Both Kim and Justin had work commitments this weekend--Kim on Sunday and Justin on Saturday. So, a quick trip was in order. With all the working, we had to get out of town!
When we were dating, we bought year-long passes to Natural Bridge once. A drive there (just about 30 miles away) brings back memories and gets us out into the sunshine. We went to take Elijah on his first stroll to the bridge and took in the wax museum, too. The new ticket price structure makes it easy to enjoy a lot of the "components" of the area on one ticket in one day (including the toy museum, which is a nifty low-budget museum if there ever was one), but with a half-day only, we went just for the bridge and museum.
The wax museum is a classic hodge-podge of scenes from the Biblical to the historical to the folklore-related. Madame Tussauds it ain't: the figures are not of uniform proportions and some show signs of age. Classic local fun it is, complete with a wax figure factory exhibit in the basement you can tour. There are also some unexpected twists--like the figure of Bush that is now a "security guard" in one of the hallways. They have updated the Presidents exhibit with an Obama figure, and Doug Wilder is in the inauguration scene.
A walk to the bridge is always a lovely way to unwind. Kim vividly remembers a fifth grade field trip here and how she came around the corner expecting to see a bridge she could crawl through and saw this one, "higher than Niagara." Elijah, well, he was impressed with the running water, but he is just nine months old.
If you go, consider eating the buffet at the Natural Bridge Hotel and taking in Professor Cline's. When Elijah is over, we're hitting Dinosaur Kingdom!
Great article! Love the sounds of the wax figure factory exhibit.
ReplyDelete