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Published: October 26th 2010
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Natural Bridge.
It's 65 feet high. Massive, isn't it? (Oakdale Christian Academy)
Natural Bridge is a state park not far from here, with a (wait for it…) natural rock bridge; the bridge is 78’ long, 12’ thick and 30’ wide. We took a chair lift up to view it (you can also hike up, but you gotta’ know that didn’t appeal to either of us!) and when we got off the lift there weren’t any signs to tell you what to do, so we went ahead and walked with the crowd. After we’d walked a ways I offered to take a picture of a family, and when we finished that I happened to notice there was sunlight on the trees below us, and we were standing on the rocks….turns out we were standing on the Natural Bridge! If we hadn’t stopped for the picture, we probably would have walked right over it without even realizing where we were! In this area you’re constantly walking on rock, and everything is on the side of a hill, so none of this was out of place. We then walked back to the lift station and headed the other direction (where we could see a group of people!) and from there we
The skylift is 1.5 miles long.
Quite a decline! And the scenery was awesome. could see the entire bridge. Beautiful sight on a beautiful day.
On tour day we went to the small town of Berea, which is the home of Berea College, a liberal arts college that charges no tuition. Their goal is that each student will graduate debt free. They’re financed by an endowment, and the enrollment is based on financial need. The students don’t need to be Kentucky residents, but they do have to work a minimum on campus. They have shops that produce hand-woven throws and blankets, pottery, do woodcarving as well as making furniture, blacksmithing, basket weaving, jewelry making, silversmithing …items that they sell in stores in Berea, and by catalog. The items are very pricey, but well made, and when you realize that the money is being used to educate students that may not be able to have a college education, they’re definitely worth buying. The students can also work in the college offices, as well as the hospital; they have a large nursing program, so many of the nursing students work there. It’s such an admirable program, and has been in operation since 1921, and has been tuition-free since 1988. Anyway, it was an interesting tour
From under the bridge.
It makes me wonder why/how it stays up there! (our tour guide was on a work detail!) The rest of the town is a very artsy/crafty town, so we spent some time poking through the stores. Few things make you feel older than spending time in a college town!
On our way home from Berea we took the back roads (read as: narrow, windy roads!) and driving through a small town we saw a lot of people downtown, soooo we pulled over and walked to see what was going on~~it was the Wooly Worm Festival! Now what are the odds that we’d stumble onto a Wooly Worm Festival??? What are the odds that we’d know what a wooly worm was! They had the usual craft stuff and food for sale, and it obviously wasn’t a health-food style festival! Then they started the wooly worm races (I’m not kidding!) If you didn’t bring your own worm, you could buy one for $2. The booth had strings running up and down, and you put your worm on a string and then tried to encourage him to be the first one to the top! I, too, was wondering how you’d do it, and I learned that you blow on the bottom
Garbage Day!
I've mentioned that the students have jobs every day~~some clean the buildings, some rake, some help in the kitchen, and one does trash pickup. So when we have trash, we set it out by the sidewalk, and a girl picks it up...every day! Pretty handy! of the worm, and that might work; or you scream at it; or you could scream at your brother, who was offering your suggestions! Many strategies! One worm got put on upside down, and when he did start moving~~scampering wouldn’t be the best word to describe it~~he was going the wrong direction! We watched for a while, and then we stepped over to watch the dancers on stage, and when we went back to check on the results of the race, there wasn’t a noticeable change in positions….kind of a slow moving race, it seems! They have several heats, and the winners of those compete for the grand prize tonight; of course it’s a two day affair~~something that big can’t be done in one day! Sataurday was the parade, and we fought the urge to go back and see what the floats would look like! I did hear what the grand prize was, and it was a biggy, but I can’t remember. I refused to eat anything there, as I kept wondering what they did with the losing wollies!
This project ends the first Tuesday in November. From here we go to Talladega, AL; we were there two years
There's a reason they're patching the roof.
They were sweeping it clean so they could put roof sealer on it, and when they got all the pine needles off they found a hole in the roof...the weather was kept out by all the needles! The needles were gone, so the hole had to be fixed! (They didn't seal the roof because the needles are dropping so fast right now. That's a spring job!) ago, and are thrilled to be going back. We’re taking two couples from here with us, and will meet three more there.
I have lots of pictures, so take a look….
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margo
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closer
Ah could you once again be getting closer to North Carolina? Kentucy and Alabama are not that far away. Miss and love you, Margo