Blue Ridge Parkway celebrates 75th

The Blue Ridge Parkway is 75 years old!

I think one of my earliest memories of the Blue Ridge Parkway (and Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park) was a road trip taken with my dad around 1970. We drove a portion of the road somewhere in Virginia and actually spent the night in some motel. We had a tradition of taking Sunday drives but this one was an over-nighter.

On this trip I remember stopping at one of the overlooks and saw a sign for the Appalachian Trail. I walked a few feet up the trail and read an information sign that identified this trail as one that was 2000 miles long and between Maine and Georgia. I think this was the defining moment that put the thought of hiking the AT into my brain. Some five years later in June 1975, I had hiked all 2000 miles.

Thanks Dad!