Our daughter Lauren and her partner Bonnie live in Ames, about a half-hour north of us and home to Iowa State University. Bonnie grew up as a youngster in Virginia before she moved with her family to Iowa. She gave us some travel suggestions that were near her former home and along our way to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We called this our “Bonnie Day”

Natural Bridge State Park

Natural Bridge State Park has an interesting history that includes a couple of our nation’s founding fathers. It is a stop-in-your-tracks gorgeous natural feature that George Washington surveyed and Thomas Jefferson purchased for a few hundred dollars in today’s currency. Jefferson intended for it to be put in a public trust as a park, but his family sold it to help pay his debts. The state of Virginia finally purchased it in 2016 and made it a state park. It is a small park with a hotel still in operation and a $9/person ticket needed to walk along the park path. Legend has it that George Washington carved his initials into the bridge wall, and there is a white box painted around these initials.

Historically there were saltpeter mining operations here to make gun powder for muskets during the War of 1812 and the Civil War.

Cherokee Trail Neighborhood

Next we drove down a beautiful, narrow two-lane road that leads to Bonnie’s old neighborhood. It was like driving through a park and Tony said they should charge admission.

Cascade Falls north of Blacksburg

In the Jefferson National Forest there is a nice park for day use that has a 4-mile round trip hike up to a beautiful waterfall. We have been looking at waterfalls made smaller in this dry fall season, but this one was well worth the hike to get to it. Finally, more than trickles. Beautiful!

At last we were hiking UP to a falls which meant an easier return when tired. The creek is visible for much of the hike and is heard for the entire way up and down. It’s very peaceful to hike next to a babbling brook. We were able to walk the last three tenths of a mile to the falls along the rocks at creekside. When the water is higher, this part of the trail is probably inaccessible.

Claytor Lake State Park

We didn’t have much time to enjoy this state park, and we would love to return to it. The lake water is very clear making getting wet on summer days a joy I’m sure. There was a nice beach, and sailing boats at the dock. And the cats were able to watch the deer that were close to the van in the morning.

Requisite Cute Cat Video

This grooming doesn’t always happen at home, but we see it in the close quarters of Usain. Adorable:)