National Cathedral - Arlington - Holocaust

It didn't take long for us to be up and ready to start a new day exploring Washington DC. We fixed some farm fresh eggs (compliments of our AirBnB) and coffee, then loaded up the truck and headed to Wal-Mart parking garage to park the truck for the day. We called an Uber to pick us up and he dropped us off at the National Cathedral, where we planned to be one of the first to tour. Patti and I made the mistake of walking in the door two minutes early and got shooed out by a grumpy, bossy woman - LOL! We waited till it was safe to go back in, purchased our tickets and joined another group of people. 

Our tour guide was a retired teacher of the Cathedral school and she was just so delightful! She had a wealth of information and shared so many tidbits of information that I am sure no other guide had since she had spent a good portion of her life right there! I was shocked to find out that tuition to the private school there is $50k/year! Daycare thru 4th grade is co-ed, then 5th-12th are separated with a Girl's School at one side of the Cathedral and a Boy's School at the opposite side, however they sometimes do things together. 
The Cathedral was the most amazing piece of architecture I think I've ever seen - I was in awe the entire time spent both inside and outside!

This is looking toward the front of the church.

A closer look at the front alter of the church.

The back of the church with spectacular rainbow colors from the sunlight coming thru the stained glass windows and a view of the "Creation Rose" window. The circular “Creation” Rose window contains more than 10,000 pieces of glass and celebrates when God declared, “Let there be light.”

The Space Window, gift of former nasa Administrator Thomas O. Paine, symbolizes both spiritual and scientific connections to the mystery of the cosmos and is one of the best-loved stained glass windows at the Cathedral. It is also unique in appearance, departing from the traditional three-panel concept by filling all three lancets with one design. Photographs taken during the Apollo 11 mission provided inspiration to St. Louis artist Rodney Winfield for the color palette. A thin, white line among the dark spheres and tiny stars suggests the trajectory of a spaceship. The inscription “Is not God in the height of Heaven?” (Job 22:12) appears at the window’s base. A small round piece of white glass, shining from the center of a deep red upper sphere, contains a 2 3/8" sliver of moon rock as its centerpiece.

All the stained glass windows are just breath-taking!

In the War Memorial chapel, a cross made from the rubble of the Pentagon

 stands as a reminder of 9/11.

This high alter is cleaned with q-tips and takes several weeks to be done!

Everywhere you look is just amazing & gorgeous architecture!

After our tour inside, we had a little time to walk thru the Bishops Garden

Gorgeous both inside and out - I felt like we were in a foreign country!

Next stop was getting Uber to take us to Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery 

Kennedy Memorial

When we got to Arlington, I went to a kiosk to find out the exact location of my great uncle George's grave. After looking for next to forever, we were about to give up, when I decided we had to have passed it, so I left the other's and went on a search - I was so glad when shortly after I found it!

Next was Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

It's really pretty amazing to watch!

We then walked to the iwo jima memorial

Next up was the Holocaust Museum 

This was one of the most sobering places I have ever been. To see generations of people that their lives were just erased away was sad. I learned many things that I didn't know and makes me want to dig into history to learn more.

We stayed in the Holocaust Museum until closing, then ubered to Walmart and decided to buy pizza, take it back to the house and cook it. We played cards and talked about our day, before heading off to bed early, since we had to be up and out by 6:45am for another full day tomorrow.

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Virginia to Maryland to Washington DC

We were up and at em, packed, truck loaded and we headed to check out with a quick stop at the lodge cafe for hot coffee and lattes. We saw a couple AT (Appalachian Trail) hikers, an older couple, stop in at the lodge for breakfast. From what I have researched, the Appalachian Trail takes you between Shenandoah National Park's two large, historic lodges and often times hikers eat breakfast at Skyland, do the 7.9 mile hike and have lunch at Big Meadows, which we had passed by yesterday.

Leaving Skyland Lodge, we followed Skyline Drive heading for our exit to Luray. There were several deer along the road as we traveled north. 

