| Below
are places stopped at along the way with links to their website. |
| Mile-post |
Campground |
| 62 |
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16
Recreation Lane
Natural Bridge, VA 24579
540-291-2727
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For
the return trip south on the Parkway (Oct. 2007), my home
was here in site #URI-1 for a great 6 nights. I liked how
they didn't have big spotlights to spoil the clear, cool skies
brimming with billions of stars. I saw 2 shooting stars here!
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This
is the view from my front window. Those clouds lingering on
the mountains were a welcome sight in the mornings. This area
is open meadow, but there are other sites further up that
are heavily treed.
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It
was so great when my fellow fulltiming friends from Quartzsite,
Helen & Bill, caught up with me here. They were one level
up from me in a pullthrough. They said they really liked how
big the sites are and how the restrooms and showers are so
spotlessly clean.
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On
the lower level, there are sites right on the beautiful James
River. The drawback is they don't have sewer hookups; just
water & electric. This is the most popular one (L109)
with great water frontage.
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The owners,
Margie & Maurice, are really nice folks who have owned the park
for 6 seasons now. They said they've always enjoyed camping and
that their favorite things about owning this park are the customers
and the challenges of growing a business. They still have a few
things on their wish-list, like a waterslide built into the bank
on the lake and a bathhouse for the lower level (none down there
currently).
Lots
of recreation available here, including pool tables, swimming lake,
pool, canoe & tube rentals and much more. Fishing your thing?
They have a little stocked trout pond where you pay for what you
catch, but don't need a license. The James River is another option,
but you'll need a license from the Ranger Station. Hiking opportunities
abound at the adjoining Jefferson National Forest. They have planned
activities galore; the Friday I left they were going to be full
for the annual pre-Halloween shindig that sounds like a lot of fun.
Free
wi-fi, but I never could connect and another neighbor had the same
problem, so if this is imperative, make sure you get a good site
in range. I had no problem with my Verizon air card and cell phone
here, though.
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I
had never stayed at a Jellystone campground before and if this
is an example of a typical property and how it's run, I would
not hesitate to stay in another one. The Adventure Bound Camping
Resorts company manage other Jellystone locations, but the link
above is to a particularly good looking property in Gatlinburg
I hope to check out someday. If anyone has any feedback, I'd be
interested in hearing it.
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| 62 |
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Site
#12 was my full hookup home here in July, 2007 as I was heading
north on the Parkway. Lots of space between sites on this
row and heavily treed - no satellite TV but free cable made
up for that. There is a section of overflow with only water
and electric that is out in the open if that's important to
you.
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also provide free wi-fi and I was able to connect from here. Strangely
enough, I could not connect through my Verizon air card, even though
I had the green light and 3 bars. I don't know if it was some kind
of interference from the wi-fi or what, but another lady I talked
to had the same problem. Cell phone worked OK. |
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Here
are my down-the-road neighbors I met when I was out taking
Gypsy for a walk. More accurately, she was walking me and
decided to stop and visit with these nice folks for a while.
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Ralph
& Gail Davis and Clyde & Linda McIntyre were traveling together
from Maryland. Ralph said their first visit here was when Ron &
Libby first took over the campground. It had been run down and he
said they're amazed at the improvements they see every time they
return. He said on a scale of 1-10, he'd give this an 11 - not only
because it's a nice, clean campground, but the owners go out of
their way to make you feel at home & comfy.
This
was Clyde & Linda's first visit and she said she was celebrating
her recent retirement in style. They enjoyed visiting Natural Bridge
and the nearby stock car races and appreciated having a well maintained
campground as a home base.
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When
I met one of the owners, Ron, I passed along their comments and
my own compliments. He said he and his family left Michigan and
a job of 21 years for this venture. After looking at dozens of campgrounds
in 6 different states, they settled here because of the beauty of
this area. His and Libby's favorite part? That the family live and
work together as a team. His four boys love it, too, and I often
saw them out picking up trash and guiding campers into their sites.
What a great family enterprise! From the friendly greeting by all
the staff from the first time and any time I walked in to the office,
I could tell that customer service is a priority for these owners.
I had to compliment him on this, too, because it still amazes me
that sometimes owners just don't "get" how important that
first greeting can be to us when we're stopping for the night after
a long day on the road.
I mentioned
to Ron that the wi-fi was pretty slow and he said they are planning
upgrades to that service. They also have ethernet and dialup available
at the office.
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Click
arrow to see one of nature's wonders: Natural Bridge
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