The next trip we decided on was a day trip to a nearby Virginia State Park. Shenandoah River State park is about 90 minutes outside of DC and about the same from our home in Hagerstown Maryland. It is a few miles from the upper entrance to Skyline Drive and Shenandoah National Park.
The drive to the park was pleasant. We took back roads all the way. Luckily our Google maps has an option for no highways. It does a pretty good job of keeping you off of 4 lane highways.
This was our first time at the park. We found it be a nice park. It has cabins to rent and camping area for campers, motor homes and tents. Most of the park overlooked a U shaped part of the Shenandoah River.
The park has many trails, on the map none looked to difficult. We stopped at the park overlook and took the 1 mile Overlook trail to the visitors center. The visitor center was nice. It was a pleasant surprise to find open on Easter Sunday and during Covid.
The one complaint with the park is that there is not a lot to do inside the park that we found. The scenery was excellent, being at the edge of Shenandoah National Park but other than several trails and a large picnic area, there did not seem to be much else for the day visitor. It is more geared toward picnicking, camping and cabin rental. With alot of stuff to do in the local area it does make sense to stay in the park and do the many things at Luray Va and Skyline Drive.
After our visit in the park we started home on a different route than we came on. We stopped for supper at Paddy Irish Pub in Charlestown WV. It had a great atmosphere, food and service. We highly recommend it for anyone traveling through Charlestown.
Now that Spring is here we are looking forward to many more Top Down Days this year with the Miata.
