High Honor Roll Achievement

Brooke has made the High Honor Roll for last school year (this came in the mail today)

Goodbye Virginia!

Goodbye to our A frame cabin in Basye, VA. The car is packed and we are off on our 11 hour, 40 minute drive.

Ice Cream Heals

 One last stop, to help heal the embarrassment and to make the drive back a little more tolerable. We decided we needed ice cream from Kline's Dairy Bar in McGaheysville. 

The Skyline Drive

 Stop 2: The Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park.

We entered at Thornton Gap (mile 31.5) by Rt. 211 near Luray, Virginia and exited at Swift Run Gap (mile 65.5) by Rt. 33 near Elkton, Virginia.

We stopped at a few overlooks on our way to lunch at the taproom at Skyland. We walked out ready to begin our planned hike with full bellies, a new hoodie and a stuffed fox. 

Route 11 Chips

 Stop one today: Route 11 Chips in Mt Jackson. We had a (surprisingly) fascinating view of the production process and got to try 5 different types of chips. We left with 12 bags!

Dinner in Harrisonburg

After the caverns we decided to drive to Harrisonburg VA, home of James Madison University. Essentially, I chose or because it had a centralized grouping of restaurants ... which is hard to find around here. We drove around and looked at the campus, which seemed pretty closed off and kind of dark (every building was a grey stone). We looked for restaurants and most of them either were closed or appeared to be closed. So, we chose the one that was the most lively. It was a great choice! Yummy pizza, a good choice of local beers, and home made pasta. It was a win for all.

Shenandoah Caverns

Today we visited the Shenandoah Caverns in Quicksburg VA. The tour was about an hour long, and we walked a little over a mile underground. It was cold (56°) but felt pretty comfortable! The farthest we were was about 220ft below elevation. The kids weren't really psyched when I told them that was what we were doing, but all of them were pretty impressed by this natural wonder.

DC - Basye, VA

We left DC (our walking / touring part of the trip) for Basye, VA. Just a few hours driving to find a totally different view.

The plan here is really just to hang and relax. But first, food.

We grabbed dinner at the Southern Kitchen in New Market, VA. They claim to have "the best fried chicken in Shenandoah County" so I had to give it a try. Seeing as it was the only fried chicken in Shenandoah County that I actually tried, Ill have to agree :)

Walking Reward

After all the walking we needed to reward the kids for their endurance. We drove into Georgetown and went to Thomas Sweet for ice cream. It was delicious - and well with all the walking! We followed up ice cream with a drive around DC one more time. It was dark and we got to check out some of the sights lit up. The monument, Lincoln Memorial, White House & Capitol all looked awesome.

Touring DC

After our trip to Arlington National Cemetery (to see JFK and the Tomb of Unknown Soldier) we drove into DC to hit up all of the spots we missed on Day 1. We started at the reflection pond and headed to the a Lincoln Memorial. The kids seemed initially impressed but then reverted to silly selfies.

We did a lot of walking, checking out the Lincoln Memorial Reflection Pool, the Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr Memorial, Roosevelt Memorial and the World War II Memorial.

Arlington National Cemetery

Started the day with breakfast at the hotel, where for the second day the kids fueled themselves with sugary cereal and muffins.

 After we went to Arlington National Cemetery we had lunch at a place called Quinn's in Arlington, VA. It was heavily air-conditioned and the kids all froze. The meal also took a long time to come, which felt longer because of all the shivering. Overall the food was good, and we had energy for our walking part of the day!

National Archives

I don't know if the kids were as impressed as we were, but seeing the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution in real life was pretty impressive.

Lunch

Lunch at Hamiltons Bar and Grill. It was close to the Capitol ... and therefore we overlooked the fact it was also a Packer bar. However, we did lecture the kids about their requirement to NOT turn into Packer fans.

 

The Capitol Tour

  We started the day on the Metro, heading from Alexandria to the Capitol.

We got a private tour with Graham, an intern for our Congressman Mike Quigley.

Alexandria, VA

A room with a view?

We got to pick our room from a hotel map. I specifically chose those one because it looked at the fountain, versus the DC Metro. What I didn't know what that it was a dry, broken fountain. I think the metro would have been a better view!

Summer Road-trip: we are off!

We are off on our summer road trip! We left at 6:10 am from New Buffalo and are driving to Washington DC!