Let’s start on our three-week 2023 cross-country road trip! We did everything on my road trip prep checklist, so we’re ready to go!
Day 1
To start, we drive down I-95 to Virginia towards Skyline Drive and Shenandoah National Park. One of our favorite things to do in Virginia is stop for a meal in one of the many restaurants in the Chantilly area, so of course, we had to kick off our mega road trip with a big lunch/dinne?r combo at Meat Project, one of our favorite Korean BBQ restaurants. Sooo good!
Before hitting the road again, we also had to get some boba tea and bubble waffles for dessert at Gong Cha.
Ok, now let’s get back on the road. Lots of driving today. We go all the way down through the Skyline Drive area to southwest Virginia. Beautiful as usual!
We lucked out with a beautiful sunset to end the night. I know today wasn’t very exciting to blog about but it was very exciting to finally start on this road trip after the many weeks of planning.
Oh yeah, meet our road trip buddies for this trip!
More tomorrow…
Day 2
We continue driving! Virginia is a wide state! LoL
Finally, we make it to the western edge of the state and cross over into Tennessee and Kentucky! All three states meet at one point there and the highway weaves in and out of them. Yay, three states within 5 minutes. Ha!
We also make it to our first sightseeing stop – Cumberland Gap National Historical Park! Somebody keep count – our first National Park site of this trip.
The Cumberland Gap is notch through the Appalachian Mountains that is historically used by the pioneers as the gateway to the west. Geographically, it was formed by shifts in continental plates and lots of running water. Now, it is a hub for many outdoor activities and just a generally gorgeous area.
We went up to the Pinnacle Overlook for an overview of the area. Beautiful!
After checking out the Visitors Center exhibit, watching the movie, buying our obligatory postcard, and stamping the National Park date stamp, we continue driving west into Kentucky.
But first, a quick stop into Culver’s. If you go, get the cheese curds. Sooo good! Everything was good, but the curds are reeeally good! Oh, the milkshakes too!
Let’s keep going. We have to make it to our hotel just outside Mammoth Cave National Park tonight, so a few more hours to go. We have a 9am cave tour scheduled for tomorrow. Can’t wait!
We made it! Good night!
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Adventures By Anne 