Barking with the Spuds

This evening finds us in Natural Bridge, Virginia at the KOA. The scenery is just beautiful here in the mountains. Lots to sniff, smell, mark, etc. There's a nature trail that we drag Mom and Dad down a couple of times a day. The campground seems to have removed as few trees as possible and leveled the sites only to the minimum required, so the drive from the office to our site was "threading the needle" and the actual site is testing the limits of our leveling system according to Dad. He said next time we'll listen to our friends John and Linda when they suggested we stay elsewhere with a coach of this size.

I got to help the camp hosts put propane in our coach when we arrived. It was great fun! Then I rode in the car with Mom since they wisely detached the car before navigating to the site. Dad said it was actually easier driving the coach without me on the dashboard, barking to announce our arrival to all the other campers. If you believe him (I don't). I always slip off my seatbelt and help when we get to the campground.

As for the title of this entry, the folks went for a drive today (not sightseeing, or buying us toys and treats, but SHOPPING for themselves). On the way back they decided to see what the draw was for the "Natural Bridge" here. Supposedly one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, Dad researched it and apparently that was some list some long time ago. It's just a hole under the road that some river cut out, but the locals have made quite the tourist attraction of it, and not in a good way. There are all kinds of kitschy, hokey, non-Virginia, non-historical attractions right near "the bridge", most notably a Haunted Monster Museum (aren't they all?), Dino Kingdom, Wax Museum and lots of cheap-*ss gift shops, and the Pièce de résistance something called "Foamhenge" which appears to be brought to you by the Enchanted Castle Studios. This is a full-size replica of Stonehenge made out of Styrofoam. The tourist website http://www.naturalbridgeva.com/ sadly reports that public access to Foamhenge in limited due to wind damage.

Darn! That would have been so cool to lift a leg on, wish they had used better building materials like the Druids did.

Tomorrow we leave for a week-long stay in Maryland, close to Baltimore and D.C. so we can have crab cakes, maybe we'll even get to meet Duff from Ace of Cakes (I wonder if they do pet-edible cakes?) and the folks want to tour Mount Vernon and the Smithsonian.

Later!
Bentley

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Pulling into the campground last night with temperatures in the 50's, soup was on the menu. We ran (ok drove) to Kroger and got the ingredients for our favorite, easy soup that tastes like you cooked all day. It's from Cooking Light and the recipe here is doubled so we have leftovers:


In a large saucepan or dutch oven, brown:

1 to 1 1/4 lbs turkey Italian sausage (we like a mix of hot and sweet) Break up the sausage into smaller bits while it browns. Then add

2 14-ounce cans diced tomatoes with Italian seasonings (basil, oregano, garlic, etc. - choose whatever flavor you like in the brand you prefer)
1 Box of chicken broth, preferably low-salt, low-fat
1 Cup medium shell pasta

Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer until the pasta is done

Stir in 1 6 ounce bag of fresh or 8 ounces frozen chopped spinach and simmer until fresh spinach is wilted or frozen is fully thawed and dispersed throughout the soup.

Serve with a spoonful of grated Parmesan or Romano cheese on top. Refrigerate or freeze the leftover soup for another day.

YUM YUM YUM!