Busch Gardens Williamsburg (formerly known as Busch Gardens Europe) is a 383-acre amusement park located in James City County, Virginia. It opened on May 16, 1975,adjacent to Anheuser-Busch’s brewery. The park is themed around various European countries and as such was originally called Busch Gardens: The Old Country. In 1993, the park was renamed Busch Gardens Williamsburg before briefly being named Busch Gardens Europe in 2006 until it returned to the Williamsburg name in 2008. In addition to its landscaping and European theme, Busch Gardens is widely known for its roller coasters, including Griffon, Loch Ness Monster, Alpengeist, and Apollo’s Chariot, which won No. 4 best steel coaster in 2012 from the Golden Ticket Awards.
Colonial Williamsburg is a living-history museum and private foundation presenting a part of the historic district in the city of Williamsburg, Virginia. If you like old buildings and historical re-enactments this is the place for you. Its 301-acre historic area includes several hundred restored or re-created buildings from the 18th century, when the city was the capital of Colonial Virginia. An interpretation of a colonial American city, the historic area includes three main thoroughfares and their connecting side streets that attempt to suggest the atmosphere and the circumstances of 18th-century Americans. Costumed employees work and dress as people did in the era, sometimes using colonial grammar and diction.
The highlight of Shenandoah National Park is the Skyline Drive, a scenic route running along the crest of the mountain range with the expected phenomenal views. Jump in your car and start your drive;
If hiking is your thing there are numerous trails interlacing the park from short walks to long hikes. The Appalachian Trail intersects the drive thirty times mostly paralleling the road.
One of the hikes will bring you to President Herbert Hoover’s retreat Rapidan Camp. Rapidan Camp (also known at times as Camp Hoover) was built by U.S. President Herbert Hoover and his wife Lou Henry Hoover, and served as their rustic retreat throughout Hoover’s administration from 1929 to 1933.
Petersburg National Battlefield is a National Park Service unit preserving sites related to the American Civil War Siege of Petersburg (1864–65). The Battlefield is centered on the city of Petersburg, Virginia, and also includes outlying components in Hopewell, Prince George County, and Dinwiddie County. Over 140,000 people visit the park annually. This post will cover the Eastern Front portion of the park. Popularly known as the siege of Petersburg, this was not a classic military siege, in which a city is usually surrounded and all supply lines are cut off, nor was it strictly limited to actions against Petersburg. The campaign consisted of nine months of trench warfare in which Union forces commanded by Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant assaulted Petersburg unsuccessfully and then constructed trench lines that eventually extended over 30 miles from the eastern outskirts of Richmond, Virginia, to around the eastern and southern outskirts of Petersburg.
One of the most famous battles of the siege is the Battle of the Crater. Union forces tunneled under the confederate lines and filled the tunnel with explosives. After the explosion a massive crater was created in the confederate line. The Union forces charged down into the cuter instead of going around the edge. The confederates fired down into the crater from the edge causing a Union retreat. What could have been a major advantage turned into a major defeat.
The Blue Ridge Parkway winding through Virginia and North Carolina is one of my favorite National Park Units. Having said that there is really nothing spectacular that stands out, it does not have the wildlife of a Yellowstone, the awesome natural features of a Arches or Grand Canyon and the Eastern mountains pale in comparison to Yosemite or Grand Tetons. It is the feeling of calm and relaxation you get from a charming country drive that is the highlight. As a boy my family and I would take scenic drives as often as we could. These drives through the woods and rural landscapes are cherished memories. I have visited the parkway many times driving the entire 469 miles from Shenandoah National Park to Great Smokey Mountains National Park and have also dipped into different sections at different locations. This post will not be a sequential point to point summary but an overview of some of the highlights. The pictures are from all of these trips spanning some thirty years.
If you like hiking or just a pleasant stroll with trails ranging from short walks to long distance hikes with the Appalachian Trail crossing the parkway twice.
