Virginia Creeper Trail

Barter Theater

Our halfway ice cream stop (us after biking 17 miles= scary)

Our cute little window shopping area in Damascus

Taylor's Valley, 10 miles into the ride. This is half way for all those wusses who were only biking 17 miles. Lunch for most, just a pit stop for us ;)

This one's for you Mom :)

Our picnic spot

Historic mile markers lined the 34 mile ride. Here we are starting our LAST mile. We have already biked 33 miles and are "feelin' it"

So Jules has been talking to me about the Virginia Creeper Trail for the last year since I moved to NC. She was dying to go bike it. She offered to pay for a cheap room for us if I could just get to VA and bike with her. This was an offer I just couldn't resist :) We had a WONDERFUL girls weekend in Abingdon, VA! Spent Fri & Sat night in a luxurious hotel (Days Inn, LOL). We booked it on Hotwire and after we realized where we'd be staying we read the reviews and they were all terrible! We were pleasantly surprised that while it was a basic 2 star place, it was just fine and not nearly as scary as we had feared after reading reviews. Of course we didn't spend much time in the room because we were too busy biking (and eating, and eating, and eating in true Lovelace fashion). Saturday we caught a shuttle for the 34 miles up to White Top Mtn, NC where the trail starts. Then we spent about 6 hrs making the leisurely trip down the VA Creeper, stopping for photos, munching on granola bars by the river, treating ourselves to ice cream at the little country store & window shopping at the halfway town. It was a gorgeous late September day. 80 degrees, sunny- couldn't ask for more perfect weather. The trail winds along a river downhill and over many bridges. It is mostly tree lined but does go through a pretty valley with wide open meadows. Our photos don't do it justice! We ended Saturday by scoring cheap student tickets to a play in the historic Barter Theater in Abingdon. Refreshing trip, couldn't ask for more :)