Papa and I are back into "rambling mode" again and so we decided to take a little detour on our way to the Washington DC Temple for a special sealing. I took off work on Friday (yipee!) and we left early in the morning so that we could visit the
Route 11 Potato Chip Factory. As all my family members know, I LOVE potato chips and they are a big downfall for me so it makes sense for me to to go to the factory doesn't it? it's like putting the fox in the hen house! These chips are great and they use only
Real Salt and the potatoes are usually picked the day before (right now they are coming from N.C.). They are a regional outfit and so they are a pretty small operation but they let you watch the whole process. The day we were there they were making low salt chips and they were selling 3 bags for $6 because they didn't have dates on them and so , of course, we wanted to help out the local economy! We resisted eating them until we were back in BV! We got to try all of the varieties of the chips, even the super HOT ones called Mama Zuma's Revenge! The Chesapeake crab were interesting but I really liked the low salt and the Dill pickle ones. Unfortunately we did not get a picture of us at the plant, but trust me, we were there! As a matter of fact it was so much fun that the next weekend Emilie, Logan and the kids went back there with us.
Right near the chip factory is
Shenandoah Caverns and an attraction called
American Celebration and we went to visit both of them and had a great time! The Cavern has an elevator to take you down so that was nice. Before we went down we ate in an original 1957 Cafe located in the gift shop. They still use all of the old technology and had an original juke box. The food was good but there were no .05 cherry coca colas!
Down in the cavern at Bridal Veil. These structures were beautiful and the guide was very knowledgeable. It was a small group so we were allowed to "linger" a bit at each site. The colors reminded me of my first creation sphere and I felt humbled by the creation of the earth and all of the details that testify of divine design.
They had formations called bacon and it was hard to get a good picture (they are above Dad's head), but trust me, they looked like bacon!
The tour lasted about 45 minutes and we then returned to the surface and visited the next attraction:
In the upstairs of the gift shop was a place called Main Street of yesteryear and it was full of old department store window animated figures. These two bears were actually from a Rose Parade Float.
Here's Cinderella from a bygone Day- Everyone dances. These displays really brought back fond memories from my childhood and the windows in downtown Richmond at Christmas.
They have their own brand of soda called Cavern Coolers so we needed to try those!
At
American Celebration they have LOTS of floats from past Rose Parades and Inaugurations. Here we are on the King and Queen float from Mardi Gras.There were so many fun ones, we wished the kids were with us!
Out front they had a huge Statue of Liberty..I remember when this was in the Macy's Parade!
Outside there were clowns and bugs and fun things to see. The flag poles in the back were from the winter Olympics at Lake Placid in 1980. They line the walkway on both sides that leads to the Cavern.
We wandered back to 81 by route 11 and went through all of the small towns along the way picturing union and rebel soldiers along the way. It was a beautiful day with sunshine and blue skies and NO humidity. We rambled along the Shenandoah River passing through Woodstock, Strasburg and Toms Brook until we had to get back on the freeway to head to DC.
After checking into our hotel we headed over to Bethesda to an area we had briefly visited before. It is full of outside cafe's, yummy smelling food and an important shop that John wanted to return to. We ate at a little
Italian deli that had very unique subs and evidently a famous client or two.
We then went to the place we came to go to; Max Brenner's
Chocolate Bar where it validated what Dad has always said, CHOCOLATE IS GOOD FOR YOU!
We had a wonderful time on our ramble and finished it off with a beautiful ceremony in the Temple for Emilie (Pearson) and John Hitchner. We wish the temple were closer but we also have enjoyed many additional rambles because it is 3 hours away! We only wish we could share it with all of our friends and family!
