Foamhenge & Blue Ridge Mountains

You've all heard about the Stonehenge in England right? I bet you've never heard of the Foamhenge. When I first heard about this, I marked it down on my list of things to do (on my phone, I can't lose that thing).

So yesterday, I tried out renting a Zipcar for the first time. It was much nearer and cheaper since gas and insurance are included in the fee. For a day, it's about $77 with 180 miles. If you go beyond that you'll get charged by the mile (I'm not sure what the rate is though). I went over and I got charged about $90+, which was still alright.

If you're thinking of using Zipcar, make sure to check for damage first, to avoid paying for any you might not have caused. I saw a dent in the front of the car so I reported it, a slight hassle, but no biggie.

Dent found on the car before I even started my journey - Bummer

Anyway, Foamhenge. It's basically a full-scale replica of the Stonehenge, but made of foam. When we arrived, the gates were closed and locked. Dang. I didn't come this far for nothing.

The locked gate (It's actually the black one)

There was another guy waiting outside as well. I wasn't sure if he wanted to get in as well, or if he was security or something. We decided to wait. The locked gate is actually the black one, and it's much longer, but I didn't get a good picture because I thought the other guy was security or something, and I didn't want another shotgun pointed at me.

After a 10-15min Mexican standoff, he took out a camera, stood on top of his van and started taking pictures. That was a good sign, he's one of us.

So we got out of the car, and climbed over the fence. Into Foamhenge we went.

The owner's a pretty funny guy:

It was a pretty nice sight, though alot of the grey paint had been (I presume) scratched off or worn itself out over time. That's why there's so much white stuff now.

Foamhenge

Stonehenge vs Foamhenge

Even Merlin the Wizard was there:

..but just like the real Stonehenge, there's nothing much to do there. So I took a panorama:

When we left, I realized I'd lost my glasses, so I went back to look for it. Suddenly out of nowhere, a snake crawled out of one of the err.. foam pieces, trying to steal my glasses. I tried to catch it with my hands at first, but it was tough. I didn't have any snake handling experience and didn't wanna get poisoned, so I gave up and tried to scare it away using my big human appearance (we're monsters to them), and managed to take a quick video of it as it crawled away. Maybe that was why the gates were locked in the first place.

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Anyways, we got back into the car and headed for the Blue Ridge Mountains, specifically entering through Shenandoah National Park. I drove along the Blue Ridge Parkway for a bit, it was nice.

We entered Shenandoah National Park through its south entrance, Rockfish Gap, where we had to pay an entrance fee of US$15 (same price for each private vehicle) - that got us a ticket good for a couple of days. From there, we drove up through Skyline Drive, and made many stops along the way just to take in the view.

Stopping for Scenic Views

Skyline Drive

Just for laughs, I compared the Blue Mountains in Australia and the Blue Ridge Mountains in America because they sound and look similar (both when seen from a distance appear blue in color due to an optical illusion called 'Rayleigh scattering'). The illusion is due to oil and hydrocarbons released into the atmosphere by the thick vegetation, which creates the blue 'haze'.

However, up close, both mountain regions are like any other, full of green plants and brown dirt, although they are still very beautiful.

Here's a comparison of the Blue Mountains (from afar) & the Blue Ridge Mountains (up close):

Blue Mountains (Australia) vs Blue Ridge Mountains (America)

Finally, we parked somewhere and began hiking down. I was hoping to see some black bears and deer in the wild (though I wouldn't know how to defend myself against a bear), but I was disappointed. It was just mother nature and us.

We hiked for 4-5 hours down to find some waterfalls, and crossing rivers. Reminds me of similar experiences while hiking jungle-filled mountains in Sabah. Except unlike Sabah, there was a dirt path that you could follow here, and you didn't have to use a compass and 'parang' to cut down vegetations to make a path.

I dumped together some footage from my GoPro (done at 4am, sorry for the quality):