DAY 3 SNOW (Part Deux) WE SAW A BEAR !!!!!

After the shock of seeing the snow this morning, we played a little "What now".  we first got another night here at Big Meadow Lodge and then canceled our stay at Natural Bridge.
then I had to do an adjustment on the tire pressure of the bike.

With that out of the way we took a walk out into nature

to a water fall about 2.5miles from base camp called Dark Hollow Falls in the rain and snow.

Walking back we saw this 300 pound bear cross the road about 25yds ahead of us.  we weren't expecting to see it so we didn't get any pictures

Further up the road on the way back Sue got within 20 feet of this deer for this shot [you can see a 2nd deer in the background]

Going to dinner at the lodge we walked out into a group of 7-8 deer just walking around and eating the moss

Now we're going to the lounge for some live entertainment and then back to the cabin for some S'mores.
YUMMY,

Day 3 SNOW !!!!! (Big Meadow Lodge Skyline Drive Shenadoah National Park)

we wake up today to a dusting of SNOW !!!! after about an hour the snow fall intensity is increasing.
At 9:45AM we have about 2 inches.  We had to cancel our run down to Natural Bridge and are spending a second night here.  Weather for tomorrow is suppose to be better (no snow) but rain could still be in the forecast.  will have to upload pix later.   bye-bye.  Don and Sue

Day 2 (Winchester VA-Luray Caverns-Skyline Drive/Big Meadow Lodge)

from here we headed south to Front Royal, VA and the start of Skyline Drive.  here's a shot of what we saw

Had a great southern breakfast at this dive across the street from the hotel called the Piccadilly Grill.  Took some pix but we are having technical difficulty with Sue's card reader. Stay tuned for tomorrow.

Stopped outside of Winchester at "DINOSAUR LAND" . Talk about a americana roadside attraction. 

From here we headed south to Front Royal and the start of Skyline Drive.  here's what we saw

      

yeah it says 39 degrees.

from here we made Luray VA for lunch and ate at "UNCLE BUCK'S' [it's about horses not John Candy]

Hit Luray Caverns and it was SPECTACULAR to say the least,  this was a reflection of the ceiling on a pool of water that's only 20 inches deep.

After Luray we headed back onto Skyline Drive an our hotel for night 2, Big Meadow Lodge (MP 51.2).  on the way there it STARTED TO SNOW !!!!!!!!

saw lots of nature on the roadside [this HUGE 12POINT BUCK] just looking out for his family.

had dinner at the lodge and now we're going to the lounge for some more live entertainment.

 sleeping in a cabin with a fireplace for heat.......Good night

Day one (Home to Winchester, VA)

The trip started out great (we were dry) but by the time we made Winchester we had been riding for 3 hrs in a chilling rain, that started in York, PA.

Went down some great roads like US Rt30 from York to Gettysburg and the US Rt 340 from Frederick MD, thru Harpers Ferry to Winchester VA.  Couldn't stop to take any pictures because of the weather.

Once we made Winchester, Sue had reserved us a room in the George Washington Hotel (Wyndam) and they had a wedding in their Ballroom, a birthday party in the lounge, live acoustic entertainment and a second wedding party was spending their honeymoon there.

For dinner Winchester has a pedestrian mall where we found this lovely spot called the Village Square.  What a surprise.

T-minus 48 hrs (adding a day to the front end of trip)

Sue in her infinite wisdom and fickleness, has suggested we leave a day early to spend more time in the Shenandoah National Forest.  So Day (-1) [Satrday] will be have us going to Winchester VA before going to Luray Caverns.

Planned Route (Oct 2-8, 2011)

Our planned route will be as follows,

Day 1, we leave West Chester, PA for Lancaster, York and Gettysburg before dropping down into Maryland.  We'll continue thru Frederick and then reach Virginia.  In Virginia we'll go thru Front Royal before reaching our first destination Luray Caverns.  After enjoying the caverns we'll travel down Skyline Drive to Big Meadows Lodge (MP 51.2), part of Shenendoah National Park, for our first night.

Day 2 is planned completing Skyline Drive and then taking the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) down to the Natural Bridge.  This is the destination of our second day.

Day3 and Day 4 is planned for Lynchburg and Appomatox before arriving in Charlottesville.  In Charlottesville we are planning on enjoying some of their wonderful wine, as well as seeing Tho. Jefferson's Monticello and James Madison's Montpelier.

