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Friday, November 26, 2010

Best Day Ever 2010

Last weekend, being the last weekend before I'm chained to my store until January 2nd, Carl and I took a little trip to Natural Bridge! Natural Bridge, VA is about 3.5 hours away from RIchmond, down hilly highways lined with quaint towns and cud chewing creatures. At about 9am we hit the road, armed with hoodies and bagels, and a vague idea where we were headed. The weather was absolutely perfect, 65 degrees and a tiny bit overcast- perfect driving weather.

We rode into town around 12:30, and first stop was Foamhenge. For those of you who remember my DinosaurLand post, this was built by the same man. Seriously, he is brilliant. Here we discovered that the creator had two different theories about how Stonehenge was built: 1) many tired, muscular men dragged the stones up the hill and arranged them as such, or 2) Merlin waved his magical fingers and the stones flew in from all over the planet. We chose to believe theory 2, considering there was a full scale Merlin sculpture at one end of Foamhenge to help with the imagery. So fun, and so delightfully tacky.



A few miles down we found Natural Bridge. Meandering down close to 200 steps and down a short walkway the bridge almost smacked us in the face, and it was gorgeous. For a few moments we really couldn't find the words to explain what impact it had, just "Dude...whoa." Walking under it you can't even imagine how tall it is. The idea that water and the elements crafted this amazing piece of art blew our minds. Still can't find any words, just go visit one day.

Onward past the actual bridge, the park had a habitat set up depicting how a certain indian tribe lived way back in the day. Here, Carl learned of my fear of historic actors/townies/people with too much of a grip on the past. Spooky. No likey. Yes, I admire enthusiasts, but how do I know that they aren't just crazy people who don't know what year it is! Buh. Anyways, moving on. The rest of our time in the park we walked around enjoying nature, taking in some fresh air, and enjoying a little peaceful time together.

After a grilled cheese and Mr. Pibb lunch at an Elvis themed diner called the 'Pink Cadillac,' we drove to Lexington, VA. Lexington is a small town home to VMI and Washington and Lee University, and boy was the town adorable. Almost everything was closed except for an ice cream shop (which had amazing pumpkin ice cream!) and a used book store that looked like it broke close to every fire hazard. Chock full of historical books, poetry, and first editions, Carl (the english major) and I geeked out and spent about an hour unearthing some treasures from the boxes and stacks of books strewn around the store. Apparently there was some method to the madness, but we never quite caught on to the organizing the 21 year old store had in place. I managed to find a recipe book put together by the womens choir in the 1960s, filled with some amazingly homey recipes by the way, and a post card from Natural Bridge from 1940! And Carl of course left with a stack of about 6 books, but he could of definitely left with about 12 more if we had the time to stick around.

That night on the drive home, as the highway became dark and the little farms studding the country side faded away, I really started to feel the stress leave my body. All I needed was a little time away from everyday. After we got home, we met up with some friends to catch Scott Pilgrim at the Byrd. Which has quickly become one of my new favorite movies.

Seems that lots of fresh air and a nice drive filled with pretty scenery and sing-a-longs does a body good! :)