Virginia

On day 5, our last day in Shenandoah, we hiked 2 smaller trails. The first of these was the Loft Mountain Fraser Discovery Trail, a loop of less than 1 hour.

The second trail was Black Rock Summit. Although very short, maybe 30 minutes, the site at the top was quite incredible. The area was completely covered with large sharp edged rocks, as if there had been an explosion breaking them apart. These rocks extended down the mountain side for a few hundred yards, as well as completely covering the top of the mountain.

Next we headed off to Lexington (one of 30 or 40 Lexingtons in the U.S.), about an hour south of Shenandoah. While there, we visited the Natural Bridge, a large structure just south of Lexington, over which the highway is built.

While very interesting, we felt that the Natural Bridge was very commercialized - the private company that owns the area charged $16 each just to walk down to it. As well, there was a large tourist oriented store at the top.

We took a horse drawn carriage tour of the town which lasted about 45 minutes (but was advertised as an hour). We also took an afternoon tour of the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), a cadet school, which was very interesting and enjoyable. The tour was given by one of the cadets and we were the only two people on the it.

The next day we moved on to Charlottesville. The city has a pedestrian only street of about 8 blocks with stores and restaurants on each side. But the main attraction of the area is Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home.

Although, as Canadians, we were not very familiar with Thomas Jefferson, we found him a very interesting person. Aside from being one of the founding fathers of the American Constitution, he built this home which is pictured on the back of the American nickel. We took a tour of the home which was designed with much thought by a perfectionist.

Thomas Jefferson was also very invloved in horticulture. He had a huge vegetable garden with many different varieties, as well as a vineyard, pictured here.

Afterward, we visited two vineyards in the area. The Kluge Vineyard, pictured here, and the Thomas Jefferson Vineyard. Although each of them had wine tasting (for a price) and sold their produce there, we did not participate in that since it would be a problem to bring a case of wine back over the border.

Next, we drove south to Williamsburg. This area was where the original settlers first came to United States. Pictured here is the route the three ships took, finally ending up in Jamestown in 1607, about 15 km from Williamsburg.

In the centre of Williamsburg, is Colonial Williamsburg, a representation of what life was like in the 1600's. Although you could visit the area for free, you could not enter into any of the exhibits where actors, dressed in orginal costumes, portrayed the lives of the population of that era.

Since the fee was quite high, (close to $100 for the two of us) and since we had seen this sort of representation in other cities, we decided to just wander the area.

The next day, we biked from Williamsburg down to Jamestown and back, a round trip of about 24 km. Once we got there, we felt that the area looked interesting enough to spend the afternoon there, so we drove back to visit Jamestown Settlement. The entrance fee was not so exorbitant there and once we entered, we met up with a free guided tour. Pictured here are replicas of the original 3 ships that landed in 1607. You could go onto the decks and below to see what they looked like up close.

The settlers realized that the preferred method of transportation at that time was the water ways. Pictured here is a native canoe formed by carving out a large log. In the early days, these canoes became the mode of transportation for the settlers as well.

The fellow pictured here, gave us a demontration of how to load an fire a musket, the weapon of choice for almost a century. See a video of the demo

For our last day in Williamsburg, we drove down to Virginia Beach (about an hour) and spent the day there.

The beach was enormous and very pretty and well kept. It was also reasonably priced for parking and meals. We parked for 4 hours in the Hilton Parking building for only $7.

There was also a bike path (which we used) and a walking path at the top of the beach of about 5 km.

Next we started to head back up north again, towards home, and visit the Hot Springs area in the Allegheny Mountains. To get there you have to go over Goshen Pass, a very pretty forested area.

This is Sam Snead Highway, also at Hot Springs. The Homestead Hotel is a large and expensive complex located there as well. It maintains three golf courses, of which the Cascades is reputed to be one of the best in Virginia.