Mountain Sunset
Peace Colors Bring on the Horizon
Winchester, Virginia (PRWEB) September 26, 2014
For those that live in the Shenandoah Valley, one can begin to see that the kaleidoscope of colors making this area national known is about to begin. Driving through the mountains leading over to West Virginia from Lexington, sugar maples are beginning to show reds and golden yellows are slowing creeping into the picture. The Fall Foliage change is just around the corner. Here are seven ideas to make one's weekend shine:
OUTDOOR ADVENTURE - Push one’s limits with mountain biking. Watch jumper break records, as one zoom down a slope on a mountain bike or a zip line. Bryce Resort’s new Mountain Bike Park offers adventure for all ages from the simple beginner slope to the expert Copperhead trail. A bike trip or zip line needs a minimum two hours to enjoy with tickets available for an all day experience. On October 11th, Bryce Resort celebrates OktoberFest with waltzes, polkas, cowbells, and some Alpen Horn entertainment.
FAMILY FUN – Spend a full morning or afternoon at the new Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum in Winchester, VA with four floors of fun and discovery for children. Walk the old town mall and drop by Red Fox Creamery. Then take a ride out to Wilson’s Wild Animal Park for an afternoon of wild animal exploration. The Wingate is a great hotel to book the night. Once one has reserved the room, head out to The Family Drive In Theater for a retro-theater tail-gating experience.
HIKING THE WILDERNESS - Just 75 miles from the bustle of Washington, D.C., Shenandoah National Park is your escape to recreation and re-creation. Cascading waterfalls, spectacular vistas, quiet wooded hollows—take a hike, a meander along Skyline Drive, or a picnic with the family. 200,000 acres of protected lands are haven to deer, songbirds, the night sky…and oneself. A great place to camp, check out this website for open campground area and the back country camping options.
CASINO TRIP – Give your luck a try at the Hollywood Casinos in West Virginia. A relaxing great culinary experience can be had at the Hillbrook Inn in Charleston, West Virginia. The view of the foliage changes from WV and Bolivar Heights sitting on Jefferson’s Infamous Rock overlooking the Shenandoah River or climbing Maryland Heights will give some exercise and a great photography experience to an overall relaxing trip. The HIllbrook Inn offers a chauffeur four-hour tour of three northern Virginia wineries.
HISTORIC SIGHTS – Add some education to one's weekend with a tour of the 1750’s headquarters of George Washington and 1860’s headquarters of Stonewall Jackson in Winchester, Virginia. October 15th thru the 20th will see the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Cedar Creek in Middletown, Virginia. A great road trip is to follow one of the back roads of the valley. Route 55 will take one thru the Fort Valley region following the Shenandoah River. One can then get on the Skyline Drive or climb the infamous George Washington National Forest ranger’s Fire Tower in Woodstock, Virginia getting a glimpse of the seven bends of the Shenandoah River.
CULINARY TOURS - Distillery, craft breweries, and wineries are now abundant in the Piedmont and Shenandoah Valley. The best way to savor the culinary is to pick a destination for a two-day weekend and then check out the local farmer markets. Local resourcing is extremely popular in the valley. Harrisonburg’s Downtown Renaissance offers one of the culinary tours of its restaurants. The word is also out there is a speakeasy bar, which involves a knock on the door for permission to enter. For an outside festival, savor local wines and Virginia craft beers along with mouth-watering barbeque at Shenandoah Autumn Fest on October 18.
MUSIC FESTIVALS – music is an event every weekend whether one is in Virginia or West Virginia. Every Thursday one can find the FREE music jam sessions of dulcimer, banjo, guitar, fiddle, Celtic harp, flute, etc at O’Hurley’s in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The valley is the home of country music legend Patsy Cline. Plan a trip thru Winchester where one can visit Cline's childhood home and then head down the valley to the Massanutten Resort’s Fall Festival. Again, the leaf foliage colors will surround the driver whether one is taking Interstate 81 or old Route 340 thru the Blue Ridge Mountains. But nowhere can one be more in the middle of the foliage change than at Massanutten Resort.
About GoBlueRidgeTravel.com
Launched in December 2011, Go Blue Ridge Travel (GoBRT) was created as a travel getaway guide for trip planning in the Shenandoah Valley. Its mission is to create a marketing alliance available to businesses ion the travel-planning and retail shopping and dining industry for the northern Piedmont and Shenandoah Valley of VA, WV, and MD thru a website and social media platform reaching both locales and tourists. Founded and owned by Nancy Craun who grew up in the area and has 30 years of experience in the event planning, restaurant, hotel, and marketing arenas. GoBRT covers 160 plus mile radius of the Interstate 81 Corridor spanning the states of Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland.
GoBRT’s goal is to help others discover the beauty of the Piedmont and Shenandoah Valley and check something off one’s bucket list. In 2013, Go Blue Ridge Travel received a Marketing Leveraging Grant from Virginia Tourism to develop a mobile website for families called Shenandoah Valley Kids Trail. A second grant has been awarded in 2014 to expand the marketing territories the Kids Trail is reaching.
Contact: Nancy Craun Founder and President GoBlueRidgeTravel.com and ShenandoahValleyKidsTrail.com Phone: 540.533.1853 Email: info(at)GoBlueRidgeTravel(dot)com
