| Traveler Edge | Blue Ridge Parkway - VA |
| Blue Ridge Parkway - Virginia | |||||||||
| Visits : | |||||||||
| Virginia Home | Blue Ridge Parkway - NC | |||||||||
| Ligt from sky (Click for enlarged view 67K) | |||||||||
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Blue Ridge Parkway winds through Virginia and North Carolina and connects two National Parks
at both edges: Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountain. It is not a national park but a designated Parkway
under the NPS system. In fact the scene here is nothing less than the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah.
The elevation of Blue Ridge Parkway is generally higher than Skyline Drive and the diversed views
along the road make it even more interesting than Skyline Drive.
The speed limit is between 40 to 50 mph. You can't drive too fast anyway. With total length of about 400 miles of such winding road, nobody can run through it in one day. We usually make our trip to Blue Ridge Parkway combine with one of the national park. A typical trip plan is to spend half day in Shenandoah then continue south to Blue Ridge Parkway, get to Roanoke and spend a night there, continue going south the next morning till the boundary of North Carolina then leave the Parkway and take a highway to go home. It makes a good two or three days short trip. The picture was taken at around the mile post 50. The heavy clouds shaded the sun but left a narrow edge open. The rays of the sun spreaded down to the valley and made this nice view. | |||||||||
| Closer look (Click for enlarged view 36K) | |||||||||
| Same spot. | |||||||||
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| James River | |||||||||
| James River is the lowest elevation in Parkway at 649 feet. | |||||||||
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| Peaks of Ottor | |||||||||
| At around Parkway mile post 85. It has a visitor center and lodging service. The sun has almost set when we got here. The bright clouds and shaded mountain formed an interesting contrast. | |||||||||
| Peaks of Ottor (Click for enlarged view 53K) | |||||||||
| It would be very nice and convenient if we can stay in a in-parkway lodge. However, we were told that the reservation has to be arranged months before. We eventually stayed in Roanoke on Parkway mile post 120. It is the largest city along Parkway. In fact we stayed here everytime when we visited Blue Ridge Parkway. | |||||||||