Since we were driving yesterday anywhere most of the day, we decided why not, we should drive more!
The previous night after leaving Charleston, which is not south Carolina as previously stated. We passed by the real capital, Colombia, if we had known that fat then, we would have probably stopped, but Ignorant Americans such as us didn’t know that and we drove further and stopped for the night at charlotte (not the north Carolina capital).
We passed to Virginia in about an hour and started our tiny detour east. Close to 2 hours later we reached the natural bridge; this area is a tiny attraction area with a Wax museum, scary maze, dinosaur park, a zoo, toy museum, likely a tiny mountain Disney, too bad it was all closed!. The only thing that was open was the natural bridge itself. The bridge is what it sounds, a connection between two ridges that was not yet eroded by the stream below. The day was as good as a winter day can get, no clouds, blue skies and cold, so we assumed we could enjoy a nice walk. Too bad, nature was in the way. Icicles! The bridge forms an arch from below, but icicles are stuck on top and you cannot cross from fear of icicle decapitation. So we could only approach it. The structure is kind of impressive but I didn’t think it was as they hyped it to be (perhaps if we would stand under it we would, or see the restricted Indian village on the other side). They also had the oldest and largest Arbor Vitae tree (the tree dies 30 years ago, but it is still here), the tree was not impressive since compared to other big trees it is not that big. On the souvenir shop they displayed a sign saying that this was one of the seven natural wonders of the world, which immediately caught my attention, since this fact is blog worthy, but I doubted this fact since I have not heard of this place before. I asked them if this site was chosen on the international vote they had a few years ago, they nodded yes, but didn’t look convinced. The way to the bridge was a stair case 137 stairs long, and they had a bus waiting for those not wanting to climb up. The bus driver\ guide was very enthusiastic about the place and all its attractions (closed for the season) and that we should come in the summer with all our friends and families. He told about the Dino park so when we asked what’s there he admitted he never been there, it’s good that you recommend something you never seen, makes you seem very reliable. We walked up the stairs.
We kept going east and started looking at the list of natural attractions, I was not surprised not to see this bridge on the list, so we looked at the north America attractions, it wasn’t mentioned. I think someone said “it should be one of the seven natural wonders of the world” and they omitted a few words of the quote.
Btw – the seven wonders are the aurora borealis, the grand canyon, the great barrier reef, mount Everest , the port of Rio (not sure why, need to investigate), a volcano in Mexico. Forgot the 7th, but you see what I mean, the caliber of these items , the bridge cannot be one of them. I have only been\seen to 2 of the above list.
2 hours later we reached the largest more impressive cavern in the east (there is a larger one in Kentucky, which is the east as well, but they refer to a more eastern east. This Luray cave is quite spectacular, with a lot of stalagmites and stalactites. I visited other caves of this type before, this one is packed with them, but I had a short time (had a meeting) so I chose to pass, and let Alla go alone, since they wouldn’t let us to a quick solo tour (u need a guide in the winter). In the end they allowed me to take a quick 20 minutes with short cuts and I got to see a large portion of the cave; alla saw the whole thing, just her and a guide (there is a plus in coming off season, no lines) and loved it. I got out in time for the meeting.
We found a little Grill café and were told by the waitress that they were voted as the best burger in the state (Virginia) , so I decided to explore and went with it. Decent burger, best in Virginia , I hope not. It was already dark when we left Luray, crossed mountain roads to west Virginia where a deputy canine unit Sherriff decided to hit on alla at a gas station (do you come here often?, you look familiar) , we left the place quickly, not wanted to annoy the local sheriff ,and later spent 3 minutes in Maryland (it has a very strange narrow border in this area) and crossed again to Pennsylvania. Few hours later we stopped for the night, this morning we are finishing the drive.
Btw – seeing a false 7 wonder, largest caves and best burger- that’s a tipple check for Virginia. We didn’t do enough (or anything in North Carolina and west Virginia to make it count) , well there is always another trip.
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