Virginia bound

I'm back! All I can say is, Virginia is a great place! I really enjoyed the history and the scenery. Here is a little rundown of what all we did for the week...

First of all, we stayed at Wyndham Kingsgate resort which is a timeshare resort in Williamsburg, VA. The unit we stayed in had 2 BR's, 2 baths, a full kitchen and spacious living room. We were a stones throw away from the pool, tennis courts and they had a pretty nice miniature golf course on site. I found this unit on VRBO.com (VRBO stands for Vacation Rentals By Owner). It only cost us $600 for the week which was about $400 cheaper than any hotel we could find. It turned out to be a great deal! Anyhow, on our way from Indiana to our resort we stopped at Monticello which was the home/plantation of Thomas Jefferson and also his final resting place. What a really neat place! If you are going to be in Virginia I would make it a point to make a visit there. On Monday it rained so we went to the Ripley's Museum. If you've seen one of those, you've seen them all. Still some neat stuff there, though. On Tuesday, we made the 2.5 hr drive north to Washington, DC. Although the amount of traffic (both vehicle and foot traffic) can really wear on you patience it was still a great day. It took me forever to find a place to park and the streets in that city are as backwards as our government. However, once I got parked we got to see a whole lot in just a couple of hours. We saw the Washington and Lincoln Memorials and the reflection pond, the Vietnam Wall (bone chilling!), the Korean War Memorial, WWII memorial, Martin Luther King Jr's monument, the White House and our beautiful Capitol. You do not realize the enormity of these memorials until you see them in person! Unbelievable! The other thing that blew me away was the size of all the buildings that represent the different divisions of our government (Dept of Agriculture, dept of commerce, etc).

On Wednesday we went to Colonial Williamsburg. That is the site of original town of Williamsburg. About 80% of the existing structures also existed there in the 1700's. It is now a colonial re-enactment, and let me tell you they do a great job with the it! There is a guy that plays Thomas Jefferson and does an impeccable job. There are over 400 costumed "actors" working everyday to bring the colonial times to life and you really feel like you are taken back in time. I really enjoyed it!

We also visited Historic Jamestown and Yorktown and both of those places were a little disappointing.

For me the highlight of the week was on the drive home. We always head home on Saturday morning just in case we want to stop somewhere on the way home. That way we aren't forced to rush to get home. I usually ended up taking a scenic drive. That's what I did this time also. We took a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I've driven on a few sections of the Blue Ridge in the past and this was a new section for me so I just had to do it. The beauty of the Blue Ridge can't be explained. It is one jaw dropping lookout point after another. Someday I will drive the entire Parkway and take in all the views. Anybody who travels through the Appalachian or Smoky Mountains I would highly suggest making it a point to travel at least 20 miles out of the 450 miles of the parkway. You won't regret it! Here are some pics even though they don't do it any justice. It also an odd time to go since there is no color in the trees but it is kind of neat to be able to see the different houses tucked away in the valleys and mountainsides.

Welcome back and glad you had a good trip. I've been on the Blue Ridge before in NC but it was foggy and didn't really get to see anything good.