At Hope Mountain, there is a tunnel thru the mountain and I asked Scott to stop so I could get out and snap a photo of the runner before driving thru. As he was pulling into the overlook to park, he saw something black in the side view mirror and said, "hey, there's a bear!!" 

Of course I got all excited and of course the wrong lens was on my camera. It took next to forever to dig out my long zoom lens and extender and I was hollering "tell the bear to wait for me!" - lol! Nothing is ever quick when you are in a hurry! I managed to snap on my zoom and make a mad dash towards the bear while I was fiddling with camera settings so as not to miss the shot! The bear, which appeared to be a yearling, ran across the road and up the mountainside. Out of nowhere two other photographers with long lenses showed up and we all were trying to get "the shot", b/c bear photography is both challenging and tons of fun! As the bear was climbing up the mountainside, it turned back for one last look at us before disappearing into the thick mountainside. The two men told me the bear had been spotted in that same area the past several days, so I suspect they had been hanging around waiting for an appearance. I was thrilled that I was able to get the one decent shot with a whole bunch of useless blurred shots! I learned a valuable lesson that day; bring 2 cameras on our next road trip and have lenses on each camera, so that a zoom is available to grab and run for unexpected wildlife encounters!

We exited Shenandoah National Park at highway 211 and drove into Luray, where we stopped at Luray Caverns for our cavern tour. There was a man-made waterfall outside the ticket office, where several mallard ducks had made themselves very comfortable and didn't care the least bit how close you got to them!

THE FIRST DISCOVERY
A CANDLE. ONE ROPE.
THE FIND OF A LIFETIME.

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Cold air rushing out of a limestone sinkhole atop a big hill west of Luray, Virginia, blew out a candle held by Andrew Campbell, the town tinsmith, on the morning of August 13, 1878. So began the discovery of Luray Caverns.

Campbell, three other men, and his 13-year-old nephew, Quint, were exploring the area, looking for a cave. With the help of local photographer Benton Stebbins, the men dug away loose rocks for four hours before, candle in hand, Campbell and Quint slid down a rope into the cave. They could scarcely believe what they saw. The party had discovered the largest series of caverns in the East, an eerie world of stalactites and stalagmites seen by the light of a candle.

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Touring the cave was a lot of fun and very interesting. We expected it to be much cooler than it was - it was more humid than cold. Enormous chambers are filled with towering stone columns, shimmering draperies and crystal-clear pools. The National Park Service and the Department of Interior designated it as a Registered Natural Landmark.

This is the largest body of water in the covers  However, its deepest point is not more than 18-20 inches. This sparkling lake reflects a myriad of fantastic form and create a mirror image of the abundant stalactites hanging from the ceiling.

The Great Stalacpipe Organ is the world's largest musical instrument. It literally makes stalactites sing by gently tapping them throughout three acres of the caverns. It's a musical masterpiece that can't be found anywhere else in the world...or under it! We listened to "A Mighty Fortress is our God" - it was beautiful!

The tour lasted an hour or so and after we got back to the truck we heard canons blow from nearby. Across from the caverns, it appeared a Civil War Re-enactment was happening, so we drove up closer, parked the truck to take a closer look.

LURAY VALLEY MUSEUM
WELCOME TO THE ORIGINAL

AMERICAN FRONTIER

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Step back in time and discover the rich history of the Shenandoah Valley at the Luray Valley Museum. Your journey begins at the log Stonyman building which houses historic items from pre-contact Native peoples to life in the bustling 1920s. Continue your exploration across a seven-acre recreation of a small 19th century farming community. Knock on the door of the 1835 home of the county's first Delegate to the Virginia General Assembly. Peek into the Hamburg Regular School, the area's first school for African American children. Read the actual signatures of Union and Confederate soldiers scrawled into the walls of the Elk Run Dunkard Church.

