Making our way up the Blue Ridge Parkway and Shenandoah National Park, VA

Hola!

We last wrote to you while we were in Asheville, NC which was dubbed the weirdest town in the U.S. It was definitely a cool town, but I think growing up next to Berkeley gives me a bias view of what "weird" really means. We ate dinner at a mexican/carribbean fusion restaurant called Salsas. It was super good and different than anything I had ever had. Our meal came is a big lava hot bowl filled with chicken, lamb, beef, shrimp, vegetables and a spice sauce. Yummy.

We left Asheville the next morning and began our journey to Virginia via the Blue Ridge Parkway. Our first stop was Chimney Rock, the filming spot of The Last of the Mohicans, so if you have seen the movie you know how beautiful it is. We figured heading to the top of Chimney Rock would be an easy hike, as it was only 1.5 miles up. What they failed to mention was it was 1.5 miles of steep staircases. Apparently we aren't as in good of shape as we thought we were because we were dying by the end. It was well worth it though. The peak was beautiful and over looked miles of green land. When we were at the top, we ran into a couple people who went to UC Davis and were from Yuba City...small world. On our way down, we detoured to the waterfalls which are always beautiful. If you ever get a chance to hike to any waterfall, do it, it's always worth while. After our hike, we continued our drive through the parkway and landed on Lake James for our campground. It was really pretty and secluded, right on the lake. We had planned to stay for two nights, but it was so hot and humid there that we couldn't last more than a day.

We left Lake James in the morning and found some easy hikes along the parkway. Rich Mountain was pretty hike through the forest and up into a cow pasture and then along Trout Lake. Then came Cascades Falls hike which was only about a 20 minute hike but it was really pretty. We hiked down to the falls, took some pictures and hung out down there for a little while. We then continued driving for a couple hours and decided we traveled enough for that day. We got a hotel in Roanoke, VA, ordered pizza and watched a movie :)

The next day we finally made it to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. This park was a lot like the Smokey Mountains except drier. The first night we just hung out at the campsite, played guitar and made hot dogs. The next day we set our on our hike. Old Rag Mountain was the "must do" 9 mile hike in Shenandoah and for a VERY good reason. We headed our around 9:30 am and started making our way up to the summit. The first half of the way up was a normal dirt path hike up through the forest. It was really pretty and we were covered in trees so it was great hiking weather. About a mile and a half into the hike it completely changed. There was no more path, it was all giant rocks and boulders all the way up to the summit with little blue markers painted on the rocks to show us the way. It was like a crazy obstacle course getting up to the top. There were points where I wouldn't have been able to get up if Conner wasn't there to give me a boost. It was super cool and I knew while we were "rock scrambling" that this was my favorite hike so far. When we finally made it to the summit, we found the highest rock and climbed our way up. The view was amazing. This was one of the hardest hikes we have done but it was so fun, I want everyone to experience it. On our way down (no rock scrambling down the other side of the summit) we ran into a ton of wild blueberry bushes. A couple kids from Long Island were close behind us and I handed one a blueberry. Poor guy was really skeptical about eating it, he had never seen a wild blueberry and said he hoped he wouldn't get sick, but I think the pressure of me watching him forced him to eat it. Oh well. We made it back to our car and as soon as we got back to our campsite it started pouring, so for once we actually had good timing with our hike. We decided to treat ourselves to dinner at the lodge. The dinner was pretty good but the best part was the blackberry cobbler for dessert.

Now we are in our hotel in Arlington right across the river from DC. We are here for 3 days so I am super excited to head into the city tomorrow and explore all the amazing sites.

We'll talk to you soon!

Love,

Katie and Conner