Un-natural Bridge

Over the weekend we enjoyed a relaxing trip to Natural Bridge, VA where we met up with Kathy and her beau Owen for some good food, kabin kamping, and a very wet spring snow fall. We arrived early and tried to go see the Natural Bridge itself on Friday afternoon. Instead, we quickly came to realize how pre-packaged and commercial the entire experience is. They have a wax museum, a Ghostbusters-esque haunted forest, cavern tours, a warehouse sized gift shop, and a light show. I assume that all of this is an attempt to entertain kids who need more stimulation than a natural wonder and one's own imagination can provide. It made me a little dizzy. Also, there was a tall wood fence on either side of the road that crosses the bridge, so we weren't even able to view it from above. We decided to call it a day.

The weather was mild on Friday night and we enjoyed a nice walk around the KOA with our dogs and a great dinner before retiring to our heated kabin. Ahhh, gotta love camping with a "k"... The decision to leave the tent at home turned out to be a good one, because we woke up on Saturday to an inch or so of snow on the grass and huge sloppy flakes still coming down pretty rapidly. It was beautiful! Cold, wet, and muddy, but beautiful! The dogs loved it. We ate a yummy breakfast and packed up. It was not exactly ideal hiking weather, but we were determined to actually see the natural wonder we came for, so we gave the theme park another shot.


Like all theme parks it was expensive. The hike/walk (down a flight of stairs that led to a paved trail) to see the bridge was twelve dollars... for each of us. It was certainly a beautiful sight, and probably worth the 24 bucks, but I couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed that the natural beauty of the scene was disrupted, first by the fence, the rear of a few billboards atop it clearly visible from below, and second by the clusters of multi-colored stage lights and rows of benches positioned under the bridge for the light show.

I felt similar disappointment after visiting the Grand Canyon for the second time in 2000 and having a really tough time being able to find one clear spot to stand where I could gaze out over it's vast expanse and NOT see anything artificial. When I was there in 1986, I distinctly remember feeling like I was actually out in the wild west, truly experiencing the unspoiled natural beauty of what I was seeing. It could be that because I was only eight years old in 1986, my perception was pure awe and innocence, and as an adult I am more aware of and critical of commercialism. Maybe I am being hypocritical, after all we did stay at a KOA with hot showers, a pool, laundry room, game room, and the list goes on...

Mostly, the Natural Bridge was an awesome sight to see. There was also a saltperte cave (a big slice in the side of the mountain where the dirt had long ago been mined to make gunpowder) and a waterfall (more like water rushing down a sloped rock), neither of which were the most spectacular things I've ever seen, but pretty cool nonetheless. Maybe I am spoiled. We've been lucky to experience some truly amazing purely natural beauty in our travels. And I crave it. I love being out in nature, imagining that I might be viewing a landscape exactly as it was seen centuries ago. I realize that makes me sound a like a total geek, but seriously I do. Sure I love car camping too, I think KOA Kampgrounds are fantastic, and honestly I am very hesitant to be miles from indoor plumbing while pregnant. I just hope that our kids are able to appreciate the true beauty of nature, and are as impressed by the natural wonders of this earth as they are by the completely un-natural... wax museums, for instance!