Simple Serenity

This post is long overdue, but always better late than never, right? As we go throughout our busy lives, rushing through our days, sometimes I think we forget to sit down and relax, breathe and take it all in. Ty and I spent a day in Busch Gardens this past summer, along with a day at Virginia Beach. On the way home, we decided to spend an entire day driving home on Skyline Drive. It was a bit out of our way since we were completely to the east side of Virginia, but we headed west for quite awhile before getting to Waynesboro, Virginia, where the beginning of Shenandoah National Park begins, aka Skyline Drive.

I would have to look up information on how many miles the drive actually is before you get to the other side of it, but frankly, I don't feel like it. I do know if you drive straight through at the speed limit of 35 mph without any stops, it takes 3 1/2 hours. Don't count on ever doing that. It just doesn't happen.

One of those reasons is because it's just too darn pretty to drive the entire way without stopping and taking it all in. The views are amazing. There are a ton of pull offs along the way to stop and relax and just gaze over the scenery.
It was also quite hazy the day we drove through so we couldn't see out as far as what we could all the times before but it was still well worth it. Sometimes it's just nice to sit and see everything from on top of the mountains looking down.
And if you don't feel like sitting and just looking, you can look for funny things in the trees and rocks like I have done. (Yes, this is the place I found all those pictures that I posted about before.)
Shenandoah National Park is protected and the wildlife aren't exactly tame, but they aren't exactly scared to death of you either. We stopped for supper along the way at one of the very few restaurants and when we came out, we noticed that it was close to dusk so most of the deer had started to emerge from the woods. This doe was standing beside the parking lot where our car was. She was off by herself but there were a number of doe just standing around eating while everyone else stood and watched them by their cars.

It is not unusual to see hundreds of deer everywhere and thankfully enough you are almost always able to stop the car right on the road and watch them. If someone comes behind you, they usually go around you or they will sit and watch as well.

I have had the blessing of seeing black bear down there before when driving along with Ty but never have we been able to get a picture of one. I just happened to have the camera in my hands and snapped a picture as soon as this bear took off across the road.

I've only ever seen one black bear before and on this day, we were ecstatic to get to see two bears. It had started to become dark rather quickly so unfortunately the pictures started to suck but you can see where the bear is right past the vegetation. His one eye has a glare on it from the flash and to the left of that is his body. We had stopped our car on the side of the road and he popped us head up and looked at us long enough to snap a picture. I think he wanted left alone then because he kind of shuffled off without looking back.

I noticed a huge owl sitting in a tree so I stopped the car to watch him. I promise you he is in this picture. He is right above the center of the picture, on the one branch of the tree. I have no clue how many attempts it took until we were able to get him. It was quite obvious he did not want his picture taken as he would sit and watch Ty and I from a tree and as soon as we had the camera in position he would take off and fly across the road somewhere else. I don't know which one of us was more irritated, him from not wanting his picture taken and constantly taking off at the right time or me from repeated attempts to snap his picture.

At that time, I heard some rustling in the leaves and looked over to see a turkey eyeing us up from behind the leaves. It was the most hilarious thing because he was craning his neck in the most awkward fashion and when he noticed that we spotted him he ducked down and ran back into the woods. It was too dark to get a good picture of him off in the distance so I'm unable to share that one with you. Later on that night as we were driving and almost to the end of the park we passed two more owls sitting side by side on the shoulder of the road.

Now, I would like clarify something. The speed limit is rather slow there, as I stated before, and hitting the brakes and stopping is usually not a problem. But consider yourself forewarned should you ever have the pleasure of having me drive you down Skyline Drive. If you are in the passenger side of the car and you yell out "LOOK THERE, HONEY!!" I am going to slam on the brakes and come to a stop as fast as possible. Especially if you make it sound as if there is something that astounds you. In this case, I would've thought there were a number of bears hanging out or a gigantic buck or something out of the ordinary.

And if you yell like that, please be prepared for a sudden stop by wearing your seat belt or bracing yourself by placing your hand on the dash. Anything, really, to keep from going through the windshield. Ty apparently was unaware of this and as he yelled and I slammed on the brakes, he didn't bother to brace himself because he was too busy gawking out his side window. Instead, 220 lbs of his manly flesh was projected toward the windshield only to be stopped by the sun visor thanks to his big forehead. To which he yells, "Are you trying to kill me, woman?!" "Um, no, you yelled look there, I couldn't look there unless I stopped. Now what are we looking at?" "That doe over there." What?! Are you kidding me? We've seen hundreds of doe just like her over the last 8 hours.

So I'm then instructed to pull over into the pull off area where she was, all the while the large CA-RACK I heard when his forehead hit the visor kept echoing in my head and the site of him grabbing his head and reacting the way he did sent me into hysterical giggles that were literally unstoppable. As I sat in the car laughing my rear end off, tears streaming down my face, Mr. Doe Whisperer gets out and proceeds to go over and sit on the rocks and communicate with said doe. I'm amazed at the reactions he always gets out of animals. I call him Mr. Doe Whisperer but in all actuality he could be called Mr. Any Animal Whisperer on any given day because for some reason his mellow personality seems to click with furry creatures.

She ate and watched him and walked quite close while he sat and talked and took pictures. I don't think she ever did get in a hurry to go anywhere. If I remember correctly, Ty had to actually get up so we could leave and leave her behind. Of course when he got back to the car I was still in stitches and pretty much made him drive for fear that I would either propel him toward the windshield again or hurt us both because I couldn't see to drive, still blinded by tears.

We started out on the drive around lunchtime that day and we got home just after midnight. I have to say it was the best day I have had in quite awhile. No kids to entertain and keep busy, no loud sounds from today's busy world of businesses and traffic, no phone ringing, no one else around but Ty, myself and God's world the way He intended for it to be.

Oh, and just to prove that we did see one buck, (which we normally see a ton) I am posting the following picture. It was dark and he was off in the distance but if you look directly in the center of the picture, you can see two dots close together. Those are his eyes, proving he was there. I'm not sure why we didn't see more bucks this time around but I won't complain because two black bears in one day is more than I could imagine or ask for, especially as close as the second one was to us.