George Washington National Forest

Elizabeth Furnace recreation area, located in George Washington National Forest just north of Fort Valley, Virginia is the comfy and very awesome campground we stayed in this weekend... It was a 5 hour drive, but well worth it! The campground was packed but we ended up finding a spot that was mostly private. All of the campsites are pretty private and well spaced and come with a tent pad, a fire ring, and a picnic table. Brian and I arrived at the campsite a little late in the afternoon .. we set up our tent, took a short walk to make sure we got the best campsite..then did a little relaxing in the tent. We hung out for a little while  discussing what we would do the next day and eventually went to sleep. The next morning I woke up early as usual! and as I lay there, I could hear two chickadees calling to each other outside of our tent window. I Got  up.. quickly got dressed and went outside to check out the little bird couple. I sat outside at the picnic table for a little  and noticed the female kept flying towards our lamp-post....because I'm too short, I couldn't see down inside of  the lamp-post so I put my camera down in the hole and tried to get an idea of what she was so worried about...Well, apparently she had a nest down in there! The little chickadees eventually understood that we meant no harm to them and started going down in the lamp post to tend to their eggs. It was such a cute couple to watch!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Ma & Pa Chickadee"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Mama Chickadee at the campsite lamp-post where her eggs are hidden"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Papa Chickadee standing guard while his mate tends to their eggs"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="very cleverly hidden chickadee eggs"][/caption]

We were so lucky to have several other chickadees visiting our campsite as well! I love these tiny little birds. Did you know, Carolina chickadees are able to lower their body temperatures to get into a state of hypothermia. They do this to keep energy during extremely cold winter. Chickadees find a place they can hide in and lower their body temperature and can stay in a state of hypothermia for up to fifteen hours!

We took a nature walk around the campground on our way down to the Shenandoah river. WOW! It was a hot day! We really couldn't wait to get near the water where it was much cooler.... Along the way we spotted a couple different types of  Pretty wild flowers and  a few birds... The Baltimore Orioles were singing high in the tree tops and were very pretty! I also saw lots of little Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Eastern Phoebes.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Eastern Phoebe"][/caption]



[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Gray Catbird"][/caption]

Once we arrived to the very comfortable river edge, we cooled off and put our feet in. Brian brought his chair to relax in while I ran around looking for things to take pictures of : ) The water was flowing over the rocks and down into a big pool...oh my was it clear! We could see the fish swimming! The water is nothing like this in the area I'm from. It was very breathtaking...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="fish swimming in the clear Shenandoah water. I counted 7, how about you?"][/caption]



[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Canada Darner (I believe) munchin on a leaf"][/caption]

We headed back to the campsite to unwind for the day. Brian cooked me an yummy dinner and built us an awesome fire. We had a beautiful day, and it was nice to relax with the stars above us and a nice warm cozy fire to sit by.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Cozy Campfire - of course we made s'mores!"][/caption]

The next morning we both woke up early. Brian and I wanted to drive the entire Skyline Drive, A beautiful 35 mph 105 mile windy but smooth drive along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Shenandoah National Park.There are 75 breath-taking overlooks!  We made breakfast before we set out on our journey, and got visited by a few tiny critters.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Eastern Tent Moth checkin whats for breakfast"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Tiny Brown Jumper Spider"][/caption]

We quickly packed up and headed to Shenandoah National Park to drive down the scenic Sky Line. This drive has to be the most peaceful drive I've ever been on... The sights, the smells, the wildlife, It really just doesn't get any better! We stopped at literally every other lookout and checked out "SkyLand", a really neat resort area and its elevation is 3680 which is the highest point on Sky Line Drive! Driving down skyline we usually see tons of deer, but this time we only saw one...she was older and didn't seem to mind the cars riding by. About half way down the skyline we came across a bear in a tree over the road! It was just sniffin' around in a tree and looked a little confused. Brian and I agreed it looked younger, and didn't want to wait around for mom to come around.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Black Bear sniffin around in a tree"][/caption]

When we finally arrived home, 11 hours later... We went to Chicks Beach on the Chesapeake Bay and watched a stunning sunset. It was a perfect ending to a fun-filled day from the mountains to the bay!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Sunset - Chicks Beach on Chesapeake Bay"][/caption]