Day 145 (Oct 8) – Shenandoah NP

We arrived in Shenandoah NP around 12:30.  The Arnetts got there 5 minutes before us!  Amazing how close we time it when we are coming from two completely different places.  Same thing happened when we met them at Mt Ranier!  We chose campsites right next to each other and started to set up camp just as it started to sleet.  Did I mention it’s about 40 degrees here?  The low tonight is 31.  I really don’t mind the cold too much, but wet and cold is no fun.  As soon as we got set up, we went to check out the lodge.  We bought coffee in the gift shop and sat in the Great Room enjoying the heat.  There was even a nice big fire in the fireplace.  After we visited a bit, we headed down to the Byrd Visitor Center.  There we got hiking info, watched two park films and went through the museum exhibit.  We stayed till closing and then Jim took the kids to romp through Big Meadow (in the freezing fog) and Brad, Danna and I went to camp to start supper.  We built a fire and ate in shifts.  We turned in pretty soon after dark because it was so cold.

Day 144 (Oct 7) – Washington National Cathedral

We were up bright and early this morning.  It was actually still dark.  We left at 7:30 for the 34 min drive to the Washington National Cathedral.  The service we were aiming for started at 8:45, but we had to find the cathedral, find the parking garage and figure out where to go inside for the service.  I didn’t want to be late or to miss it!  Everything went smoothly.  There is a parking garage that is free on Sundays.  I was surprised at how not crowded it was.  I was also surprised at how few people came to the service - maybe 150, but there were more empty seats than there were filled.  We were able to wander around and snap a few photos while the 7:45 service finished up (in a different section, but we could still hear them).  Then we grabbed a 6^th row seat and looked around in awe.  One of the ushers noticed us taking it all in and came up to welcome us.  He asked if we were visiting and where we were from.  Then he asked if three of us would help with communion by carrying the sacraments to the altar!  Well, YeS!  Audra immediately shrunk back into her chair.  She was not excited about doing something completely unfamiliar in front of a group of strangers.  Brad, Carmen and I didn’t mind a bit.  He showed us in the program exactly where to get up and come to the back.  A robed gentleman gave us each a silver container (me the silver bread box, Brad and Carmen silver pitchers of wine) and sent us down the aisle one at a time.  How awesome is that?  We loved the service.  The girls thought it was really neat.  The choir sounded beautiful echoing all around.  The sermon was on stewardship of the earth.  The organist played brilliantly.  It was a wonderful morning.

We shopped in the gift shop for a few moments and then headed back to camp to hitch up and check out.  We really need some electricity.  Our battery is almost completely dead.  I think 5 nights is the longest that we have dry camped.

We moved an hour and a half west to Bull Run Regional Park.  Brad went over to the Manassas National Battlefield while I did laundry.  Then it started to rain.  It’s been a little misty off and on all day, but these were real raindrops.  Audra and I set up our screen tent so the girls could stay dry.

We spent the majority of the evening in the camper watching football, blogging and the girls watched “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”  I just started reading “Voyage of the Dawn Treader.”

Tomorrow we move to Shenandoah NP where we will see our friends the Arnetts for one night and then Brad’s parents for two nights.  More dry camping!  Be back in a few!

DC Day 5 pics

Day 143 (Oct 6) – National Archives/Air and Space Museum

One of my favorite things – the Archives.  Every American should see these three documents.  They are amazing pieces of history.  The rotunda and displays are so simple, yet beautiful and grand.  I learned who signed the Bill of Rights.  There were only four men: John Adams, someone else (sec of state?) and two clerks.  I didn’t say I had a good memory.  But as an Adams’ fan, I thought it was neat that he signed it.  I have forgotten so much since I was here in college.  I know the girls will forget a lot and will need to go back one day, but hopefully the photos will help them remember.  (But we couldn’t take photos in the Archives.)  We quickly walked through the Public Vault, which offers a small sampling of the kinds of things that are stored there – documents, video, photos, artifacts.  I think it helped the girls understand the purpose of the Archives (along with the orientation film we watched).  We got there at 10:30 (opened at 10) and left around 12:30.  I think the security line was much longer then.

The final museum for us was Air and Space.  Jessica and Dixie say it is one of their favorites.  I think I would have liked it better on a Monday.  It was neat, but so-so-so crowded.  It was Saturday, and there were hoards of people like nothing we have seen so far on the trip.  That kind of made it less enjoyable.  Plus, we have seen a lot of the space stuff before – at HSV Space and Rocket Center and the Neil Armstrong Museum in Ohio.  PLUS it was Day 4 and we were getting pretty worn out.  I did like the airplanes.  I’ve always been a little interested in them since my dad worked for Delta for so many years.  There was  a Solar System exhibit that I couldn’t enjoy because I couldn’t move for all the people and strollers, a neat exhibit on the Wright Brothers and early flight and a good one on spy planes.  The girls loved the hands-on How Things Fly exhibit.  There were different displays and experiments explaining lift, drag, pitch and propulsion.

