Friday, 7:50 pm

Hey ya’ll.

We are back at the park after an excursion-filled day in the Shenandoah Valley. By the way, it is worth noting, the Blue Ridge Mountains are really beautiful. You can see them from Route 81 and they really are a cool vista as you log the hours driving.

After much prodding and poking, we headed over to the Natural Bridge rock formation. I know, I know, how cool can 20 stories of solid rock actually be, right? Well, they are pretty awesome. They are not actually carved from years of running water as those of you still reading probably think. They are the result of an underground cavern collapsing. But wait – it gets cooler. Thomas Jefferson bought the land from King George for $2.50. Not impressed? Well, George Washington climbed one wall and carved his initials into the side of the rock in 1790. Cool, right?

Afterwards we headed to the caverns which are 34 stories/over 300 feet within the earth. They are formed from the slow drip of water through cracks in the rock. We were very happy to be in the 51 degree cool caverns after a long hot hike at the Bridge.

Gail was clearly impressed by her comment, “Seen one rock formation, you’ve seen them all!” And Cameron felt our tour guide could have had a better delivery of her shtick. We are talking about a sub-earth dweller after all. I still am not sure which are stalagmites and which are stalactites…

We also walked thru an Native American Village complex from the Monacan Indians of Virginia.

It was interesting to step back in time to see what life was like in a typical Native American Village, 300 years ago. Wigwams, animal skins, primitive tools. There was this woven protective fense around the villiage called a palasaides that looked like it was straight out of Survivor.

After the Cavern we headed to historic Lexington. Very quaint town but is it me or were people much shorter back in the day? We saw where Stonewall Jackson lived (and was buried at 36 years of age.) Also toured the Virginia Military Institute and Washington and Lee University. Beautiful campuses equipped with their own military obstacle courses.

Ok, so in the "What the heck?" category...

Wondering how we got to the English countryside to see a wonder of the world from 3000 BC? Stonehenge? Nope. FOAMhenge. A sculptor's April fools prank turned into a (semi) permanent Styrofoam tribute to the real thing. Only in Virgina.

After some gas and firewood, we are back at Jelly Stone. (can’t get used to saying that). Kids are finding new friends, taking in a movie, picking up chicks with Izzy as the ice breaker… and the fire is raging.

Much more crowded today since the long weekend is officially here. We really like our spot #54. Very shaded, and we’re not surrounded by other RVs. As usual, Izzy is stealing the show. We really should’ve had those t-shirts made up that would answer all the questions people ask us about her: “Yes, she’s our dog; No, a Goldendoodle; Yes, she is really big; Yes, she sheds a little; Sure, you can pet her; No, you can’t ride her.

Smore’s anyone?