Upon the Blue Ridge Mountains

I'm back from a quick but refreshing trip to the Shenandoah region of the Blue Ridge mountains in Virginia. I began the adventure with a climb up the Woodstock tower in the George Washington National Forest, which afforded great views of the bends in the Shenandoah river, above.

Next was a quick stop at Arrowhead Lake in Luray; I have wonderful memories of swimming there years ago, and while it was too late in the season for a dip, it was just as beautiful as I remembered it:

From there it was over to the Skyline Drive to revel in one glorious view after another:

In this shot you can see some of the "blue ridges" that give the area its name:



The foliage was just beginning to turn. The vivid red in the middle of the picture is poison ivy growing up a tree--it was plentiful and brilliant:




Long stretches of the road were lined with well crafted stone masonry walls, built by the Civilian Conservation Corp:
In addition to driving and admiring grand vistas, I also hiked a few trails and got a closer look at things. I was tremendously excited to find some milkweed plants where the leaves were developing fantastic patterning and coloration:

I've had a milkweed quilt on the back burner for some time...perhaps this will jump-start the design process.

Next: Luray Caverns.