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Into the mountains

Natural Bridge, Virginia, through the fisheye

We spent a couple lovely (but really hot) days out in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We stayed in Natural Bridge and did not quite all the touristy things, but most of them. As you can see, Natural Bridge is super gorgeous and impressive. My family came here once when I was maybe nine and at the time, I really wanted to go up on the bridge, not just walk under it. You still can't go up on the bridge, but I'm more mature now and better able to appreciate all that beautiful natural scenery from all the way down at the bottom of the ravine (which would look awesome from up high, I'm sure). The Cedar Creek Nature Trail, which runs under the bridge and 1500 yards back to a pretty waterfall, is worth the walk. And if you're not into hiking, never fear. This is basically handicapped-accessible hiking and there are lots of benches along the way. Supposedly there are also rock-dwelling poisonous snakes, or so we were told, but we suspect our young informant was bullshitting us. We stayed in the hotel across the way from the bridge entrance and the morning we took the hike, we watched a huge cloud of mist boil up out of the ravine to obscure the mountains. Spooky! The mist was all gone by the time we got to the bridge. Oh well, that's the price we pay for waiting till it opens.

However, the real point of this exercise, even more than the bridge, was Foamhenge!

We saw Foamhenge in a brochure of Virginia attractions and I decided that we had to see it. It's more convenient than Stonehenge, that's for sure. Also, it is fun to say "Foamhenge" out loud and frequently. One might even say it is addictive, but we'll be getting over it any day now. No need for an intervention.

Foamhenge, on Route 11 just north of Natural Bridge

We missed the solstice by a couple days, darn it. I wasn't thinking when we planned our trip. Still, Foamhenge was everything we imagined. Big, foamy, and it had a nice view from the hilltop as well as a fiberglass druid. Unfortunately, due to some cowtippers thinking outside the box, a few of the megaliths are missing. You can see Foamhenge from Route 11 as you're heading south. By all means, pull into the parking area and take the short walk up the hill. We were there at dusk and took the opportunity to play with my lighting gear. We now have lots of pictures of ourselves in silly poses amid the megaliths. No, I'm not posting them publicly.

Oh, and Happy Solstice, everyone.