A Pair of Panties and Boxers

This post was written a year ago about my trip to Shenandoah Valley, Virginia.

Blue Ridge Mountain at Shenendoah Valley

Saturday was all about stuffing. Stuff in my sweaters. Stuff in my jeans. Stuff in my hoodie. Stuff in my socks. Stuff in my pillow. Stuff in my pajamas. Stuff in my bag in the car. Stuff myself in the car. Stuffed in till we reached Shenandoah National Park – a 5+ hour drive from New York City.

JC and I checked in around 9PM and immediately went to find food. Dinner was critical. The pitch dark drive felt like a time warp into history. There was no one ahead of us, no one behind us. The stars were crystal clear. It was the only other flicker of light in the night.

We ended up in Flint Hill - an eerily quiet, small American town. Population – 508.  TGIF was obviously not hidden behind those haystacks. We retraced our route and gave up looking for Friday’s. Instead, we had dinner at a local Chinese restaurant owned by a family of four. The total Chinese population for the weekend in Shenandoah was six, including JC and I.

The next day we made our way up to Skyline Drive, the highest point of the Shenandoah Valley. It was full of quality time, great conversations and an awesome scenic view of the Blue Ridge Mountain. The picture does it no justice or perhaps it’s my lack of photography skills.

We stepped out of the car a couple of times to take in the atmosphere. The air was extremely cold and crisp. We tried to have lunch on top of a rock but the wind wasn’t being too friendly. Afterward, JC napped and I sketched. It has been a while since I did anything artistic so I was a little rough around the edges.

We started to make our way down Skyline Drive as soon as dusk set in. We were afraid to run into Bambi on our way down. We had a couple of close calls but no animals were harmed, including us. After dinner at Stonewall Jackson’s Restaurant, we called it a night and prepared ourselves mentally and physically for the draining experience of attending Obama’s inauguration.