We finished up today at 3:30.  We are physically and mentally pooped.  We needed an early night anyway so we can get up and get to the National Cathedral for church in the morning!

DC Day 4 pics

Day 142 (Oct 5) – Arlington National Cemetery/Museum of American History

Today was the first really good forecast – sunny and warm – so we chose to start with Arlington Cemetery.  This was definitely the most expensive travel day because of so many on and offs the subway and changing jurisdiction.  Oh well.  The lovely and helpful Metro lady (who has helped us three days in a row and is probably sick of us) recommended a day pass ($14 each) for unlimited on and offs.  It beats driving!

Arlington Cemetery is such a special place.  It is pulsing with courage and sacrifice, grief and loss.  There was a funeral going on while we were there.  Brad heard the 21-gun salute while we were at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  Brad was surprised that the Changing of the Guard was such an intricate ceremony.  I think the girls really liked it too.  What I loved was that after they switched out guards, a boy scout troup (only 4 boys were there) had brought a wreath and they were escorted down to “present” it.  The soldiers removed the current wreath and laid it behind the tomb and the boy scouts got to hang theirs on the easel to replace it.  I hadn’t seen that last time I was here.  It was a special treat.

And then there are the Kennedys.  The silence at their graves is deafening.  President Kennedy, Jacqueline, an infant son and daughter.  They rest so peacefully on the hill in front of the whispering eternal flame, in quiet opposition to the loud and busy lives they led.  Their whole story seems bigger than life.  Robert Kennedy’s grave is nearby, but is small and understated compared to JFK’s.  This stop was one of Brad’s highlights.  Glad we got to come here and that the weather was nice.  It was actually hot waiting for the changing of the guard!

Back at the Mall we grabbed some lunch.  There was a farmer’s market today so we got some fresh, local food (apples, kiesh, hot dogs and kettle korn) and had a picnic on the lawn.  Then I took Carmen and Audra on a quick return trip to the Mus. Of Nat. Hist. to check out one last place Carmen wanted to visit while Brad got a head start on the Mus. Of American History.  There was a Discovery Center between the Ocean View and African Exhibit that was closed yesterday when we tried to go.  It was geared more for younger ones, but there were still interesting boxes of artifacts and specimen to dig through and other scientific things to explore.  We stayed for 30 min and then ran to meet Brad.  It was a little underwhelming when compared with yesterday’s museum, but what wouldn’t be.  We enjoyed the Slavery in Monticello exhibit (lots of Jefferson artifacts) and got to participate in the Woolworth’s counter sit in right in front of the actual counter!  We had a lovely hostess who instructed us on what to do at a sit in and she gave us the history of that specific event.  I also liked American Stories where we saw Benjamin Franklin’s cane, Dorothy’s ruby slippers and Kermit the Frog.  They were working on a Julia Child’s exhibit, but it wasn’t quite finished.  We were able to peek at her kitchen set.  We saw the First Ladies Exhibit (dresses and dishes to die for!) and the American Presidents.  A really great museum – just smaller than the Nat Hist.  So tired.  Feet are hurting.  Glad these places close at 5:30 so we have to quit then.  I think we left at 5:00 today.

DC Day 3

Day 141 (Oct 4) – Museum of Natural History

The girls hung with it yesterday tromping around to all the memorials and monuments, but they sure were looking longingly at the Museum of Natural History as we sat across from it eating lunch.  So that was our first – and only – stop today.  You really could spend days there.  People have told me that, but it’s hard to understand till you go.  We let Carmen take the lead.  She went straight to the dinosaur hall, which was probably my favorite part.  I just love seeing all those life size bony recreations standing all around me.

We saw some of the Ocean View exhibit, some of the Origins of Life, some of the Mammals.  Then we went to the Insect Zoo.  This was Carmen’s favorite part.  Maybe.  She loved it all.  There was a lady with an insect cart letting people hold the insects!  Carmen had to hold every one.  The Madagascar Hissing Cockroach, the Tobacco Hornworm, millipede, leaf bug, thorny stick bug.  Icky, icky.  Well … I did hold the horn worm.  And we got to hear the hissing cockroach hiss, which the lady said she had never heard before!  Audra watched, but did not touch.  The girls and I splurged on tickets to the butterfly house.  That was another of Carmen’s favorite things.  Somewhere in there we ran outside to the same refreshment stand from yesterday and grabbed a quick lunch.

There was an awesome Written in Bones exhibit that included Egyptian mummies and remains as well as Jamestown and Chesapeake remains.  At the end was a hands-on lab that the girls loved.

And we saw the Hope Diamond.  We stayed till the very last minute.

There is so much accidental learning that goes on here.  Love it!  Worn out!

DC Day 2 pics