Road Trip - Day 2

When you are on a big road (like Interstate 81)  you are really tempted to stay on the cruise control and just go. You have to stop along the way, though. Just take a side road that promises something unusual and follow your nose. A case in point below. Off I-81 is a sign pointing to Natural Bridge, Virginia. On land once owned by Thomas Jefferson is a really beautiful natural stone bridge, along with a variety of other natural features.

On the way down to the level of the stream that passes through the bridge is a 1600 year old tree (arbor vitae). These trees are beautiful. This one died in 1980 or so, after a long life. It grew very slowly (the estimate is 30 years per inch of trunk size).

A tribe of Indians (Monacans) once lived in the area. There is a demonstration village here. Sometimes there are some dancers and a native life show.

About 50 feet above the level of the stream is the "Lost River". This is a stream running through the cliff above the stream, completely enclosed until heard and excavated.

 There is a fair bit of wildlife in the area. We saw this turtle and a fat snake sunning on their separate rocks.

Follow the trail all the way to the end and find the "Lacey Falls", a multi-tiered, beautiful, but kind of dry waterfall.

Don't forget to stop and take a picture of the famous FoamHenge along the way.

Later in the day we went through two sets of thunderstorms, both of which were enough to slow traffic from 75 to 40. They forced us to put the flashers on. Fortunately, no one cracked up during these miseries. There were a bunch of bikers with camping gear that were not having a good time, however!

So far we are finding hotels for a decent price. They seem to be clean and relatively new. They have wireless (therefore these entries). Not bad!