It's the Skyline Season.

Autumn is a great time to go up to Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park, but don't go on the weekend. The Drive turns into a long parking lot by late morning on Saturday.

Let's start this tour in the foothills. This is a trailhead near the Rapidan River.

This black and white image shows a tree near "Camp Red Bird" at Mathews Arm. It looks to me like it has a face!

Since I have a National Parks Pass, I go to the park just about every week except when it's closed for icy conditions or other reasons. 

I still have September pictures so I put four of them into a collage to show you. 

Friday Bliss / Willy Nilly Friday

Skyline Drive is known for views as well as autumn color. Right now the foliage is past its peak at higher elevation, but spectacular for long stretches of middle elevations. 

Many visitors stay to watch the sunset. When skies are partly cloudy, it can be incredible!

Skywatch

We're going back down to the foothills to end the post. This is the post office in Sperryville, one of the gateway towns to the park. 

Fort Valley Bob's

A funny thing about Fort Valley Bob's General Store is that it is not in Fort Valley. Also it is not owned by Bob! The store is on a farm west of Edinburg, and is named for the uncle of the woman who runs it, if I recall correctly.

These pictures are from last year.  At the time, I did not get around to posting them. 

As you can see, the store has a rural theme and features home decor items and humorous gifts.

There are some nice views out there! This is in the Shenandoah Valley.

Sharing with My Corner of the World and Signs, Signs.

Unexpected Birds and More

I haven't started feeding birds yet so I don't have much in the way of new pictures for Wild Bird Wednesday.  Today I happened to see this sparrow from my car while waiting to pick up burgers at a drive-through and it posed nicely for my cell phone. 

I checked the trail cam today and picked out four images to share. I cropped all of them to eliminate most of a large bush that helps cut down on glare that strikes the lens in the afternoon. 

Here we see some geese on the lake with a turtle on the bank. 

Next we see a trail cam version of a great blue heron. I've photographed him a number of times.

Then we have a picture that shows the glare on the lens. Sometimes it has a strange effect like we see here. 

The last photo was clicked very early in the morning. The lake is shrouded in mist, but the motion sensor was triggered by a deer who was snacking on some leaves. 

The Old Central School in Zepp.

Now a Community Center.

 

A New Mural and Some October Views.

There is a new mural by the playground in Strasburg Town Park.

It was in shadow so here's a closer look at some of critters in the scene, which I combined in a collage with another photo as the background.

Monday Murals / Mosaic Monday

After I viewed the new mural, I drove west and turned south on Back Road to see a bit of autumn color in the hills of Shenandoah County.

 

Blog Post 7307

 Well, I missed noting blog post #7300 almost a week ago. Not that it makes any difference. I've been blogging for over 15 years and I'm not ready to stop anytime soon.

This is First Presbyterian Church in Waynesboro, VA. Actually this is just part of the building, which also has an attached youth building.

The church was organized in 1846 at a different location. In 1911, a church was built here, but it was later destroyed by fire and rebuilt. 

When I stopped to take a picture of the church, a squirrel was exploring at the bottom of the steps. 

Hog Heaven and a Heron.

Four days ago we went to Capon Springs, viewed fall colors, and made a stop at a pig farm. I had read that it was open to the public so of course I wanted to get some pictures. 

They are used to having visitors and came over to the gate to greet us. 

This cutie had a tag that said Rosie. You might say she's quite a ham! 

I don't want to talk about fall colors without showing you some that we saw on the way there.

Now for the heron that's been hanging out at our neighborhood lake. I spotted it yesterday in the late afternoon.

This afternoon he was there again. I saw him catch a fish!

Sharing with 

I'd Rather Be Birdin' 

and Saturday's Critters.

 

A Seven Bends Assortment

Seven Bends State Park

1. Here's the LOVE sign in black and white. The state of Virginia has a tourism slogan "Virginia is for Lovers," so you can see variations on this sign throughout the state. 

2. I taken many photos at the park so I combined some into collages using the FotoJet site and Photoshop. (I'm afraid this looks "busy" in this small version so click on it to see the scenes more clearly.) 

3. The park offers good views of the sky.

4. North Fork of the Shenandoah with reflections, seen from the Bass Bight Trail. (A bight is a cove in the river. I wouldn't be surprised if the bass bite in the bight!)

5. One more collage. 

Named for the bends in the Shenandoah River, Seven Bends State Park is on the east side of Woodstock. It offers river access, picnic tables, and hiking trails. It is a new park and more features will come in the future, including a rustic-themed playground.

 

Don't Stop Believing.

Signs, Signs
 

The first picture shows a couple signs at Cox Farms.  

The second shows the side of a catering van. I have no idea what a unicorn has to do with their business but it makes a nice sign.

The remaining three photos are from Heard's Farm Market, a new store along US 340 north of Luray. 

"Our worms catch fish or die trying."

Great Blue Heron in the Rain.

Wild Bird Wednesday,
My Corner of the World.

Wordless Wednesday.