I have loved visiting national parks since my first camping trip to Shenandoah National Park when I was twelve. My mother, my younger sister, and I went to Washington DC to visit friends of my mother. They took us camping at Big Meadows on Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park . What I remember most about that trip was lying in my sleeping bag on the grass in front of the tent, looking at the stars. We lived in Boston at the time and didn't see the stars often. It was a clear night. The sky was like an inverted, black bowl sprinkled with what seemed like millions of stars. The adults patiently pointed out constellations and planets to us kids, and I learned to find the big and little dippers. I remember the excitement when we saw a falling star go streaking across the sky. My love for camping and national parks began that weekend.
I have returned to Shenandoah National Park several times since that first camping trip. My honeymoon was a two-week camping trip. We visited Gettysburg National Park, then drove down Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park, and on down the Blue Ridge Parkway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Skyline Drive and Shenandoah National Park were as beautiful as I remembered from my childhood. It took us more than a day to drive down the 105-mile-long Skyline Drive and a few more days to drive the 469 miles down the Blue Ridge Parkway. We stopped at almost every overlook to see and photograph the gorgeous views of rows of blue mountains stretching off into the distance. We also stopped to take an occasional hike, to have a picnic, or to watch the white-tailed deer munching grass and frolicking in the green meadows.
We have taken a lot of camping trips since then and visited a lot of national parks. With four children, camping is the most practical and economical way to vacation. We have taken our children to Shenandoah National Park several times. We all enjoyed picnics with beautiful vistas, hikes to waterfalls and mountain tops, watching the deer, attending ranger-led activities, and camping at Big Meadows, just as I had years earlier. We manage to spot a black bear each trip, usually crossing the road in front of us and disappearing into the woods.
On one trip we saw some wildlife that wasn't so welcome in the campground. We were sitting at the picnic table eating dinner when a skunk decided to visit. We could chart the skunk's progress through the campground because, as it entered a campsite and headed for the picnic table looking for scraps, everyone got up and ran for shelter in their tents, campers, or cars. The memory is something we laugh about still.
Shenandoah National Park is located in northern Virginia. Skyline Drive, a scenic drive, traverses the full length of the park for 105 miles from Front Royal in the north to the Blue Ridge Parkway at the southern end. There are five campgrounds in the park, as well as backcountry campsites. Among the activities available are hiking, horseback riding, historic sites, ranger-led activities, and a Junior Ranger program for children aged seven and up.
