Quality Inn Christiansburg

... last night, we didn't want to pack it up wet. Leaving everything at the campsite, we went to visit 'The Natural Bridge’, A bridge of rock carved by nature, that is estimated to be 500 million years old, and has the Lee Highway (US Route 11) crossing over it. We decided to go on with our plans for the first part of the day and just "play it by ear" the rest of the day, as the ...

... and their family in Radford were had a feast of good ole southern down home cooking.  After dinner we headed back up to Salem and stopped by our old water hole, Mac and Bobs  to join the party!  

On our way out of Town on Sunday we made sure to stop by Alligator Alley, a favorite store of ours, for my husband to pick up a new Lacoste shirt.

We were in no rush to get to Salem, Va and since we had missed Skyline the day before, we spontaneously decided to exit of I-81 in order to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway down to Roanoke. We made a stop along the way at a trail near Lynchburg. The 1.6 mile loop trail takes you to a beautiful waterfall where we stopped for a picnic lunch.  It was such a gorgeous day - the weather was perfect - and this was just a really nice relaxing drive!  

... get off the Parkway as often as possible.

We eventually made it Grandfather Mountain. On our first attempt to visit this park we were turned away because of extremely high winds (80+ mph), but today we were lucky. They were only having 60+ mph winds. LOL, but seriously. They were not allowing motorcycles all the way to the top for safety reasons, and while we were both not happy with this we soon realized that ...

... a level crossing, make the stop go lights change …you get the idea. Although it runs parallel to the actual line – which was VERY busy – all these have nothing to do with the existing railway – but it would be fun wouldn’t it?
The end of the line brought us to another building we wanted to see, the Art ...

... blackened and the heavens opened – you guessed it – we stayed in ‘till it cleared, well nearly, it eased off a bit and we made a mad dash for the museum a few yards away. Loads more interesting stuff about the area and of course Andy Griffith – he lived here, had gone to school here too. But also the Siamese twins, Eng and Chang ended up living here. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0 606/feature6 ...

... had great hair so we had no complaints.


We then headed to the historic district of Staunton, VA where we watched a glass blower make a flower vase at a cute store called Sun Spot's. It was very cool! We also bought some beautiful glass pendant necklaces that were made there. (P.S. there is ...

... Nate's house is widely regarded at the most derelict house on campus... so much so that it's up for demolition this summer. Bit of a shame really... it does have a bit of a lean to it, but it is pretty great with it's fireplace and library and general studenty goodness. Nate (who is Georgian and bears a striking resemblance appearance and personality wise to my friend Doc Miller) even put on a bit of banjo display for us. Yep we're near the home of blue grass ...

... outside. The hoedown was packed to overflowing with musicians and dancers. There are chairs to sit upon, small tables if you are eating, and standing room. We did not attempt to dance. The next morning we headed towards the Carter Fold in Hiltons. This is another stop on the Crooked Road.

... of magazine articles that say its fabulous, so it has to be some kind of good, right? I just want to go, to see, to do, to experience. I don't want to be rushed, or have to stick to a plan. I want my sister to pick what she wants to do too, b/c she doesn't like to plan the travel stuff, but she does have an opinion about what she wants to do. I want to feel comfortable in my own skin in another country. And I want some more magnets. :)