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After Patti rang the bell for peace and liberty, we headed back to the truck and back on the road in no time, headed for DC. You have to go into Maryland to get to DC and that's where we started hitting the DC traffic. We navigated our way, with the help of Onstar to our Airbnb row house we had rented for the next 4 days. We could tell right off the bat that parking was going to be an issue - no spaces in front of our row house, so we drove to the back where there is a small garage (much too small for our truck) and a narrow and I mean SKINNY-NARROW driveway (I really should have taken a pic!). We pulled in the side mirrors as Scott proceeded to try to pull into the drive way - drivers side of truck was nearly touching the garage and passenger side was nearly touching the fence. Scott was afraid if he got the truck pulled in, he'd never get it out, so we nixed that idea and decided to drive back out front and find a place in the street to park, knowing that on Monday and Tuesday we could not park out there. That would be figured out later tho.

We found a spot across the road, unloaded the truck and settled into our house. Since it was still early in the day and the weather was great, we decided to head into DC and walk the Monuments, then get dinner. First stop tho was Wal-Mart for a few needed items. Walmart has a big parking garage that ended up being our life saver due to the fact that parking in the street is such an issue for Monday and Tuesday due to the street sweepers. We left the truck at Wal-Mart and called Uber to pick us up and take us to the memorials, where we walked the full area.
The Monument Plaza was massive, and just so much to take in - the architecture, the detail in the stonework, the inscribed words...

 ...and this...I was not prepared for the amount of names that is on these walls, the people taking rubbings, the people looking for specific names, the flags & memorial flowers left...

 ...the children who have left letters...it was all emotionally difficult to take in...

 Steve found someone that helped him find Richard G. May...a local Collinsville boy...

 After that we headed to the WWII Memorials, which in itself was both massive and impressive!

  Jefferson Memorial

The sun was beginning to set, so we decided it was time to grab an Uber to dinner - that became a challenge as Patti's phone was dead, so I downloaded the Uber app and after multiple tries we finally got a driver. Hell's Burgers was the destination...after being dropped off out front, we noticed it was closed - oh no - now what? We started walking to find somewhere else to eat. We came upon "Busboys and Poets", such an interesting name for a restaurant, and decided since we didn't have much of a choice at that point, to try to get a table. We looked at a menu, and I made the decision Scott would be able to find something he would eat from it - haha! It's actually a Gluten-free, Dairy-free menu, so I was all for it! While waiting for our table and people watching, we learned just how "interesting" this place was...lol. There was a sign that said "Muslim women of spoken word sold out" (hmmm) and the attached book shop contained many "politically-correct" and some of the most liberal book titles I have ever seen in my life - I will spare you the details of some of the titles I happened to notice! (hmmmm)

We finally got to a table and shortly thereafter a large group of Muslim women came out of a  back room...apparently a convention of some sort was going on (hmmmm). Steve needed to use the restroom, so he went off to find that, which was upstairs. The staircase was a massive open curved staircase in the center of the restaurant. When he returned, he told us that there were prayer rugs all over the floor upstairs (hmmmm). Then we started looking at the artwork on the walls..."interesting" to say the least...things that just make you wonder...there was also a rather loud group of young adults at the bar near our table, with many "interesting-looking" people coming and going from all directions...we were getting the full experience of Washington DC, right there in that little place all at once as we flew under the radar of trying not to stick out as conservative southern folk obviously in the wrong place - haha! Despite the atmosphere, the food was phenomenal - I had the best panini sandwich I've ever eaten and Steve, Patti and Scott said their food was also excellent! It's places and experiences like this when we never have dull moments together and are able to live to tell about it! These are the times we will always remember and talk about - haha!
We finished eating, paid the bill, then headed outside to get an Uber driver to take us back to Wal-Mart, where the truck was parked. We made it there without incident and back to our row house where we played cards and laughed about the evening before heading to bed! Tomorrow we have to be up and at em with a very early start at the US Capitol.

