Day One
Was a long one, but we were able to check Gateway Arch National Park and Mammoth Cave National Park off of our list. Due to the amount of ground we needed to cover, we did not take the tram to the top of the Arch nor reserve a cave tour reservation.
Heading in to St.Louis you catch some nice city views that put the Arch in to its 638 ft tall perspective. The Arch has a large green space to stretch the legs, snap some photos and read about the areas history and significance in the expansion west.
Immediately heading down towards the main cave entrance (free) you feel the moisture and cool air the cave exudes. Not being cave people (sorry, not sorry), we snapped a few photos, read the informational signage and took a quick stroll on an alternative route back to the visitor center.
If your looking to stay in Lexington, I’d recommend checking out the Distillery District. We ended up grabbing a slice of pizza at Good-fellas because every BBQ place we wanted to check out was closed by the time we got in to town. The Distillery district seems like a new up and coming development, with a variety of restaurants, ice cream shops and tasting rooms. It literally down poured rain as soon as we got there and we were not able to enjoy the trendy Edison light bulb patio, but it seems like a cool spot. After grabbing a slice we grabbed a flight at Ethereal Brewery, every single beer was tasty (4 stars)
Day 2: Shenandoah National Park
Not every park and not every hike can be awe inspiring filled with sunshine and a mild 70 degree slight wind type of a day. Arriving late afternoon, our first hike was Turk Mountain, a 2.5 mile out and back which ended up not to much to much of a view with the rain, fog and wind, but an enjoyable quick jaunt regardless.
Dinner was at Blue Mountain brewing company, a view looking at the blue ridge parkway mountains. Dark hallow out of our flight was the best in my opinion, but since it was 10% and sweet, I opted for the Rockfish wheat beer to compliment our pulled pork, peach, and jalapeno pizza (had potential). Overall, I would give Blue Mountain 2 stars on food and beer.
Day 3: Shenandoah National Park
Well, we started the day at 8:15 am. Just kidding. Make that a wake up call of 6:15 am or 5:15 am CST. Ted woke up and said it was 8:15. Wow. OK. Didn’t know we slept that late, and to me, that means time to get up and get going. I didn’t even look at the time, I simply got up and hopped in the shower. When ted gets back from grabbing hotel lobby coffee he says, um I messed up.....it’s 6:30. Ummm what. Let’s just say I drove today.
Our first hike was RipRap trail, leaving the wildcat parking lot. Just shy of 10 miles. We had always utilized AllTrails to research our hikes, but we never used the actual app to track our hikes. AllTrails actually is a pretty neat and we will definitely use the app for future hikes.
On our way through the park we stopped at Dark Hallow Falls a short 1.4 mile. It was all down hill and a cluster of families and small groups. We had our masks on, but opted for a less trafficked but longer route back to avoid the chaos.
Dinner was at Front Royal brewing, we both give it 3.5 stars for beer and food.
Day 4
We met up with a friend from the D.C. area in Leesburg, VA. Charming town with plenty of coffee shops, restaurants and breweries to choose from all within walking distance of each other. We originally planned on staying another night in Front Royal and hiking more of the park, but we felt like we could move on and not feel like we missed out.
With a head start on our plans, we made it to Antietam National Battlefield mid-afternoon and Gettysburg National Military Park late afternoon. It was a steamy 90+ degrees, but the self navigating car route was nicely laid out to enjoy the ride with the windows down. It's hard to believe that these two historic battlefields in the civil war are one hour apart by car. Driving in the area, we had to google a lot of things, like, what is an antebellum? And what does the Mason-Dixon line really mean?
Fought on September 17, 1862, Antietam was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history with over 23,000 casualties (men listed as killed, wounded, captured or missing) in roughly 12 hours of battle (with not much ground won on either side). The battle ended the Confederate invasion of Maryland in 1862 and resulted in a Union victory. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/antietam
Arriving late afternoon to Gettysburg National Military Park we were able to get to stop number seven out of sixteen on the 24 mile route. The park it is filled with an overwhelming amount of plaques, informational signage and giant monuments in tribute from each states contribution in the effort.
The Battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1–3, 1863, involving the largest number of casualties of the entire war and is often described as the war's turning point. More men fell during the Battle of Gettysburg (which was a battle by random chance) than in any other battle on American soil before or since. Between 46,000 and 51,000 soldiers from both armies were casualties in the three-day battle.
Dinner ended up at Four Score Brewing Company, rating the food and beer 3 stars.
Day 5: Cuyahoga Falls National Park
With a five hour drive to Cleveland, we made our way to Cuyahoga Falls National Park. The Cuyahoga River runs through the city of Cleveland and feeds into Lake Erie. As Cleveland emerged as a major center for manufacturing, the river became heavily affected by industrial pollution, so much so that it "caught fire" at least 13 times.
Thankfully after a major river fire in the late 1960's the area starting cleaning up the pollution and turned it in to a recreation area and eventually a National Park in 2000. Cuyahoga National Park in my opinion is the strangest area to designate as National Park as it menders through many neighborhoods and runs into an industrial park. Unfortunately the Boston Mill visitor center was closed and the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railway was not operating - perhaps if both were open we would have a different opinion and experience with the area. The area does seem to be very bike friendly.
Day 6: Indiana Dunes National Park
Known as Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore for 53 years, the 15 miles of the southern shores of Lake Michigan became the United States 61st National Park in 2019.
Spoiler Alert: If you've experienced Wisconsin Lake Michigan beaches, expect it to look much of the same. If you've never experienced Lake Michigan beaches, I think you will be pleasantly surprised to see white sand, rolling dunes and teal blue water crashing the shores - though it's probably much colder than you'd like it to be.
We took a quick stroll down to Porter beach to take in the view of Chicago's skyline. If you are looking to experience sand dunes, I would recommend searching for sand dunes in Michigan and you'll find some amazing sand dunes. We didn't explore to much of the park, because we did Silver Lake State Park dunes in 2015 and thought it was an out of this Midwest experience. The photo below is a few from that trip.
After this six day, five National Park trip, our completed National Park total is now 28! Only 34 more to go!
Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean. - John Muir
Oh yay!!! I made the blog!!!