cheesy attractions, part2

The town that has Foamhenge also has a centuries-old attraction which seems to be the only reason the town is in existence yet today. Natural Bridge is a tiny dot on the map, yet has its own set of tourist attractions. THE Natural Bridge is actually lovely, as is the stream that you can hike along. The Natural Bridge Caverns are very interesting to visit as well. The entrance to Natural Bridge is another thing altogether. The overly large buildings that make up the "visitors center", wax museum and hotel are a throwback from the 50's or 60's perhaps, where the large and formal styles were meant to give the building instant importance and sophistication. Now they are kitschy, and we laughed that this attraction would actually bring in enough visitors to fill that hotel.












We went through the caverns first. There was only one other couple on our tour, so the kids got to ask lots of questions. The tour guide did well on his memorized speech, and we enjoyed seeing the stalagmites and stalachtites. Walking in a room made by the Appalachian fault line was interesting, as was the moment the lights were all turned off. It is amazing that people explored these before modern electric lights.











The next stop was the Natural Bridge itself. This geological feature has been visited by tourists since the time of George Washington- and probably before. G.W. himself carved his name in the rock wall. There has also been a road across the top for quite some time, and it is still there. We were surprised by its very size - it's much larger than I thought it would be. The path continues on, following the stream. The Monocan Indian tribe has set up a "village" to tour, and a few tribe members act as living history guides. The kids asked many questions about the food they were cooking. If desired, you can continue to follow the path for a while further, where you will find a cave, a "lost river" and eventually a waterfall. While hiking along Dot let her hand drift across the top of the stone wall edging the path - until she hit a snake! Thankfully, she didn't interrupt the snake's sunbathing, and we were happy to observe the garter snake for a moment or two.
Jamie needed help making it back, and the climb back up from the valley was long. We took a break when we reached the top. The visitor's center' store was cool, a good place to wander around. Dot bought a postcard to memorialize the trip, but they didn't get any more money from our wallets.

The Farm Report

The first full day of vacation was used in Staunton, Virginia, where we visited the Museum of American Frontier Culture. On the grounds there are three different European farms and one American farm. They want to showwhat the immigrants would have left behind, what farming ideals they would have brought with them, and how parts of their farms were put together to make up what we think of as an early American farm. The farms are authentic - they went to each country (England, Ireland and Germany), found old farms, took them apart and transported them to Virginia where they were rebuilt as part of the farm museum. The American farm was found in the next county, and its move should be seen in the near future as part of a National Geographic Special.
The first stop is at the English farm. We enjoyed walking through the house, and the kids liked trying out the beds. Their farm had a nice large kitchen garden near the sheep pen, where we saw new little lambs with their mothers.








The next stop was an Irish forge, where the blacksmith was making nails. A good blacksmith can make a nail a minute. It takes a lot of work, so you can understand why they were so expensive. Jamie found out that he could have been working as an apprentice already - boys began to work at the forge at age four.








A little way down the path we found the Scotch-Irish farm. The white-washed stone walls and thatched roof were refreshingly cool - good insulation against the warmth of the sun. The pigs greeted us as we walked up to the farm, and inside we found ladies working on spinning flax into linen. The second room held a few small beds and a large loom. It was not as spacious as the English farmhouse, and more people would have been living in it. The house would have been filled with peat smoke and the scent of unwashed bodies. I'm not sure I would have felt much loss at leaving that behind!








The third farm was German. It had two barns, much larger than at the English or Scotch-Irish farms. The farmer showed us through the kitchen garden and the wife told of the planned fresh salad for lunch. The greens were harvested from the garden, fresh oak leaf and spinach. The kids tried on wooden clogs and fed the chickens.











We had a short tram ride to the American farm, where we were not able to do as much. The end of the school year brings many classes to the farm for field trips, and there were many school children already involved in learning in that section. Not wanting to intrude, we simply walked around and viewed as much as possible.








Overall the farm museum was a nice day trip. The kids enjoyed the animals, we enjoyed the open space and quiet beauty of the farmland. The history was lived out well.
See more photos at my Picasaweb album.

Cheesy Attractions, part 1

This past we we vacationed in the Shenandoah valley of Virginia. It was beautiful, and we'll post more on that later, but first I thought we would start out with one of the cheesier attractions we visited.






Yes, there is a full scale replica of Stonehenge, made of styrofoam blocks, in Virginia. It is in a state of some disrepair at the moment, but was fun enough to visit. Hey, it was free. And its not like we actually went out of our way to visit it... well, we did have to backtrack a little... and we couldn't leave town without going to see it.

18 inches - short or long?

So, is 18 inches short to you, or long? "It depends..." is what I imagine your answer to be. If measuring the daily commute it may be a very short distance. If measuring a fish it may be long. If measuring a pizza, it is Jumbo, and you should expect to pay a lot.
For me it is long, at least today. I got 18 inches of hair cut off this afternoon. And I still have hair!
Here's how I started the day:








And here's the end result:











No Victorian hair jewelry planned here, it is going to be sent off to Locks of Love.