Last Friday Lindee & I headed out on our second annual birthday trip – to the mountains of Virginia and North Carolina. We got into Virginia and started seeing some beautiful fall color, so of course had to stop at the first scenic overlook we came to. So pretty.
Our basis for choosing this area for the entire trip, really, was to visit Natural Tunnel State Park. I’d wanted to go ever since the first time I heard about it. The tunnel itself is the length of three football fields, and was carved by what turned out to be a small creek running through it. The tunnel itself is closed to the public, because trains run through it every day. It was just so beautiful and amazing when I finally got there to see it for myself. Wow.
We stayed at the bottom by the tunnel for quite a while, hoping a train would go through, but there is no published schedule – a homeland security rule since 9/11 – so finally headed back up the strenuous hike to the top. Lindee had packed us a delicious salad picnic lunch, and we found the picnic area to enjoy that. While we were eating, we heard the train going through the tunnel – dang it. It was cool just listening to it, though, and we’ll definitely be going back to watch for it again. After we finished eating we headed over to a second part of the park, which told about the original settlers in the area, when it really did lead to the unexplored western wilderness. The sample of the house there was so interesting – called a block house, the top floor protruded out over the bottom floor, with holes where they could shoot down at anyone trying to break in. Very interesting.