Alarm went off at 7:15 am. Way too early. Struggled to get up because I had eaten candy we got at It Sugar (across the street from Gill’s apartment – awesome selection including HUGE size candy and SNL novelties) and it kept me up later than planned. Showered, got our stuff ready, said bye to that piece of shit Danny Gill who had to go to work and dropped our stuff off in the car. We then walked a few blocks to Lincoln’s Waffle Shop across the street from Ford’s Theater to meet up for breakfast with Alyse La Padula and her gf Britt who were on vacation in the area (found that out via Snapchat – thanks social media!).

Breakfast was lovely! Waffle (duh), scrambled eggs, bacon and iced coffee (heavy on the ice). Great to see them both – hadn’t seen Britt in over a year and wasn’t able to see Alyse in New Ro before heading on the trip. Big story – they encountered enormous snakes while tubing down a river near Petapsco State Park. Hell to the no, so them white girls bounced. After breakfast we walked Milton to the metro and then got in the car to head to Skyline Drive in Front Royal, Virginia. On our way there we pulled over at a lovely Best Western in Manassas, VA to use the facilities (poop). Then we got food and supplies for the night because we knew we’d be camping, and drove the other hour to Skyline.

SKYLINE DRIVE IS ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!!! There were a ton of fantastic lookouts with breathtaking views. Took a couple selfies and nature shots along the way. Around 1:30 pm we stopped for a picnic lunch at Pinnacle Lookout – sandwich combos from Giant. After that we drove the rest of the length of the road, finishing around 4 pm (nailed it). This led to the big boy…

Skyline Drive bled right into the Blue Ridge Parkway, which stretches through the remainder of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Stopped at a visitors center about 20 minutes into the drive to use the loo and pick up maps and visitor info stuff etc. We used one of the guides to lead us to 2 key stops – Yankee Horse Ridge and Otter Creek Trails. The first one we went to around 5 pm – nice little railroad remnants from 1920 and a cute little waterfalls (minimal hiking, classic Team Handsome). We happened upon Otter Creek 45 minutes later, where we found a medium sized waterfalls (man-made), moderate difficulty trail, and some pesky insects. That lasted about 15 minutes. See ya.

Our goal for the day was to reach Peaks of Otter campgrounds, which we came to around 6:30 pm. Stopped at the visitor center for restroom, buy a souvenir, and to CRUSH Lelchuk in giant sized checkers (amidst a conversation with a sociable yet awkward older couple). We then proceeded down the road to the picnic area for dinner where we ate the remainder of what we had for lunch. We set up our tent (props to Alex for leading that venture successfully on our first go) at camp site A23 after self-registering with the $16 fee (cheaper than a hotel). Alex built a nice fire while I typed up yesterday and today’s entries.

Tonight we’re going to finish Ted 2 in the tent (winky emoji) and get a good night’s sleep for the drive tomorrow. We’re aiming to get to Asheville, NC via the Blue Ridge by sometime mid-afternoon to see Gabe Kline, potentially Ashley Edwards (thanks Adam Reagan) and hopefully check out the Biltmore Estate. Sweet dreams!

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