We didn’t have a sleep in at the Sleep Inn Hotel, instead we were down for breakfast at 8am. Breakfast was not quite up to Holiday Inn Express Standard but made up for it with a waffle maker that I used with great aplomb with some sugar free syrup. I really think one of these would be great to have at home and bring out for BBQ’s etc so everyone could make their own. Karen just rolled her eyes at the thought of another large kitchen gadget taking up space at the back of a cupboard.
This morning, we were heading further South to Roanoke but planned a couple of stops en route. This first was in the middle of Staunton and was the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library based at his home.
We arrived 30 minutes before it opened and so wandered across to what appeared to be a very popular local coffee shop. It felt quite bohemian which also applied to the service which was so slow. Our drinks were delivered though with a smile and then I saw the same girl 5 minutes later walking around calling our names again with more drinks. I suggested there had been a mistake and she agreed that ‘the ticket had not been thrown away’ so had made them again. She disappeared and then came back and asked if we wanted them as otherwise, she just throw them away, we gladly accepted. Of course, this meant that Karen was now ‘wired for sound’ with the caffeine intake.
Back at Woodrow’s gaffe we used our student cards to get much reduced admission and were directed to join the guided tour of the ‘house’. Now neither of us knew much about Woodrow and indeed were not sure what period he covered (he was elected twice from 1913 – 1921). I wouldn’t say the tour guide was old, but she was probably around for the later part of his term.
The house was not that interesting and in fact he didn’t live in it for very long. More interesting was the museum and to see the issues of the day he had to face as president. Immigration, Tariffs, economic turmoil and wars. Sadly, nothing changes. Karen was more interested in the whiff of scandal around how soon he married his second wife after he lost his first one.
Whilst not as big or impressive the Reagan Presidential Library we still enjoyed our short visit. And with that we hit the road south.
One thing that has become very noticeable so far on this trip is the Virginian accent which is the most American drawl I have every come across. It is so accentuated that much of the time it sounds put on and not real. Apart from that everyone we have so far dealt with seems very helpful and polite. There is much use of the terms ‘mam’ and ‘sir’.
We drove for about an hour and as we did so chatted more about The Waltons. Even hearing the theme tune yesterday had evoked such happy memories. It was a much watch from my childhood. It was just about good old family values and in essence nothing much ever happened. We agreed that nothing like that would ever get made now or if it did then it would have to have a woke agenda.
Soon we were at our next stop, the Natural Bridge State Park. It looked the sort of place that Karen would like when I investigated it online. Certainly, the enormous Natural Bridge Hotel adjacent to the huge Visitor Centre suggested great things.
We decided to have a made do snack lunch in the car before venturing out. We paid the $9 each admission and were told there were 137 steps down to the bridge. Karen looked dubious as to whether she could make it, but we went for it. Now I didn’t count the steps, but I cannot believe there were even half that number, and we were soon walking along the river path.
The natural bridge was not far and was very impressive. Apparently, the Statue of Liberty would fit under it and George Washington in an early act of vandalism carved his initials on the cliff wall under the bridge. I questioned how and why though as it was quite high up.
We had been told that 1 mile further along the river path were Lace Falls. Karen felt that she was on a roll and decided we should set out for them. The path was rather undulating in parts but easy enough going. It was though very hot and muggy (85f) and so we had a couple of stops on the way.
The falls were OK, but we have seen much better, and you couldn’t get very close to them and so after a quick sit down we started the walk back. At the bottom of the steps to go back up was a small shop and so we shared an ice-cold bottle of Diet Pepsi.
We drove onto our hotel for the night. Now these were some corporate suites and had fantastic reviews. However, they seemed to have been built behind some houses with a dodgy entrance drive. From the outside even I was sceptical. Worse was the fact we were upstairs meaning I had to lug all the cases up myself as it was more of a motel with 2 floors. I gulped when Karen opened the door, but the room/apartment was very new, clean and well furnished.
After settling in we headed out for some food and drove to ‘Cheddars’ where I had the full rack of ribs. When we went to one of these last year with Neil, I had food envy as he had the full rack whereas I only had the half rack. The ribs were as delicious as I remembered but there was just too much of them. I managed what I could.
As the restaurant was next to a Walmart, we went in to get some milk for the morning and some rolls to make up a picnic to take out with us the next day.
Back in the room I started to fear for the next day and how we would spend it as my plan for us to go to the most photographed point on the Appalachian Trail – McAfee Knob, as the walk from the car park was a 8-mile round trip and described as moderate to hard. Maybe 30 years ago we might have considered it but our decrepit old bodies that was now never going to happen. I rapidly came up with Plan B which Karen seemed happy with as she sat and watched 2 episodes of Shark Tank before retiring for the night.
