Natural Bridge State Park & Blue
Ridge Parkway - VA - July 7
The Natural Bridge Park was once owned by Thomas Jefferson and
listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the 215-foot tall Natural
Bridge is a limestone gorge carved out by Cedar Creek.
We drove the half an hour to Natural
Bridge State Park in Virginia. What a great little park this was. The Natural
Bridge was quite amazing, and photos do not do it justice. We walked the easy
trail beside the Cedar Creek and there were stops along the way such as a
Monacan Indian Village, the lost river and rapids leading up to a pretty
waterfall. A tree had fallen at the top which made it look interesting as the
water tried to get around the obstacle.
Visitor's Center
Natural Bridge
George Washington carved his initials in the rock
Cedar Creek
there is a road at the top of the Natural Bridge
Monacan Living History Exhibit
Blue-tailed Skink
Saltpeter Cave
the Lost River
this water is coming from the lost river
We took the shuttle to avoid all the
steps down, but we did take the steps up when we returned to the Visitor’s
center. We got there just in time since about 6 busloads of Asian tourists just
left. It was a peaceful and beautiful walk. The lady in the shuttle commented that 6 busloads of Asians just left the park. She also said that in the "old days" the parking lot would be full of buses. I guess it makes sense that these small places used to be a big draw, but now with so many tourist attractions some of these just don't makes people's lists. We were pleasantly surprised by the park.
We grabbed a couple of BLTs at the
food counter and then left to drive some the Blue Ridge Parkway. The top of the
Natural Bridge is a road and we drove over it after we left the park.
driving across the Natural Bridge
Two years ago, we drove a different
part of the Blue Ridge Parkway. We didn’t find any bears today either, but saw a few deer
(more dead than alive unfortunately) and Greg saw a Bobcat. It was on one side
of the road and I was looking the other way. It was gone in an instant.
Lower Otter Creek - we did a short hike here
butterflies on poo (maybe bear poo from the size)
guy fishing
Otter Dam
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Terrapin Mountain
Arnold Valley
We stopped for dessert at Peaks of
Otter. (lodge and restaurant) Initials of the restaurant you may have noticed
is POO. They have all kinds of items with their initials on it. Like POO wine,
magnets, etc. We split a blackberry cobbler and a chocolate torte. Both were
very good. It started to pour rain so we hung out waiting for it to clear up
some as we wanted to walk the trail around the lake. Igt slowed so w ith
umbrella in hand, off we went.
Peaks of Otter
we walked around the lake
a glimpse of a deer as it bolted
Peaks of Otter Lodge & Restaurant
We had a couple of more short hikes on our list and we proceeded down the parkway.
Head Foremost Mountain
Onion Mountain Overlook
Thunder Ridge
James River bridge to Canal Lock Exhibit
Battery Creek Lock 1851 - 1880
James River creates a river gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains
cemetery on the Trail of Trees
On our way to dinner I saw a couple
of woodchucks cavorting in someone’s yard. We ate at Kyoto Japanese Fast Food.
I had the Ribeye & Mushroom stir fry and Greg had the Steak & Shrimp.
Both were quite good. It was fast food, but it was cooked to order.
It was after 8:00 and we drove
about an hour back to the hotel.
Tomorrow, we are headed to Monticello.
No comments:
Post a Comment