Weeks 12-15: And we make it to Day 100!

November 17

Day 79:

Since it was Sunday, the park-and-ride for the train was free, and there were lots of open spaces. We hopped on the green line and took that into the downtown area of DC. We decided to get off at the Archives stop, which was a blessing for us. Since we needed to walk south to get to the National Mall, we were passing by the National Archives. We thought we would just look to see how long the line was to get in. Fortunately for us, there was nobody in line. So, we decided to go in. This was definitely on our list of things to see in DC, and what a perfect opportunity. We spent about an hour walking around. 

After the Archives, we walked to the Mall, where we saw the Capitol Building and the Washington Monument. We walked towards the Washington Monument. Aela was telling us some history about the Monument that she had learned. The stone on the outside changes color because they had to stop construction during wartime, and when they came back to it, the stone they quarried was a different color. 

At the Washington Monument, the girls got their junior ranger booklets. We sat there for a while as the girls reviewed the booklets to determine what we were going to be learning and where we would be going. 

We determined that we would be heading in the direction of the Lincoln Memorial.  But along the way, there would be a lot to see.  First was the World War II.  We sat there for a bit to rest, and there was a fountain in the middle.  They have signs that say it is allowed to soak your feet in the pond, but not wade or play in the pond.  The reason for soaking your feet is in remembrance to the soldiers when they came into a newly captured town, they would regularly go to the central square with a fountain and soak their feet after fighting.  

After that, we walked the reflection pond toward the Lincoln Memorial and stopped at the Vietnam Memorial first.  That was special for me because my father fought in the Vietnam War.  It was a simple but powerful design that had such a moving experience.  The two wings of the design point to the two major monuments, The Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. Part of that experience was the women’s Vietnam Memorial statue that recognized the efforts by women during the war.

Next stop was the Lincoln Memorial.  This was the one that Aela was excited about.  She climbed up those steps and was taking pictures with her camera.  Almost as excited as when she saw the Statue of Liberty.  We could feel the hours of the day piling on and the miles we still needed to walk to get back.  As we planned our route back, we wanted to see the Korean War Memorial and the Martin Luther King Memorial.  

By the end of the day, I had logged about 16,000 steps, and the girls kept up every step of the way.  We are so proud of them.  It was definitely a long day.

November 18

Day 80:

Work Day for me.

Jen and the girls took the metro to the National Zoo. The Smithsonian had some great online interactive lesson plans for the zoo, so the girls took their iPads along and had fun learning there.

November 19

Day 81:

Work Day for me.

Jen and the girls took the metro to the International Spy Museum.

November 20

Day 82:

Work day. I decided to take some time off. So, tomorrow I will spend it with my family.

November 21

Day 83:

We went into DC again today. We followed the same routine with the park-and-ride, which was easy. Our first stop was Arlington Cemetery so Jen could visit her cousin, Eric. Everyone at the cemetery was helpful and friendly. They even have shuttles that can take people to their loved ones' graves, which is convenient since it was about a half-mile to walk to the site. 

After Arlington, we hopped back on the subway and went back to the Washington Monument where we were able to get the girls junior ranger badges. 

Then, we were planning on going to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. But we asked Eva if there was anything else she wanted to see, and she said she wanted to see Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers. So, we went to the Smithsonian Museum of American History first to see the slippers, and then we went to the Museum of Natural History.

At the Museum of Natural History, we first went in and asked the information desk where the cafeteria was. They directed us to an area that was nowhere near the cafe, so we had to wander the building until we found it. Nice. It could have saved us 30 minutes. Also, by the time we got there, they were closing the cafe, and we had to settle for a bag of chips and a muffin at the smaller cafe.

After eating, Aela wanted to go to the Ocean exhibit, and Eva wanted to go to the butterfly exhibit. After that, we all met up to go to the Gems Exhibit to see the Hope Diamond on display.  

November 22

Day 84:

Moving Day. Today, we are going to Shenandoah National Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Our RV Park is Spacious Skies—Shenandoah Views.

Our drive wasn’t far, just a little over two hours.  I felt like most of the drive was just trying to get out of the DC area.  After we managed that, it was only about 45. Minutes to get to our next destination.  Also, the last 30 minutes or so was mountain driving.

When we arrived, our replacement Jackery Generator was waiting for us in the main office. I was excited to finally have one that worked. Getting the replacement here has been really frustrating to this point.  

Jen wasn’t feeling well, and today was not good for her.  Feeling sick and traveling is not a good combination, but she endured.  When we arrived and got the rig in place at our site, she just climbed into bed and rested. I opened up the Jackery Box only to find that the unit was unresponsive…argh!!!  Back on the phone with customer service.  They tried to get me set up so that another unit can get sent to the next RV site that we are going to…Williamsburg.  

November 23

Day 85:

Saturday…Jen is not feeling well.  It is a nice day for all of us to lounge around and get some rest.  I played games with the girls outside to give Jen some peace and quiet in the rig.  When we are in the rig, she can feel all of our movements.  So, outside it is.  We have been lucky that the weather has been really nice.  It has been occasionally getting below freezing at night, but the daytime temps are reasonable.  They have been ranging anywhere between 50 and 70 degrees. I couldn’t imagine if we had bad weather and we were all stuck in the rig.  

Hopefully, Jen will be better tomorrow.  