Tennessee to Virginia

We all were up and at em at 4:30am. We fixed some cheese and Canadian bacon english muffin sandwiches, made a pot of coffee and loaded up the truck. We hit the road around 5:30am - our trip was finally on the road! We traveled I-65 north to 840 to 40, heading to Knoxville, where we caught 81 North. We stopped in Wytheville, Va at Wendy's for lunch where Patti accidentally supersized her fries, not knowing Steve had already ordered fries. Steve told Patti she'd already reached her food quota for the day! haha!
We continued on 81N to 256, then 340, where we got beautiful views of the Appalachian Mtns. We made a pit stop in Grottoes at what we thought was the only gas station...unfortunatly the bathrooms were out of order. Luckily we did find another gas station down the road to use the facilities where the clerk was most enjoyable & entertaining to talk to!
Heading north on 340 to Elkton gave us continual views of the mountains and farmland. 

At Elkton we accessed Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park where we traveled on a high ridge with gorgeous mountain views on both sides of the road as it winds thru the mountain range. We often saw deer off the sides of the road along the way. There were overlook stops often, each with gorgeous views of both mountain and valley and we stopped for most of the overlooks. We were glad we nixed a large portion of Skyline Drive, as we would have never made it to our lodge before dark. 

We reached Skyland Lodge around 5:30PM, checked in and unloaded into our room, which overlooked the beautiful mountain range. There was a wedding reception going on close to our lodge room we thought about crashing it (just kidding), but decided we best head to the Dining Hall! We all needed to walk after riding all day, and we had nice paved pathways to get to the Lodge Gift Shop and Dining Hall, altho the hike up was quite steep! 
While waiting for a table, we shopped in the Gift Shop and looked at historic photos on the wall of the lodge area of Skyland. Behind our lodge room is a mountain summer home called "Massanutten Lodge", that was owned by Addie Hunter, a Washington, DC, divorcee who later married Skyland developer George Pollock when she was almost 40 years old. When they married, he had financial issues and she was said to be wealthy. Theirs was an interesting relationship that eventually floundered but is part of the overall history of Skyland.

We finally got seated at a window table with a nice view in the Dining Hall. The menu looked pretty good and was delicious! Patti had Clam Chowder, Steve had chicken strips (I'm pretty sure he eats chicken at every meal!) and Scott and I had slow cooked pot roast that practically melted in our mouths! After dinner we walked in the cool, crisp air back down to our lodge room to relax....3 watching a NASCAR race and one watching the stars outside for a meteor shower...however, it was just so cold out that I took a few star shots and headed back in to stay warm! The photo below is the view right outside our lodge room! 

About 3 minutes after my least favorite NASCAR driver crossed the finish line, it was lights out and the snoring from 3 people in the room started fast and steady!

Mississippi to Tennessee

After taking a year off from traveling together, the Brown's and Anderson's finally got their acts together and planned a 2018 trip! This year's travel adventure destination is Washington D.C. We all got to put in our POI's (points of interest) for consideration in the itinerary and it was Patti's job to figure out all the logistics. Laurie's job was to plan everything outside of DC, such as side trips on our way to and from DC.
Steve and Patti got Gin Creek Farm animals all taken care of for the week and drove from Mississippi to TN, arriving in Columbia as Laurie was returning from dropping Bailey off at Owl Hollow Kennels. 
We discussed our itinerary for travel over dinner and what time we would hit the road in the morning. We had a long day of travel ahead of us for Saturday and our destination was Skyland Lodge in Shenandoah National Park. Knowing that Skyline Drive in the park is only 35mph and about 300 miles long, we decided to look at the map and do a little re-routing to save some time. Cutting off a good portion of Skyline Drive and picking it up further north would get us to our destination much earlier, keeping us all sane.

We also checked DC weather and knew that there might need to be some changes to our plans on Tuesday and Wednesday, due to predictions of rain.
Another area of concern was what vehicle to drive - Scott's full-size truck or Steve's smaller truck. Do we sacrifice comfort and room for something easier to park? Parking at the AirBnB Row House looked like it was going to be an issue, since there is only street parking, or parking in out back, where we were told only small vehicles fit. Parking in the street is an issue for Monday and Tuesday due to street sweepers and if you don't move your vehicle, you get ticketed. After much discussion we decided that driving Scott's truck with more room and comfort was the better choice and we would figure out the parking situation after we got to DC and could really assess the situation. With that, we all decided it was time to get to bed for an early start on Saturday.