Monticello, Natural Bridge and FoamHenge

Insider tip to beat the crowds at attractions: go during a Hurricane. Great pictures due to great lighting, and no pesky tourists in the pictures.

Saturday morning, I headed up to Monticello, former estate of Thomas Jefferson. Quite the house, I must say. I liked his bedroom especially, with the bed forming the wall between his study and sitting room. I could stand living there.

Front of the shack.


Back of the shack with obligatory flower in foreground.


Back of the shack with obligatory water reflection.


Storm clouds over an apple orchard.


After Monticello, I headed into Charlottesville to find food and shop around a bit. I LOVED their public chalk board and speaker podium! On it was engraved "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." (1st amendment, just in case you just had a brain fart).



On the way home, I hit highway 11 at about 7pm and it occurred to me I might be able to make the 8pm light show on Natural Bridge. So I stopped and bought a ticket. I saw this way back in high school on a band trip, and I remember being really impressed with it. This time around I guess I was expecting...more. It was peaceful. I guess with all of the light technology available, I would have thought they would have upgraded in the last 15 years. Nope. Just pretty, slowly changing, multicolored lights on rock. With a deep voice from above talking us through the first 7 days of creation. It still was a nice rock.



I honestly reacted in an excited fashion when the ticket lady told me that I could come back Sunday on the same ticket and see FoamHenge. Yep, you read that right. I've been to Stonehenge outside of Bath, UK and was awed by it. I have now been to the foam interpretation of it. This Foamhenge hazards the theory that while the whole "moving the stones inch by inch over the landscape" is a perfectly acceptable theory, it was probably really Merlin using magic that put it into place. As a bonus, there was a renaissance festival going on around the structure. Not a large one where you can get lost in a crowd, but a small one where they all seem to know each other and you are not sure if they are talking about you as you approach each booth! I hung around to see the famous "Muffin Man" at the urging of the fellow selling crystals.



Have you seen the Muffin man? THE MUFFIN MAN? The Muffin man? WHO LIVES ON DRELY LANE? The crowd was immediately into the act. Mr. Muffin Man had us raise our right hands and promise not to sue him. He then read a quote, "He who lives by the Muffin, dies by the Muffin". I was intrigued. Mr. Muffin Man then began asking the crowd questions about medieval life. If you answered a question correctly, he threw a muffin at you. Not "threw", that would demean the velocity of this muffin. He HURLED a muffin at you. He clocked you in the head with said muffin if possible. The fellows around me kept getting questions correct and I kept ducking because DARN those muffins were moving fast! I was pretty clueless until the last set of questions:

"What was the symbol on Sir Kevin's Braves sheild?" (a chicken)
"What are the 3 things whose weight can be compared to a witch's?" (duck, wood, very small pebbles).
"What is your favorite color?" (blue!!!!!)

At which point he threw a handful of muffins at the crowd and closed his picnic basket.



I liked the Muffin Man. A lot.

The natural bridge cavern was my last stop and it was worth stopping for, but only as part of a general survey of the attractions in the area. I've heard the drive through zoo is something to see (the animals come up to your car) but I decided it was time to head home.