Shenandoah

My mom came to visit this weekend, and we headed to Shenandoah National Park on Sunday. It was raining when we got to Front Royal, VA (the site of the northern entrance to the park), and pouring when we got to the ranger booth. We were told that it was rainy and foggy and we wouldn't be able to see much of anything and that it was supposed to be like that all day. But we went ahead anyway.

At the Dickey Ridge Visitor's Center, we were greeted by this little guy (though I think that he was annoyed that he couldn't get to the delicious honeycomb inside the tree):


When we stepped outside after spending only a few minutes in the center, it had stopped raining and the sun was out. This view, completely covered with fog only minutes before, welcomed us to the park:

As we drove along in our sweet rental car (I DRIVE A DODGE STRATUS! Seriously, that's what we had!), I would stop every so often to take pictures. I loved these trees:

As the fog lifted throughout the park, it was obvious that the rain had made everything seem so much brighter and alive:

But then the fog threatened to overcome us!
It didn't. And then I spotted the deer:

This little song sparrow was very brave:
There are so many lookouts and stopping points in the park. You can't possibly stop at them all, but they are well worth the time:

Interestingly, as the car climbed up through the mountains, we noticed that many trees had yet to POP! You can see from many of the shots (like above) the brown areas. Those are higher up, and the trees there were covered in buds - no leaves yet! We stopped to hike a few times. This place was about halfway up the mountain and had some leaves, but not all:

There were gorgeous trees (called Redbuds) all over the park:
As well as Flowering Dogwoods:
I really didn't want to leave, but I'll be back again this weekend, and this time, I'll be staying in the park overnight!