Second verse, same as the first...

If you said, "Henry the VIIIth, by Herman's Hermits, 1965," you get 50 bonus points!

Another day at Shenandoah National Park, this time going south instead of north.  A lovely day, and definitely more people here today - at the entrance gate...

Like most National Parks, all the info will tell you: You can't see the real character of this park unless you get out of your car.  We did...

This particular hike will take 2 3/4 hours, is 3 1/2 miles long, and has a 1200 rise in elevation... meet you back at the car!

The roads in the park are narrow, no bike lanes.  You have to be careful coming around blind corners (and there are a lot of blind corners)...

Not bad in this relatively wide portion of road and a solo bicyclists who is staying to the far right side of the lane... we have come across people riding side-by-side on this highway, in the middle of the lane.  I am all for "sharing the road," but one has to keep safety in mind.  I would pick a different place to ride.

One of the first notable features you come to going this direction is a tunnel...

And, a pullout at the far end of the tunnel...

More proof that we did get out of the car...

There are 72 pull-outs, so plenty of opportunity to take in the views (without getting too far away from your car)...

And, of course...

The road...

We stopped at "a Wayside" (lodge, restaurant, gift shop).  They are gearing up for the future: charging stations for electric vehicles...

Interesting detail pressed into the sidewalk...

Reading the info displays...

Back on the road, and the turnouts...

This section of road has timbers for the guard rails instead of the stone fences through the rest of the park.  Yeah, they have to be replaced periodically.

 

This is our planned "far as we're going" for the day...

This Visitors Center is a bigger and more modern than the one at the north end of the park (that we visited yesterday)...

There is a very nice area showing the history of the park...

The plan was to make this park similar to the amazing parks in the west (Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Yosemite).  The views here are not as grand, but the "feature" of this park (contrary to what the hikers will tell you) is the drive on Skyline Drive...

The CCC had over 10,000 young men working on making the road, the stone fences along the road, the lodges, the Visitors Centers.  From 1933 to 1942.  It came to an abrupt halt with World War II.  The original plan was for grand lodges with swimming pools and upscale amenities; it didn't play out that way.  But, by the 1930s, there was no question that Americans would be traveling and vacationing by car, and this park was gearing up to cater to that...

Among the many historic items we saw, this one stood out for us...

A vintage postcard.  Joan said, "We've seen that before - in Grant's postcard collection!"  If you've been following along, a couple months ago, while in Iowa to see my brother-in-law John, we got to see his nephew Grant's vintage postcard collection.  So, Grant - are we right?  Is this one in your collection?  No, this one is not for sale.

It was around 2:00, and we had planned for lunch at this stop.  Walking around the area, this was the extend of the signage pointing you to the restaurant and snack bar (several hundred yards away)...

Another pass through the Visitors Center on the way back to the car...

... then, heading back to the motorhome.  While there were more people today, it was still nothing like touring around DC.  Pretty relaxing.