Page 62 - DreamScapes Magazine | Spring/Summer 2024

DISCOVERIES
DOWN IN
THE VALLEY
How a Virginia road trip sparked writer Fiona Tapp to discover there’s more to see past the popular Interstate 81 when she veered off the main drag.
At Rockytop Overlook along the Skyline Drive of Vir- ginia’s Shenandoah National Park, the distant haze scatters light creating a blue paint stroke outline of Lewis Mountain on the horizon. The living canvas before me with deep shades of green running along Loft Mountain is larger than any gallery exhibition. This masterpiece moves in the breeze, the shadows deepen along valleys, the light catches on a new angle and the grasses sway by my feet.
When I started planning my trip to the Shenandoah Valley, I was expecting these landscapes, and to feel awed by nature’s spectacle. What I wasn’t expecting were the spaces I found in between these views that offered so much more than just a scenic drive.
The Shenandoah Valley stretches 225 kilometres from the charming small city of Winchester in the north to Rockbridge County, home of Natural Bridge State Park, in the south. Considered the original American Frontier and the site of many historic Civil War battles, the valley is framed by the
62 DREAMSCAPES SPRING/SUMMER 2024