Natural Bridge & Caverns

 We have been talking about going to Natural Bridge for quite a while. We learned about it on our tour of Monticello last August--Thomas Jefferson once owned the land and spent his vacation time at his two cabins there.

Okay, pretty stone arch, that's nice.

Let me set this scene for you.

You enter through the gift shop (of course), which smells like... I don't even know. Before you get to the entrance to the bridge trail, you must pass the Butterfly Museum and the Toy Museum. The Butterfly Museum is an entirely unremarkable little room filled with insects they probably harvested from right outside the door.

I am nearly at a loss for words to describe the Toy Museum. Plywood cut to resemble castle walls encircling a dank room with randomly placed Wal-Mart bookshelves full of creepy old toys and dolls. There was actually a display of "Dangerous Dolls from the 60s," which were apparently made from lead, sitting on the floor. You know, safe from curious toddlers.

We so should have taken pictures. But I was definitely mortified and I think Todd was, too.

Ah, back to nature. The bridge is pretty cool. Legend says George Washington explored the area as a boy and his initials are carved into the rock. GW is definitely there (highlighted with a white spraypaint square), but we're not sure we buy the story.

There was a nice little trail beyond the bridge that led to a little waterfall. It wasn't a difficult walk in the least, but we were absolutely drenched in sweat from the humidity. I couldn't believe how hot it felt, as it was only like 85 degrees--that is nothing to a desert girl, but add the humidity and I melt.

The caverns were sort of cool, but we spent most of our time marveling at the assortment of people. We always think we're pretty average, but seeing the actual average makes me feel very fortunate and extremely happy with my lot in life.

On the way home, we resisted stopping by the surely illegal zoo to have our picture taken with a baby tiger, drove straight past Foamhenge, and somehow managed not to get out of the car to see the life-size rendition of Yankee soldiers being eaten by dinosaurs. Not even kidding.

We did stop in Buena Vista (BYOON-a Vista), home to Southern Virginia University. Once upon a time, I considered transferring from BYU to SVU because its brochure featuring the valley in the Fall made me want to live in Virginia badly. I will say, the valley is gorgeous. But the town and the school were completely underwhelming. (Todd said "I told you so!" But in my defense, I thought it might be charming.)

Then it was back to beautiful Charlottesville, where the next day a surly four-year-old would threaten to knife us. Story forthcoming.