New York & the Mid-Atlantic Trips 2 - Full PDF eBook

The Drive » The next stretch

of the trip is 39 miles on the

parkway. Follow signs for US 60,

then follow that road west for 10

miles to Lexington.

3 Lexington

What? Another attractive

university town set amid

the forested mountains

of the lower Shenandoah

Valley? Well, why not.

In fact, while Staunton

moderately revolves

around Mary Baldwin,

Lexington positively

centers, geographically

TRIP HIGHLIGHT

and culturally, around

two schools: the Virginia

Military Institute (VMI;

Letcher Ave; h9am-5pm when

campus & museums open)

and Washington & Lee

University. VMI is the

oldest state-supported

military academy in the

country, dedicated to

producing the Classical

ideal of citizen-soldiers;

the ideals of this

institution, and the

history of its cadet-

students, is explored at

the VMI Museum (%540-

464-7334; h9am-5pm).

While graduates do not

have to become enlisted

officers within the US

military, the vast majority

do so. In addition,

the school’s George

C Marshall Museum

(%540-463-7103; http://

http://www.marshallfoundation.org/

museum; adult/student $5/2;

h9am-5pm Tue-Sat, from 1pm

Sun) honors the creator

of the Marshall Plan for

post-WWII European

reconstruction.

VMI cadets can often

be seen jogging around

Lexington, perhaps

casting a glance at the

students at Washington

& Lee, a decidedly less

structured but no less

academically respected

school. The W&L

campus includes the

Lee Chapel & Museum

(%540-458-8768; h9am-

4pm, from 1pm Sun), where

the school’s namesake,

patron and Confederate

An aside: ever heard of the mad professor Mark Cline? No? He used to create

monsters for haunted house attractions in Virginia Beach. Then the spirit seized

him and he moved a menagerie of weirdness – an army of 1950s-era movie matinee

monster models – to the woods around Natural Bridge. Cline’s attractions included

Escape From Dinosaur Kingdom, which featured Civil War soldiers getting devoured

by velociraptors, a haunted mansion and a ‘Hunt Bigfoot with a Redneck’ tour that

was quite possibly the best tourism outing ever devised in the Commonwealth of

Virginia (not to spoil anything, but this particular activity involved a missing talking

fish, a shotgun, a UFO filled with beer and an exploding outhouse).

Sadly, a major fire closed all of the above during the time of research. Fingers

crossed, the attractions will be reopened when you read this; check http://www.

monstersanddinosaurs.com for updates. In the meantime, the first of Cline’s

Natural Bridge–area oddities – and, some may say, the greatest – remains: the

outrageously out-of-place and utterly ingenious Foamhenge, located a mile south

of Natural Bridge on US 11. What’s that, you say? You mean a life-sized replica of

England’s most famous mystery site built entirely out of styrofoam? Yes, and this

crown jewel of the Blue Ridge foothills is one of the most ridiculous and incredible

sights in the state of Virginia. The utter ludicrousness of Foamhenge is its sole

reward. Bring your druid/pagan claptrap and see if anything happens at sundown on

the solstice.

• Adam Karlin

FOAMHENGE

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE:

VIRGINIA.TRIPS

25

(^) BLUE RIDGE P
ARKWAY