Shenandoah National Park: Skyline Drive

Today couldn't have been more beautiful.  After weeks of volatile weather we've finally been graced with several days of consistent sunshine and cloudless skies.  As a result, Evan and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take advantage of Skyline Drive.  Not only was the weather ideal but in honor of the U.S. National Park Service's Centennial, entrance is free through next Sunday!  We bought an annual pass in the fall so we were excited to use it but obviously, we didn't need to.

We started the day by taking the short-cut to Charlottesville, VA.  It's a 90-minute drive and a straight shot.  I had researched Citizen Burger Bar beforehand and was interested to see if they were all they were cracked up to be.

O.M.G.  Evan and I both agree that these were probably the best burgers we've ever had and between the two of us, we've had a lot of burgers.  The best part?  The meat, the cheese, the produce is all organic and locally-sourced within five miles of the restaurant.  All of the meat is grass-fed and free-range, antibiotic and hormone-free.  They even make their brioche buns and french fries in-house.  And their desserts, which we didn't try this time, are also locally-made.  The only thing I'd change is that I'd probably tell them to skip the salt on our fries.  The burgers are very filling and you can definitely split one order of fries, which we did.  I wanted to simultaneously eat really fast because it tasted so good but also slow down so I could savor it.  Evan got a custom-made burger while I got "The People's Burger".  SO AMAZING.  We will definitely go again.

We realized that we had never been to Downtown Charlottesville until today.  We've always associated "downtown" with the UVA campus.  Oops. Anyway, it's a very cute area with an extensive pedestrian-only outdoor mall.  We also stopped by Monticello but decided against joining a tour since there was a long wait.

From there we drove an additional twenty minutes to reach the end point of Skyline Drive at Rockfish Gap.  We took it all the way to the beginning at Front Royal for a 4+ hour afternoon adventure.

Here are the pictorial highlights:

I have an obsession with "naked trees" as I like to call them.

We saw several deer here and there but what we didn't expect to see was a black bear cub (maybe teenager)!!!  We spied him/her about twenty minutes from our exit.  How fortunate are we?!

We can't wait to go back when the vegetation has filled in a bit.  I think the spring flowers are afraid to come out since it still felt like winter about a week ago.  Come out, come out, wherever you are!