Getting out of the City (part one of 1000)

This weekend, Jeff and I got so fed up with the city that we just decided to get out. We headed up to Shenandoah National Park, which is surprisingly close and so beautiful that you wouldn't know that a big, swallowing city even existed on the entire planet, let alone less than two hours away.

We spent the night in Front Royal, VA, which creates the exact opposite impression. Dropped at at the juncture of Rt. 66 and Skyline Drive, Front Royal serves as a wholly inappropriate gateway to the Shenandoah Valley. A small town, it is nevertheless neither picturesque nor kitchy, and we almost couldn't find a motel that wasn't stunningly ugly and dilapidated. In the end, we spent probably twice as much money to get clean carpets and painted walls in a cute, whitewashed place. I'm torn between feeling proud to be adult enough to lay down 70 bucks for a hotel room, and feeling snobby for not feeling comfortable anymore in a $30 shack. In any case, it was a restful, bug-free, relaxed night away from the apartment, and there were doughnuts in the morning.

We got a late start, but we hit the road by 11:30 and were already hiking by 12:30. If you haven't ever driven and hiked along Skyline drive, you'd better get to it. It was beautiful and quiet and uncrowded and just really great. We saw a deer on the trail, and stood within a few yards of it as it nosed into the brush.

So it turns out, my husband has a life ambition to hike the Appalachian trail. I'm pretty freaked out by this, since neither of us are hikers -- we've hiked together maybe three times since we met. I used to be the one in my family who would whine my way through camping trips. In fact, I darn near lost the whole benefit of a gorgeous 3-week camping trip in Maine when I was 17, because I was hung up on some boy and couldn't keep my mind out of Knoxville. But if he's going I'm going I guess -- I'm way too protective a wife to let him out in the woods by himself. It could happen as early as next spring. What the crap.

If this plan actually progresses, more posts on the subject are inevitable. Will AnneGG hike the appalachian trail? Will her husband be scolded for climbing high and dangerous rocks? Will both of them come back as granola-crunching Adonises? Tune in next week for the continuation of Appalachian Panic Attack!!!