Great Anniversary Trip With My Wonderful Wife

My wife, Carol, and I left town on Saturday morning, July 16th, not knowing where we were headed for our anniversary. We decided to go south on I-81. We drove to New Market, Virgina because there is a restaurant there that we had eaten at before and that is where my wife wanted to eat. On the way there we stopped a Belle Grove Plantation but the Plantation House was about to close for the night so we listened to a park ranger give a talk about the Battle of Cedar Creek. After the talk we drove on down to the Johnny Appleseed Restaurant where we were going to eat.

The Johnny Appleseed Restaurant just happens to be attached to a Quality Inn so we spent the night there. Looking in the phone book in the hotel room that night I found what looked like a good Fundamental Baptist Church. We got up early the next morning, Sunday, checked out of the hotel, and attended the Smith Creek Regular Baptist Church. It was built in the 1700's and ran about 30-40 people that morning. The people gave us a warm and friendly welcome and if we are ever in the area again on Sunday morning or Wednesday night we will probably go again. The Pastor gave a wonderful sermon on how we can, and should, go about sharing our faith in Christ.

After church my wife decided that she wanted to see Belle Grove Plantation so we drove back to New Market for a tour. It is a very stately mansion on rolling hills and the docent was very informative. One is not allowed to take pictures inside the house so afterward we strolled around the grounds and took quite a few photographs. I would recommend a tour of Belle Grove Plantation to anyone who has the opportunity to go.

Afterward we headed south on I-81 again and stopped at Shenandoah Caverns. We looked around the gift shop but thought the price of admission to the caverns was more than we were willing to pay. Not sure of exactly where to go from there we headed west on route 55 to Smoke Hole, West Virgina. We had been there several years previous and knew it was a beautiful place. We stopped and checked in at a motel in Smoke Hole and then drove into Petersburg and had supper at the Pizza Hut. By that time we were pretty tired and went to bed.

On Monday we took a tour of Smoke Hole Caverns, at about ten dollars per person cheaper than Shenandoah Caverns would have been. There was only one other couple on the tour and so it was a good time without a large crowd of people. We looked around the gift shop and my wife tried to, unsuccessfully, to locate an old friend.

We decided to keep moving so we left Smoke Hole and drove to Seneca Rocks where we visited to old country stores and did some walking around and taking pictures. We ate upstairs in Harper's Old Country Store where they had a small restaurant. The food was good. They have a rock climbing school at Seneca Rocks that I would love to attend but at my age I am sure that will never happen. We could not hike to Seneca Rock because the trail was closed for maintenance. We did go to the Discovery Center and enjoyed the gift shop and walking around an old homestead that is there.

From Seneca Rocks we moved on to Blackwater Falls State Park where we stayed the night in the lodge. We drove around the cabins and got some great pictures of some beautiful deer. One came up to about five feet away from the car and then walked across the road right in front of us. It was beautiful! We had dinner in the lodge restaurant. I got brown pinto beans and ham with fried potatoes and corn bread. It was delicious and the portions were very generous. We went swimming in the pool. The next morning we went on a hike of a little less than a mile with the park naturalist. She told us about a forest not too far from there that is a virgin forest called Cathedral State Park. We, also, went on a hike to a beautiful overlook called Lindy Overlook. The view was truly magnificent. 

When we left Blackwater Falls we stopped at the smallest church and post office in 48 states. We took pictures and walked around the grounds. The church has six pews and seats twelve people. It was built in the 1950's by a man to honor his deceased parents. From there we went to Cathedral State Park and took our third hike of the day. We hiked a little over a mile and we were tired. This forest is virgin forest with some Eastern Hemlocks that are three-hundred to five-hundred years old. Some of them are eighty to ninety feet tall and twenty-one feet in circumference. They are very majestic. It is something worth seeing!

Afterwards, we drove to Oakland, Maryland where we had dinner at Casselman's, stopped to get some candy and came home. We drove five-hundred miles in four days and we were tired but we had a wonderful time.