When the alarm went off at 4:30, we rolled over and looked at each other. Yes, it was early, but we were excited. After packing the cooler and getting dressed, we were out of the door by 5:15 with a three hour drive ahead of us. There weren't any marinas in the Luray area, and the closest one (Lake Anna) seemed a little small, so we opted for a longer drive with a bigger lake.
The drive was beautiful. We had a fun time talking. I have only ever been on canoes, ferries and a whale watching boat but had never rented a smaller boat for water sports or relaxation. We pulled up to Claytor Lake State Park around 8, signed our papers and went to pick up the boat. We rented a white and blue 18 ft. Four Winns Horizon for the day. She seated 8, had lots of room for storage, and was quick (190 horsepower engine).
Claytor Lake is 21 miles long, with tons of little coves to explore. We started the day by driving through part of the lake, taking it in and relaxing. After a while, we decided to try the water for a swim. It was great, a lot warmer than I thought it would be. Steve taught me how to drive and I spent a while getting used to the boat and tooling around the lake. I like going fast, but the lake started to get busy, so I handed the wheel back. We spent some more time talking and driving the boat through all the little inlets around the lake. There are a ton of houses along the shore. It seems that everyone has their own boathouse or slip. A lot of people owned a boat or two plus a few waverunners. Oh the life of the rich! Steve and I kept pointing out houses and remarking what we liked about them, what we would change and what it would be like to live there and have the freedom to take your boat out anytime you wanted. There were a few people who had slides that allowed you to slide right into the lake. We also saw some kids jumping from decks into the lake...very cool!
We stopped the boat for lunch and another quick swim. I laid out on the boat for a while, enjoying the fresh breeze and warm sun. Steve finally got the radio to work (we tried a CD, but it wouldn't work and the CD came out with water on it)and we listened to country (surprise, surprise). After some more exploring and picture taking, we started to get a little bored. There is only so much you can do with 2 people on a boat without any water sports. We were a little jealous of the people on waverunners, so around 3 we went back to the marina to gas up and ask them if we could trade in the boat for a waverunner. They didn't have any available, but they did have a tube. We didn't think that we would be able to use it since we didn't have a spotter (someone to look out for the person on the tube), but they said it didn't matter.
I had never been on a tube, so I was pretty excited. We had to develop a system for communication since he had to operate the boat, look out for other boaters/tubers, jet skiers, etc., and watch out for my safety. We had a head nod, thumbs up type of thing going on, and it worked really well. He had barely started to go the first time when I fell off. I was laying too close to the front and the tube toppled over. I went in head first, a little surprised, and yelled and waved my hands to get his attention. I was wiser the second time around and off we went. He was gentle the first time so I could get a system worked out. It was a LOT of fun! The second time he went faster and I had to start hanging on harder and harder. I convinced him to let me drive the boat and give him a turn. I could tell he was a little nervous (remember, this was my first boating experience) but he was brave and let me have a chance. Driving/lookout was harder than it seemed....you had to be everywhere at once. He had a decent time, but it was much more fun for him to try to get me to fall off than it was for me to drive. I went back in the water and yet again, I was hanging on for dear life. I did fall off once. The tube started to tilt to the right, so I hoisted myself up on the left, but then the tube went over. I've never had so much water in my nose! By the time I got back on the boat, my hands hurt and I was tired. Steve said he was impressed. That made me feel good.
It was nearing the end of the day, so we started to drive back. I lost my hat, so we had to circle around for it. I tried to reach off the side of the boat, but it was too far down. Instead, I laid on the tube and Steve pushed me out in the direction of the hat. I must have looked ridiculous laying on the tube, swimming with my hands towards the hat. We took quick showers (if you can call them showers) and headed out. Boy, we were burnt! My sunscreen failed us miserably and we soon realized we had spots of red all over (Steve more than me, I was just mostly red). We left, exhausted but happy. We stopped for dinner at Cracker Barrel and since we were in the area, we decided to see the Natural Bridge. I will let Steve take over from here...I think this was his favorite part... :)
-------------------------------------
Steve says:
Bethany's "spray-on" sunscreen was a complete failure. I learned as we were on the boat that she and her friends had all used the same small can when they went tube-floating on the river the week before the wedding. The can felt near empty, but it still sprayed out a good mist, so we used it. At the end of the day, we found out that the mist was more water than sunscreen. I sprayed it all over - only splotches here and there actually got protected. It's frustrating to have sunburn when you were intentional about applying sunscreen. Oh well, it's too late now.
