Big, Beautiful Bridge

If I had known, when I planned for us to go to Natural Bridge for their Homeschool Day, that I would have a cold on that day, I might have decided that we really didn't need to go this year because, after all, there's always next year, right?

On the other hand, if I had known that, despite my cold, the day would turn out to be one of sunshine, smiles, and sharing precious time together as a family, I might have realized that the wisest thing was to persevere and make the trip.  

I'm so glad we went.  :)

One of the best parts about the day was the variety of things we got to see and experience.  Let's see...the caverns, the bridge itself and the pleasant walk along the river, the Indian village, the toy museum, the live butterfly exhibit, and the wax museum.  Half a dozen diverse activities, all in one area (and might I add, for one very reasonable price).  ;)

We started in the caverns...

...and I don't know how to take good pictures in caverns so these two will have to do.  :)

But I'll simply say that it was fun (except Shav didn't think so because he was a little frightened by the experience), chilly (I didn't think to take jackets for this), awe-inspiring (to think that hidden in the ground, under our feet, are such wondrous sights, planned by God for our eventual discovery!)...and best of all, we got out in one piece.  :)  At the end of the day as we were driving home, I confessed to Jeff my nervousness while we were in the cavern (thoughts like "what if there's an earthquake?" kept running through my head).  He smiled and said, "I loved it."  What did you say?  You LOVED being down in the cavern?  Are you serious?  Turns out that he was serious.  He really does love it.  I always suspected he was a tiny bit crazy.  ;-)

After the caverns, we ate our lunch...in the van...where the pestering bees couldn't reach us.  Wouldn't you know, they like Quick Refresher as much as we do!  :)

Then it was time to head down (and I mean DOWN) to the river and the bridge.

The older ones raced ahead...

...undeterred by numerous steps and descending paths.

Shav and I were the cow's tail, stopping now and then to admire a little waterfall, for example, or other items that caught his attention.

And then we got to the bridge itself.

To be honest, I was still sort of in the "I kind of wish I hadn't come" mentality because I just wasn't feeling well.  But David's reaction when he saw the bridge brought me up short.  He was running ahead, got within sight of the bridge before I did, raced back towards me, and exclaimed, "Woah!  It's HUMONGOUS!!!"  "That made it all worthwhile," I thought to myself; and from that point on, the day got better and better.  :)

Except for a short time when we were in the caverns, Jeff was the one to carry Moriah in the Snugli; and I was very grateful for that.  (I think he was, too.)  ;-)

Sometimes Moriah slept...

...sometimes she was awake...

...and sometimes she yawned.  :)

While we were waiting for a woman of Monocan Indian descent to do a presentation, the boys had fun running up and down some stone steps; and Tobin kept asking me to take pictures of him.  :)

I didn't take a picture of the Indian lady, but two things stood out to me from her talk.  First, she said that she--and many other Indians--don't really like the term "Native American" because strictly speaking, that refers to everyone who was born here.  In that sense, I'm a Native American!  :)  They prefer American Indian or, in her case, Virginia Indian.  Makes sense.

The other thing occurred during the Q&A session at the end of her presentation.  A little blond-haired girl raised her hand and asked, "Are there any Indians alive today?"

"Well," said our guide, "I'm still alive!"  ;-)

Gotta love the modern technology being used to record the ancient ways of doing things!  :)

Tobin and Shav loved these hides.

Resting in the Indian village...

Having a little fun in the creek...

The boys all got to have a little clay to work with for the purpose of making a pinch pot...or in the case of the younger members of the family, a clay ball.

With Josiah's recent experience with pottery, he, in particular, enjoyed doing this.

I enjoyed noticing Moriah's toes and her blue jeans.  It was a historic moment: the first day she wore blue jeans.  Isn't it fitting that her first pair of jeans has pink flowers all over them?  :)

On the walk back, I noticed some beautiful, dainty flowers.

Shav had a little truck in his hand, and he would sidestep along the little platform at the bottom of this low stone wall while running his truck along the top of the wall.  It wasn't a very fast way (at all!) to get to where we were going, but he was happy so I tried to clothe myself with patience and give him time to do this.

I think it's funny to see how the orange-shirted boy was looking at him curiously...and then walked on.

After we finally got back to the building, we went to the Toy Museum; and although I didn't expect it, the boys really enjoyed this.  Of course, I know they love toys, but in a museum setting?  where they could only look at them and not touch?  where they couldn't play with them at all?  Despite all of that, they had a great time discovering all kinds of cool toys.

Then we were off to the butterfly room where we got to see lots of cocoons with some recently-emerged butterflies...

...as well as many other butterflies who were free to fly around the room and land on anything they wanted.  We all thought this one was striking in its design.

Our last stop was the Wax Museum where we were greeted by the perpetually-swinging "kid" on the front porch.

We were all pretty impressed with the figures.  Jeff and I had been in wax museums before, but it was a first for our kids.  I liked watching the boys as they saw the various figures for the first time.  Sometimes they got kind of startled by it all.  :)

Before we left the museum, Jeff paused to have a little chat with Elvis.

So did Josiah.  :)

One thing we didn't do was go into the hotel, but I couldn't resist snapping a picture of it.  You see, long ago, when I was a young teenager, the church we were part of always held their ladies' retreats there.  My mom would go, and I would go along as one of the babysitters for the infants who were still nursing.  Now that I'm a mom, I can appreciate what a help that must have been for those moms to have somewhere to leave their babies during the sessions; but back in those days, the real reason I went was to have fun with my friends who were also babysitting.  I have some great memories from this grand old hotel!  :)

We loaded up and headed towards home, some of us tired enough that we fell asleep on the way (myself included).  Jeff drove the scenic route rather than the highway, and I drank in the sight (when I was awake) of the leaves beginning to don their autumn coats and the beauty of the countryside through which we were passing.  As I rode along, I thought, "I'm so glad this cold didn't stop me from having this day here with my family."

You know what?  I'm still thinking that now!  :)