Shenandoah National Park
 

Thinking of booking a vacation home from VRBO.com for the long Memorial Day weekend to explore Shenandoah National Park with our family of five (three kids ages 5-9). The amount of houses/cabins available around the park is overwhelming. Can anyone recommend a good specific base area from which to explore the park and day trip?

Someplace near Luray. See Luray Caverns and then head north on US 340 to Front Royal to get on the Skyline Drive.
Hope that it is not foggy. Drive all the way to Waynesboro and I-64 west to I-81. There are other caverns and also Natural Bridge if you or the kids have an interest in natural wonders.

> head north on US 340 to Front Royal to get on the Skyline Drive

If you're in the Luray area, just take Highway 211 east to get to Skyline Drive.

> Hope that it is not foggy

If it IS foggy, that's a perfect day to take a hike to a waterfall. Falling water with a background of fog-draped forest makes for a perfect photo.

With kids this age, however, make certain they are aware that this is NOT an amusement park. If you run and slip on a trail near a cliff -- you could DIE. Nature does not provide guard rails on trails, and the Rangers won't build them. You are NOT protected from your own carelessness. I find that fact exhilarating, others may find it terrifying.

Why would you skip the northern 35 miles of the 105 mile Skyline Drive? http://www.nps.gov/shen/planyourvisi...line-drive.htm
The speed limit is 35 mph and you will want to make plenty of stops.

> Why would you skip the northern 35 miles of the 105 mile Skyline Drive?

Because, on a Memorial Day weekend, those 35 miles will be jammed. Also, the drive south of Thorton Gap has the best part of the Park (IMHO, after nine visits there over the last decade), so the most northern part can easily be skipped. It would be easier to backtrack to Elkwallow (if desired) than to go all the way to Front Royal.

We're going to be there that weekend for the first time. We are staying in Lewis Mountain Cabins.

I'm not worried about falling from a cliff, I'm worried about hiking with black bears.

Hmmm black bears and fatal cliff falls...maybe I should reconsider this choice. Our children are well-behaved and content nearly anywhere we go. We visited Acadia Ntl Park in Maine this past summer and they loved it! Thanks for the tips.

I don't think you will have a problem with either