Now for the Natural Bridge...
Before anything else, the title just sounds funny. We had looked at a brochure at the Chamber of Commerce when we first got into town. It was interesting, but nothing we were going to make the 2 hour drive down to see. Since we were driving past it (it was 3 miles off the Interstate we drove down on), we figured we were obligated to stop in and take a look.
It looks like the Natural Bridge was a big deal 30 years ago. When you pull up, it feels like it was a big, happening place one day and a ghost town the next. Everything around it was called the "Natural Bridge ______" (Natural Bridge Caverns, Natural Bridge Motel, Natural Bridge Post Office, Natural Bridge Wax Museum, etc). As we were getting out of the car, Beth asked if she should bring the camera. Being overwhelmed with how much "Natural Bridge" advertising there was around us, I jokingly responded: "Of course, it's the freakin Natural Bridge!". That became a long-running joke through the rest of the evening.
We got there around 8pm and went inside the "Entrance/Gift Shop" to look around. Tickets were $12 each to go and see it, along with some kind of light/music presentation about how it was created. Beth tried to find out if we could just see it without a ticket but the lady was very clear that we must purchase a ticket. So we purchased tickets and headed down the stairs and path to the foot of the Natural Bridge (we later found out there was a shuttle - we used that for the trip back). It was a little bit impressive - here's a couple pictures we took:
Wikipedia has some other info on it if you are interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_Bridge_(Virginia)
After walking around, we headed out to the car to take a fast nap (15 minutes) and then start the drive home. We were both exhausted and figured the nap was a good idea (since we had 2 more hours to drive). We just missed the light show as we left but didn't want to wait around and get home much later.
When we got home, we unloaded the car and went directly to bed (Beth emptied out the Aloe spray first, trying to soothe her sunburn).
The drive was beautiful. We had a fun time talking. I have only ever been on canoes, ferries and a whale watching boat but had never rented a smaller boat for water sports or relaxation. We pulled up to Claytor Lake State Park around 8, signed our papers and went to pick up the boat. We rented a white and blue 18 ft. Four Winns Horizon for the day. She seated 8, had lots of room for storage, and was quick (190 horsepower engine).
Claytor Lake is 21 miles long, with tons of little coves to explore. We started the day by driving through part of the lake, taking it in and relaxing. After a while, we decided to try the water for a swim. It was great, a lot warmer than I thought it would be. Steve taught me how to drive and I spent a while getting used to the boat and tooling around the lake. I like going fast, but the lake started to get busy, so I handed the wheel back. We spent some more time talking and driving the boat through all the little inlets around the lake. There are a ton of houses along the shore. It seems that everyone has their own boathouse or slip. A lot of people owned a boat or two plus a few waverunners. Oh the life of the rich! Steve and I kept pointing out houses and remarking what we liked about them, what we would change and what it would be like to live there and have the freedom to take your boat out anytime you wanted. There were a few people who had slides that allowed you to slide right into the lake. We also saw some kids jumping from decks into the lake...very cool!
We stopped the boat for lunch and another quick swim. I laid out on the boat for a while, enjoying the fresh breeze and warm sun. Steve finally got the radio to work (we tried a CD, but it wouldn't work and the CD came out with water on it)and we listened to country (surprise, surprise). After some more exploring and picture taking, we started to get a little bored. There is only so much you can do with 2 people on a boat without any water sports. We were a little jealous of the people on waverunners, so around 3 we went back to the marina to gas up and ask them if we could trade in the boat for a waverunner. They didn't have any available, but they did have a tube. We didn't think that we would be able to use it since we didn't have a spotter (someone to look out for the person on the tube), but they said it didn't matter.
