State(s): Pennsylvania
Link: https://www.nps.gov/flni/index.htm
Days: 0.5
Month: March
Hotel: N/A
Hikes: 1 = 2.2 miles
Ice Cream: N/A
For this trip, we were driving to Shenandoah National Park and stopped here on the way. This turned out to be one of the highlights of our whole road-trip.
Day 1
First we headed to the Visitor Center. Inside the visitor center, there was an exhibit featuring news clips, President Bush addressing the nation, the sequence of events, recordings of people telling their families bye, and much more. Although this event was tragic, going to the visitor center was very moving. They did an amazing job putting everything together in a way that was relatable and honorable.
Next, we headed to the Flight Path Overlook at the end of the visitor center. From here you could see the field where the crash happened. Off to the right you can see the Wall of Names.
Then we headed out to walk on the easy Allée Trail, 1.2 miles. With the exception of a footbridge, most of the path was gravel. Unfortunately it was very cold and windy so we opted not to do the Trail of Remembrance. This lead us to the Memorial Plaza. From here we were able to continue on to the impact site and ultimately the Wall of Names. Once we were done here, we took the Western Overlook Trail, a 0.7 mile easy trail, back to the visitor center. Including the distance in the Memorial Plaza area, the full loop of both trails was 2.2 miles.
Our final stop in the park was the Tower of Voices. This was a 93-foot tall musical instrument with 40 unique wind chimes that was created, representing the 40 courageous passengers and crew members who fought terrorism.
Just outside the park we headed to Shorty’s for lunch. The food here was good.
We then continued our trip to the Shenandoah National Park. We stopped by a Walmart that was close to the house we rented, to pickup groceries for the next few days.