Shenandoah Valley Weekend Excursion

I wanted an easy roadtrip to breathe some country air. I randomly picked Shenandoah Valley, a drivable national park, and based a trip around it. On Air B and B, I found a Spring Haven, a serene farm surrounding a small lake. Our hosts gifted us fresh eggs, watermelon pickles, and burlap flowers.

A few miles away is Cibola Bison Farm. We were able to tour the farm, checking out the goats, chickens, and all the way in the distance- delicious bison. We took home over $100 in products, including a new bison leather wallet for me, summer sausage, and jerky. We've already dug into the salami (awesome) and made the bison tenderloin filets. The filets were amazing, I seasoned with salt, pepper, and shitake powder, seared on each side for 2 minutes and then put them in the oven for 5 minutes. Completely perfect.

For the nature part of the trip we traveled an hour away to Luray Caverns and then in to Shenandoah Valley park to do the Stoney Man hike, the summit was 4,000 feet up, where we enjoyed local farmstand apple and honey we picked up on the way to the Caverns.

Back to food though right? Calhoun's Ham House and Country Deli may not have the friendliest ladies working behind the counter but their country ham converted me. Not being a fan of what I thought was "ham" I learned that country ham is a salty dream, the Southern cousin of prosciutto. Order it here sliced by the pound, its only $14/lb. To take home, go for the shrink wrapped uncooked slices, it makes a great present. Biscuits are served cold and aren't great, skip them and get your ham on a roll.

Two breweries are nearby, the folks at Beer Hound Brewery are much nice than their ham slinging neighbors and they encourage bringing outside food, so BYOHam?