I had never been on a tube, so I was pretty excited. We had to develop a system for communication since he had to operate the boat, look out for other boaters/tubers, jet skiers, etc., and watch out for my safety. We had a head nod, thumbs up type of thing going on, and it worked really well. He had barely started to go the first time when I fell off. I was laying too close to the front and the tube toppled over. I went in head first, a little surprised, and yelled and waved my hands to get his attention. I was wiser the second time around and off we went. He was gentle the first time so I could get a system worked out. It was a LOT of fun! The second time he went faster and I had to start hanging on harder and harder. I convinced him to let me drive the boat and give him a turn. I could tell he was a little nervous (remember, this was my first boating experience) but he was brave and let me have a chance. Driving/lookout was harder than it seemed....you had to be everywhere at once. He had a decent time, but it was much more fun for him to try to get me to fall off than it was for me to drive. I went back in the water and yet again, I was hanging on for dear life. I did fall off once. The tube started to tilt to the right, so I hoisted myself up on the left, but then the tube went over. I've never had so much water in my nose! By the time I got back on the boat, my hands hurt and I was tired. Steve said he was impressed. That made me feel good.
It was nearing the end of the day, so we started to drive back. I lost my hat, so we had to circle around for it. I tried to reach off the side of the boat, but it was too far down. Instead, I laid on the tube and Steve pushed me out in the direction of the hat. I must have looked ridiculous laying on the tube, swimming with my hands towards the hat. We took quick showers (if you can call them showers) and headed out. Boy, we were burnt! My sunscreen failed us miserably and we soon realized we had spots of red all over (Steve more than me, I was just mostly red). We left, exhausted but happy. We stopped for dinner at Cracker Barrel and since we were in the area, we decided to see the Natural Bridge. I will let Steve take over from here...I think this was his favorite part... :)
-------------------------------------
Steve says:
Bethany's "spray-on" sunscreen was a complete failure. I learned as we were on the boat that she and her friends had all used the same small can when they went tube-floating on the river the week before the wedding. The can felt near empty, but it still sprayed out a good mist, so we used it. At the end of the day, we found out that the mist was more water than sunscreen. I sprayed it all over - only splotches here and there actually got protected. It's frustrating to have sunburn when you were intentional about applying sunscreen. Oh well, it's too late now.
Now for the Natural Bridge...
Before anything else, the title just sounds funny. We had looked at a brochure at the Chamber of Commerce when we first got into town. It was interesting, but nothing we were going to make the 2 hour drive down to see. Since we were driving past it (it was 3 miles off the Interstate we drove down on), we figured we were obligated to stop in and take a look.
It looks like the Natural Bridge was a big deal 30 years ago. When you pull up, it feels like it was a big, happening place one day and a ghost town the next. Everything around it was called the "Natural Bridge ______" (Natural Bridge Caverns, Natural Bridge Motel, Natural Bridge Post Office, Natural Bridge Wax Museum, etc). As we were getting out of the car, Beth asked if she should bring the camera. Being overwhelmed with how much "Natural Bridge" advertising there was around us, I jokingly responded: "Of course, it's the freakin Natural Bridge!". That became a long-running joke through the rest of the evening.
We got there around 8pm and went inside the "Entrance/Gift Shop" to look around. Tickets were $12 each to go and see it, along with some kind of light/music presentation about how it was created. Beth tried to find out if we could just see it without a ticket but the lady was very clear that we must purchase a ticket. So we purchased tickets and headed down the stairs and path to the foot of the Natural Bridge (we later found out there was a shuttle - we used that for the trip back). It was a little bit impressive - here's a couple pictures we took:
Wikipedia has some other info on it if you are interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_Bridge_(Virginia)
After walking around, we headed out to the car to take a fast nap (15 minutes) and then start the drive home. We were both exhausted and figured the nap was a good idea (since we had 2 more hours to drive). We just missed the light show as we left but didn't want to wait around and get home much later.
When we got home, we unloaded the car and went directly to bed (Beth emptied out the Aloe spray first, trying to soothe her sunburn).
OH! I almost forgot Foamhenge! We drove past it and I made Beth turn the car around so I could take these pictures. It is exactly what you'd think - a to-scale replica of Stonehenge made of foam. We only saw it from the road at night, but felt it was my obligation to document such a crazy thing.
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