, Florida, for the ferry to the Dry Tortugas National Park (more about this in my next post) on Saturday, November 2nd. I had allowed for several stops along the way and had hoped to visit at least two of my sibs, but that didn’t work out due to my short notice about the trip.
By Wednesday afternoon, I had reached the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum, interestingly located on John Lewis Freedom Parkway in Atlanta, Georgia. This seemed to be a low-traffic time to visit and get lots of pictures, a situation which I prefer. I had just turned 18 when Carter ran for the presidency in 1976, and it was my honor to give him my first vote for president. I was really pleased to finally get the chance to see this physical manifestation of his term in office.
I posted a few of the pictures covering Carter’s life and career–from his service in the Navy to his post-presidential activities–below:
All of my interior and exterior pictures from the Carter Library are located at http://singin1.pics/piwigo/index.php?/category/Jimmy-Carter-Presidential-Library-103024.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, other than getting caught in evening rush hour on I-85, which was ferocious even on a midweek night.