November 24

Day 86:

Jen was still feeling under the weather, so I took the girls to Shenandoah National Park and made the drive along the ridge. We went to the entrance on the north side of the park, and the lady at the entrance said that the Visitor’s Center was temporarily closed because of an incident. We didn’t know what it was, but we started our journey anyway.  The roads were about 35 mph, so for us to drive the 32 miles south to the exit point for us, it was about an hour without stopping. But we did stop a lot.  

November 25

Day 87:

Work day. Not feeling well, I felt a cold setting in today. So, working was really difficult. I am wondering if I got what Jen had.  I hope not because it put her out of commission for three days.  I don’t want to be out of commission for three days.  

The girls just hung around the RV today. I went to the main office for the park and got some more propane for our rig. I got some mining rocks for the girls. They like that. It’s a bag of gemstones in sand. You take it and put it in a sieve to get out the sand and then you can collect the gemstones. 

November 26

Day 88:

Working day. This is a short week with Thanksgiving coming up. Just hung around the RV park today. 

November 27

Day 89:

Today I worked an abbreviated day and we went into Shenandoah for the afternoon. Jen hadn’t been to the park yet. We drove to the north visitor center only to find out that it was closed for Thanksgiving. So, looking at the park website, we found that the southern visitor center was open.  We decided to drive the 50 miles south along the ridge to get to the other visitors center for the girls' junior ranger badges. It added a lot more time to our day, but we needed to go it. 

November 28

Day 90:

Happy Thanksgiving!  We spent the day together as a family. We bought all the items needed for a Thanksgiving feast, and we all ate well. It was a nice, relaxing day. 

November 29

Day 91:

Moving day. We moved locations today and went the Colonial Williamsburg. We are staying in Williamsburg Campground.  It used to be a KOA. We got a really nice site. Drive through, on the corner. Our patio is facing the woods. 

November 30

Day 92:

We went to Jamestown National Historic Site today. It is the location of the original settlement by the English before Plymouth Rock. Jamestown was 1607, and Plymouth Rock was 1620. This settlement had a fort right on the river. During the years 1609 and 1610, there was a big drought, and the colony of 500 people went down to 60. During that time, there was evidence of cannibalism. We went to the museum on-site, and they talked about it. But you can also see a lot of their information on YouTube  at JamestownRediscovery

December 1

Day 93:

Today we went to Colonial Williamsburg. Jen has been there before, but nobody else in our family. We found a deal online that had a season pass for cheaper than a day pass. So, we all got season passes. We will be going back there several times so it was totally worth it for us. 

We started our adventure off with the Governor’s Palace. Right when we got there, a person asked if we were going on the 12:40 tour. We checked our watches and realized that it was 12:30. Sure, let’s go. We got the tour of the palace, which was nice, and after they dump you out in the back of the palace in the garden. As we wandered the garden, we found the hedge maze. The girls loved that. They ran around the maze and got on the mound next to the maze. From there they could see the entire maze. So Mom and Dad started walking the maze, and Aela and Eva shouted directions to us from the mount. 

After walking the palace gardens we walked south down the Palace Green all the way to E Duke of Gloucester Street. That seems to be the Main Street in the town. From there we headed east towards the Capitol. We popped into buildings along the way, the Wigmaker, the Printing Press, the Apothecary. 

At the end, we stopped at a shop where the girls bought stuffed teddy bears, and the shop owner told us a story about him fishing in a stream back in Wyoming, where he was from, and getting attacked by a grizzly bear. He even showed us his scars from where the bear took a swipe at him. 

December 2

Day 94:

Work day.

December 3

Day 95:

Work day.

December 4

Day 96:

Work Day. But after work today, we went to Walmart to get some groceries and to get a Christmas tree. We pulled up in the parking lot and there they were, sitting right by the front entrance. That was easy. Also, in the parking lot, there was a large Coke Semi truck sitting there all lit up. There were lots of people surrounding the truck. It turned out that they had a North Pole setup and Santa was sitting there. Huh…never seen that before. 

We went shopping and went back to the rig where we set up our tree and decorated. The girls were really excited that we could decorate our rig. They also got stockings to hang by our fireplace. 

December 5

Day 97:

Today, I took the day off, and we went back to Colonial Williamsburg. We did get the annual pass. We had reservations for 4:15 p.m. at Christiana Campbell's Tavern, but we spent the day walking around and seeing some of the entertainment. We ate with big napkins tied around our necks because if you make enough money to afford this, you’re said to be able to make ends meet. The ends of the napkins are big enough to meet in the back and can be tied. 

December 6

Day 98:

Moving day. We headed down to Cape Hatteras today on the Outer Banks. We are staying at Camp Hatteras RV Resort & Campground. It’s right on the ocean. Wow. I can’t believe how far south we drove to get to this campground. It is one road with water on both sides for thirty-some miles. And there are more little towns even farther south of us. 

December 7

Day 99:

We made today a low-key day. We will do some sightseeing tomorrow, but for today, it was just exploring the beach, a little relaxing in the sun (let’s just qualify that with a temperature of only 45 degrees), and taking our girls to the indoor pool, where they would play for hours. 

December 8

Day 100:

Wow! We've been on the road for 100 days. I think back, and we have already seen a lot. Today is no different. We went to check out the Wright Brothers site and the Bodie Island Lighthouse, which is part of the National Seashore. The lady at the visitors center told us about the homes falling into the ocean, so we looked into it a little further. 

People have been building homes on the edge of the shore forever. However, this shoreline changes very quickly. It moves about 10-15 feet per year, and so many of these homes in Rodsnthe are falling into the sea.

There is also the famous house used in filming the 2008 movie Nights in Rodanthe with Richard Gere.