Visit to Natural Bridge

A few posts back, I said I'd write about visiting Virginia's own Natural Bridge. So here we go!

The Natural Bridge is pretty cool. It's bigger than you think it's going to be. The company that owns it uses its awe-inspiring size to sell religious experiences. There was a sunrise service there on Easter morning, the day I visited. There is also a regularly scheduled light show titled, "The Drama of Creation," which takes place on the stone of the Natural Bridge at dusk. But it really is beautiful. By purchasing online, I got tickets to Natural Bridge and its related attractions for half-off the normal price of $28 per adult.

There's also a nice path that goes on for a mile or so past Natural Bridge, following a stream to the "Lace Waterfalls" (pretty, but not awe-inspiring). The path is brick and crushed stone and is a good thing for the whole family. I took my dog, who enjoyed the adventure and managed to poop on the sidewalk next to the scenic stream. 

Stream and Lace Waterfalls

There is a reenacted Indian village on the grounds, to which we paid little attention. There are two other tourist traps also on the property, including a toy "museum" and a wax museum. Please skip the toy museum. It is not worth the time required to walk through the room. Unless you are really into toys maybe. 

The wax museum, you may take or leave. It's interesting as long as you like tacky, animatronic wax people created during the 1970's--which I kind of do, it turns out. There's also a museum in the wax workshop where they sculpt the wax people, though it doesn't seem that it has seen any use in the last 15-20 years.

The gift shop at Natural Bridge is HUGE and TACKY! We did have sandwiches there which were not terribly expensive or bad (or good).

Underground River in the Cave

 

Some Kind of Big Cave Rock Formation

I think my favorite part of the whole Natural Bridge experience, though, was Natural Bridge Caverns, just a short drive (or tram ride) away from the Natural Bridge site. I hadn't been inside a cave as an adult, and I really enjoyed it. It's hard to take any good pictures inside a cave without some crazy National Geographic equipment, so you can't see how beautiful it was by looking at my pictures. Our cave tour guide could have been less irritating, but the dark, stony, cold awesomeness made up for it. And it IS cold in there! Take your sweater, and wear sturdy, non-slippery shoes. Boyfriend was wearing moccasins (not smart).

The entire economy of the Natural Bridge area must revolve around tourism and crazy tourist traps. There are a number of weird roadside attractions nearby, like Foamhenge. We were really happy with our experience, though, and I definitely recommend the National Forest campground where we stayed near Natural Bridge Station at Cave Mountain Lake.