Monday 09 March

This morning, we met early at Bill and Earline Orndorff's house and they took us on an amazing sight-seeing drive through this breath-taking part of the world. We drove to Natural Bridge, said to be one of the seven wonders of the new world. The solid limestone arch is very impressive, to say the least, and the team enjoyed the tranquil walk along Cedar Creek Trail. Spring is definitely in the air, and every dogwood, poplar, red bud and beech threatens to burst into full colour at any moment.

After lunch, we drove to the Natural Bridge Caverns, deepest on the East Coast at over 34 storeys below the surface. The caves are cold (10 degrees C) and wet, but well worth the trip; the water-sculptured rooms and colossal flowstones mirrored in pools of crystal clear water.

[SIDE BAR: The 7 of us walk into the small gift shop and reception to the Caverns with our tickets in hand, which we exchange for tokens issued by Phyllis, the manager standing behind the counter. The shop is one-roomed, and we are the only ones there, except for a young girl, Tiffany, who would turn out to be our guide. Phyllis tells us that the next tour leaves in 4 minutes, and so we basically just stand around and wait. 3 minutes later, Tiffany makes her way from behind the counter and Phyllis raises a microphone to her mouth. She announces (as if we are not standing right there) that the tour group must please make their way to the entrance of the cavern (in the shop!) and hand in their tokens. She then comes out from behind the counter, too, and stands at the door to collect the very tokens that, not moments before, she had handed out to us. DAFT!]

The drive back to Salem along the Blue Ridge Parkway was spectacular. The ridge road affords one the opportunity to take in the vista of forests and valleys, and we could only imagine what it will look like in a few weeks time when the trees are once again covered in foliage. We are working on our dialect and have practised saying Peaks of Otter, which is said, "Peaks-av-odder" with an exaggerated 'odder'.

In his essay on American scenery, George Coleman wrote, "Over all, rocks, woods, and water, and the silent energy of nature, stirred the soul to its inmost depths." He must surely have been standing on the lue Ridge Mountains in Virginia when he thought that!