The Home Stretch

Saturday – Knoxville to VA
7:28 – We go to check out and have a bite before heading out. It is dark outside, similar to what it looked like last night when we checked in and went to bed.
Bristol is next – AKA Tennsay, Virnasse, or Tengia. It was much cooler in TN as well as in VA. Fall has taken hold and colored a handful of trees – the leaves are tipped in gold and russet. The peak of the change isn’t far off.
12:26 – So the Natural Bridge isn’t a go due to the $12 fee to go see it. After 7 days of sites and expenses we have become a bit frugal. And after seeing the Grand Canyon for $5 each it is hard to cough up $12 for the Natural Bridge. In the spirit of adventure we tromp down 137 steps to see if we can catch a glimpse of the bridge. There isn’t much to see at the bottom besides a lot of trees and a cranky ticket puncher. Its pretty lame that they charge you to see a naturally occurring phenomenon.
So I pay 35 cents for a fallesque postcard of the bridge after dragging my arse back up the 137 steps. I can still feel it in my chest, pretty sad huh?
1:30 – We stop in Charlottesville for lunch. We are all fairly spent and ready to be home. We stop at the first restaurant we find downtown. Northern Exposure Café, which actually has a New York City theme. After I dump a Diet Coke all over the table and narrowly miss my leg we eventually get our food,
Little did we know it was “Family Weekend” at UVA – this made getting out of town fun. Who knew that “Don’t Walk” signs were optional in college towns?
5:45 – about 2 hours after we escaped Charlottesville we rolled into Manassas. It was chilly and drizzling – the only difference from when we left is that it is brighter than it was at 5am, but not by much.
As we go thru our postcards (purchased for scrap booking of course), the trinkets we bought, and the brochures from various sites we stopped at little bits of memories flood back. I can only hope I caught most of them along the way.