Day 5 will take us east over to Spotsylvania and Fredericksburg.  From there we hope to get over to Colonial Beach (Geo. Washington's birthplace) before reaching St. Mary's/Lexington Park, MD for this day's final destination.

Day 6 will take us into St. Mary's before heading north thru Chesapeake Beach and Annapolis before dropping down south along MD's Eastern Shore to Easton, MD for this day stop.

Day 7, our last day will take us into Tighman's Island, then up to Rock Hall and Chesapeake City before returning back into PA and home.

The following is a link to a map of our route, http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=2108+Eton+Court,+Chester,+PA&daddr=39.86635,-77.04569+to:101+Cave+Hill+Road,+Luray,+VA+22835+(Luray+Caverns)+to:Big+Meadows,+Shenandoah+National+Park,+Luray,+VA+to:38.193415,-78.756263+to:37.93381,-78.95203+to:37.6513191,-79.3220343+to:Natural+Bridge+Station,+VA+to:Lynchburg,+VA+to:Appomattox,+VA+to:Charlottesville,+VA+to:Charlottesville,+VA+22902+(Monticello+Memorial+Park)+to:Orange,+VA+to:Courthouse+Rd+to:Colonial+Beach,+VA+to:Dowell+Road,+Solomons,+MD+to:St.+Mary's,+MD+to:38.69217,-76.53502+to:Annapolis,+MD+to:Easton,+MD+to:Tilghman,+Tilghman+Island,+Talbot,+Maryland+to:38.75043,-76.14969+to:Rock+Hall,+MD+to:39.50635,-75.83196+to:998+Roundhouse+Court,+West+Chester,+PA&hl=en&geocode=FaHRYQIdrbl_-ykZqFKw4u3GiTH9iHtReK57Vw%3BFe5PYAIdRmBo-yml9i_ip1fIiTEilXQqKQK8zw%3BFb8CTgIdMy1S-yFpSeWCxp7Qbg%3BFee7SwIdviVT-yHE_LUdt1akjw%3BFQfJRgIdWUZO-ylV0qvOBoS0iTFAYLdOWFrtRg%3BFfLSQgIdoklL-ymRShRIwmiziTHDJ1Q7DdRYow%3BFXeDPgIdTqRF-ykdO788jy2ziTHnKdyXwrHlRw%3BFWEMPgIdQdVC-ymr06ePGdFMiDGGGlDTc_9-lw%3BFXrjOgIdmmJI-ykBBDKQeNmyiTFh4iDIXvO2ww%3BFSEGOgIdtThN-ymrglqVUPuyiTGcHkbgu5gktg%3BFfpHRAIdeopS-ymPpFDqLYaziTH8dIvDlvCGkA%3BFRQERAIdg7hS-yElvxiEOIZknA%3BFSOURwIdjh9Y-ynxMszvdxC0iTHwirDvmEcYPw%3BFbrtRgIdIh5g-w%3BFe63RwIdAaFp-ykprQgnez23iTGwj1KsWXLqrw%3BFRb_SAId2Wpx-ylT4b8Ydti5iTFMFQQNmUEe3A%3BFapzRQIdMMhy-ylZ5ra_7V23iTHtTn1XTvF2Rw%3BFUplTgIdFCtw-ymHI_a-EYa3iTEbg-VCi_vOtQ%3BFY3DUgIdadJw-ynVL2dwZfa3iTFLJ6jT_VT4Qw%3BFQumTwId1ip3-ymTwkXYMEC4iTHj320fhVSj8Q%3BFRDGTgIdfjlz-ym_P1tTsSW4iTECcBIx9JG7wg%3BFd5ITwIdRgx2-ymradOGyD64iTFc0o4yBpTHqw%3BFXYzVQIdNr90-yllN_kTQQi4iTFeJVvUV6psew%3BFa7RWgIdaOV6-yl12lcak6PHiTFt39Lt87g6iQ%3BFTiZYgIdEEx--yllTZFUnfPGiTFvBRUcgdxIVw&sll=39.494504,-75.739746&sspn=0.278183,0.608368&vpsrc=6&mra=dvme&mrsp=23&sz=11&via=1,4,5,6,17,21,23&ie=UTF8&ll=38.702659,-75.904541&spn=4.500532,9.733887&z=7&dirflg=d