When we saw the cherry blossoms were in bloom in DC we decided to make a flower, food and Jazz trip. First stop Blue Bell Trail in Shanandoah River State Park. The ranger was helpful and delightfully giving us advise about the trail. If you like uphill, she recommended doing the trail counter clock wise. If not the other way. We opted to go up the hill to the look out first. You can also drive there but the whole trail is only about three miles so we walked it.
We started with the over look trail, a steady climb to a beautiful high view of the Shanandoah River.
This part of the trail reminded me of the famous Dead Horse Canyon in Utah.
Having soaked up the stunning over view of our adventure we were excited to head down to get a closer look at the river and especially to find the Bluebell Trail. We headed down the hill quickly that lead into the camp ground. It took a little searching, skill and luck to locate the trail. The Blue bell trail is right next to the yurt. The only yurt in the campground. Finally we were on the trail on the lookout for the bluebells.
The ultimate is a stroll through wildflowers in the woods leading to gentle rapids on the Shanandoah River.
All the must come to an end and we passed through countless bluebells humming with bumble bees. The peaceful flow of the river grew fainter as we made a right turn and headed up a rather steep hill on a trail called Hemlock Trail. As soon as we headed up the trail we encountered two very small hikers and their parents. The eight year old girl took one look at us and said, “Yeah” then sat down on a rock to write something on her paper. We had been the first item on her scavenger hunt, “Hikers”. We encountered some rather creepy looking trees that we determined must be the famed hemlock trees. Later we were to discover that they were not but the tall pine looking trees were in fact the fatal blow to Socrates.
All done with our hike we were ready for food and relaxation. We headed into the nearest town Front Royal, VA. This is such a cute little town full of very good restaurants and quaint scenic photo ops. The down town has a lovely square with a gazebo, caboose and park benches. After walking around we chose the Thai restaurant on Main Street.
I had pot stickers and Curry that was the best ever. We had a lovely conversation with the owner. He was kind and attentive answering all of my many questions.
Now for desert.
This place was fun but I always get a one scoop with two flavors because I cant afford the calories. They refused to do that so I got two scoops. Because of that David got his ice cream from the shop down the street. Not as flashy, just as good and not as expensive and he got what he wanted. We are picky that way because we used to own an ice cream shop and we loved giving the customers what they wanted. No one should ever be told “no” in an ice cream shop.
The end of the perfect day we headed over to the Town Place Inn by Marriott for the night. In the morning we headed to Washington, D. C. and the Cherry Blossom, more amazing food and Jazz.
