Playing Catch-up with my blog

Hello, here I am finally back at my blog. It's over a month since taking my adventure with grandson Jack. We had such a wonderful time that I know I want to record before memories begin to fade into current events. I will attach some photos of the event, I think. This too is another learning experience that requires daily hands-on to keep fresh.

I do not have photos of the Caverns themselves...didn't have the camera with us 250 feet below ground. We saw both the Grand Caverns as well as the caverns situated near the Natural Bridge and they both were awesome, breathtaking, and most definitely carry my recommendation that you stop to visit whenever passing a billboard advertising caverns anywhere in your travels. We started out for the Grand Caverns, but found ourselves stopping at the Natural Bridge as we came to this area first. We were checking into visiting the Natural Bridge and learned that we would get a discount if we were guests of the hotel, so I called from the lobby of the gift shop. They had just one room left at the Natural Bridge hotel, and they were apologetic that it was "a room with only two double beds...." Well Hello....just what we needed. We knew it was meant to be there just for us as we "happened" to stop in this area. Knew it was more than a coincidence that this one last room was still available even though I called as late as 6:30pm. Another event that we happened upon is the Natural Bridge evening drama. This is an event I recommend to all. Beautiful lights dramatically highlighting parts of the bridge while beautiful orchestral music plays in the back ground and the story of creation is told. The beautiful display moved both Jack and me to tears and goosebumps....all the more thrilling to envision George Washington and Thomas Jefferson sitting under this same bridge and grounds where we sat.

A favorite event and photo is the one of Jack and me holding up "Foam Henge". Another accidental find that delighted us both that is a exact replica in size, scope and structure of Stone Henge in England except it's created from, you guessed it.....foam! The creator obviously has a wonderful sense of humor as well as a large pocketbook to build and have available for anyone curious enough to stop and find out more about the small sign along the highway had to offer. We had driven past this place a number of times although we thought it was not open. Finally Jack's curiousity got the best of him and asked if we could stop and find out what it was. Imagine our surprise to find that it's always open, and free, and filled with fun signage explaining how the display got there. It is a fun climb that allowed us playing "imagine...if" on the top of the hill! And how fun that another family also stopped at just the right time to take Jack's and my picture holding up the walls of Foam Henge!

One of Jack's favorite restaurants of the weekend was the "Pink Cadillac", a 50's style place that served up killer hamburgs with lots of fun memorabilia to view while eating. It was a fun place although my favorite eatery offering of the weekend was at the Natural Bridge hotel, where they offered an excellent prime rib buffet!

The entire weekend flowed with synchronicity that kept us both in awe and appreciation of the harmony, including discovering the wax museum, the dinasaur forest, the haunted forest to name just a few more of the stops that we found along the way. Another favorite for both of us was finding Jake's Antique Mart on Route 11that we discover is "Open 365 days a year" that enabled us time for a visit before heading back home on Sunday. Yep, each of us found a couple of treasures or two from Jake's to take back home with us......and where we plan to visit again when we return for further treasure hunting on our next adventure in that area.

We both decided that we must do this again. What a wonderful fun and memory filled way to connect with Mimi and grandson. We expect that our next adventure will be to Jefferson's Monticello. It was nearby but we simply ran out of time on this weekend outing. Travelling along Interstate 81 in Virginia offers a treasure chest of adventures for everyone. You never will know what golden moments of memories can be created unless you stop.....so be sure to allow extra time in your travels to do just that...stop when you pass some billboard that catches your imagination, interest and sense of adventure!