Monday June 28th in Kinzer PA

Out last day in Kinzer PA before heading to Florida NY. This area, Lancaster County PA, is know as Amish Country. We drove around the area and saw many Amish farms. You can tell an Amish farm because there are no electric lines to the farm and buggy's in the yards, they do not have cars. Today must of been laundry day as all of the farms had their laundry hanging on the lines. We passed a few buggy's on the road and saw farmers plowing their fields by horse drawn plows. The farm land and farms were very well taken care of. We expect to see the Amish coming through the campground again tonight selling their fresh produce, pies and bread. Tomorrow morning we head for NY.

Sunday June 27th Wilmington DE

After spending all day in Philadephia, we thought Sunday would be a day of rest. We have a map of the U.S. on the door of our motorhome which has a state sticker for every state Yvonne and I have visited. Well, we were missing Delaware, which as it turns out is only 28 miles away. So we jumped in the car and drove over to Wilmington DE and spent a few hours driving around. We also found out that there is no sales tax in DE so stopped by Costco and pickup up a few items. The drive was very restfull and the scenery was great. This part of the state was rolling hills with lots of trees.
The Weather here is hot and humid, mid 90's the past few days. The dry heat in Hemet sounds pretty good.

Philadephia Saturday June 26th

Our first visit to Philadelphia PA and Yvonne and I were really impressed. So much history here and one day is not enough to see it all. We took two tours, one a double decker bus which too us all around the city and a Duck Tour which took us around the city and into the Delaware River. We walked around Independence National Park. This is where Independence Hall and the Libery Bell are located. Visited the Besty Ross house, Christs Church and many other historic sites. The building in the picture is the first U.S. Post Office established by Ben Franklin and the other one is Independence Hall.

Friday June 25th

Left Gettysburg around 8:30 this morning and drove 72 miles to Kinzer PA, as hour outside of Philadephia. Will spend 4 nights here,. Since we arrived early (10:00 am) we decided to visit Valley Forge National Historical Site not too far away. As you probably know, Valley Forge was the winter camp for Gen. George Washington's troups during the winter of 1777 and 1778. There were 12,000 troups here and the log cabins were for the soldiers. The building was Washington's Headquarters. The Arch is the National Memorial Arch along the tour route. We are getting ready for all of the history we will encounter tomorrow in Philadelphia.

Thursday June 24th

Today was going to be a day to just hang out at the campground and relax. Well, we decided to visit the Snyder's Pretzel Factory in Nanover PA and take a tour of the factory. Of course we purchased some pretzels before we left. After Snyder's we stopped by the National Cemetery and a docent there gave us a great Living History Tour. Her focus was on Elizabeth Thorn who was the cartaker at the Evergreen Cemetery at the time of the battles of Gettysburg. We heard her story of the battle and her part in burying all of the dead after the battles. Our docent did a wonderful job in bring history to life. The pictures are the entrance to the Evergreen Cemetery as it would have appeared in 1863 and a statue of Elizabeth Thorn.

Gettysburg Battlefields Wed June 23rd

Today we took the audio driving tour of the Gettysburg Battlefields. This was a very humbling experience. Fifty one thousand soldiers on both sides were killed, injured or missing after three days of battle. Hard to imagine what it must of been like to be there in battle. There are monuments everywhere around the battlefield. The monument picture is the Enternal Life Peace Memorial which was dedicated 75 years after the battle by FDR. Over 1,800 civil war vets, average age 95, attended the dedication and the government paid for their travel and expenses. Over 200,000 were present for the event.

Gettysburg Battlefield Continued

Continued our tour of the battlefields. The statute is General Robert E. Lee, the large memorial is the Pennsylvania Memorial. Yvonne at the spot where Lincoln gave the famous "Gettysburg Address" on November 19, 1863.

Tues June 22nd National Military Park Visitor Center

Today we visited the National Military Park Visitor Center in Gettysburg. This is an amazing place and we spent about 4 hours there. Yvonne and I visited Gettysburg in June 2006, but this is a new visitor center which opened in 2008. Inside there are three things that are a must see. 1. The film "A New Birth of Freedom", 2. The Cyclorama Painting and 3. The Interpretive Museum. The picture of the painting does not do it justice and only shows a small portion. The painting was done after the Civil War and is displayed in a complete circle. You feel like you are right in the middle of the Battle of Gettysburg. The battle here was the deciding point of the Civil War. Tomorrow we will visit the battlefields.

Gettysburg PA Monday June 21st

Left Front Royal VA this morning and traveled 122 miles through West Virginia and Maryland to Gettysburg PA. The drive was through the mountains and the views were great through the front window of the motorhome. Our campground, Artillery Ridge, is located about 1 mile from the National Military Park and battlefields in Gettysburg. Ivan and Randi stayed in Hagerstown Maryland to get some repairs done on their motorhome. They will join us in Gettysburg tomorrow.

Father's Day Sunday June 20th

After 3 full day trips to Washington DC and other sightseeing activities during the week, we decided to take a complete day off. In other words, we did nothing but hang out at the campsite and relax. Fired up the barbque in the late afternoon and grilled up some fresh salmon and tuna. We also steamed up some mussels and enjoyed a few glasses of wine to go along with everything. Ready to head north early tomorrow morning.

DC Saturday Afternoon June 19th

After touring the Capitol, we visited the Library of Congress (building with the flag on top) and passed by the Supreme Court Building on our way to the U.S National Archives. At the Archives we viewed the original documents of the Bill of Rights and U.S. Consititution.

Hillary, a long time friend of our son Aaron who lives outside of DC, hooked up with us at the U.S. Archives and joined Ivan, Randi, Yvonne and I for lunch. Its been 5 years since we last saw Hillary and it was nice to catch up.

U.S. Capitol June 19th

Third trip into DC this morning. Left early to get a parking space at the train station and arrived at the Capitol around 9:00 and we were able to get a tour of the inside of the Capitol. The art work and statues were really something to see. Our tour guide was great and filled us with lots of great information about the paintings, statues and history of the building. A definite must see if you visit Washington DC.

Shenandoah NP Friday Afternoon June 18th

The north entrance to the Shenandoah National Park is located about 4 miles from our campground. Yvonne and I took a drive into the park and traveled about 12 miles on Skyline Drive, the road that goes the whole length of the park. This road becomes the Blue Ridge Parkway after 105 miles. Great way to relax and enjoy the views from up high.

Kayak Trip Friday Morning June 18th

This morning Ivan, Randi and I took a Kayak trip down the Shenadoah River. Yvonne decided that Kayaking was not for her so she stayed at the motorhome. This was my first experience in a Kayak and after having trouble executing through the first rapids, I made the rest of the trip without problems. It was great fun and the views from the water were wonderful. A great way to relax and enjoy the morning.

Thursday June 17th

After two days of traveling and sightseeing in Washington DC, today was laundry, shopping, cleaning and wine tasting. Virginia is 5th in terms of wineries and wine production and there are a lot of wineries in this area. Of the few I visited, Rappahannock Cellars had the best selection of wine, and they were pretty good. They had a great Norton, which is a grape developed in Virginia in the early 1800's and it does extremely well here. Rappahannock Cellars is family owned, in fact the owners have 12 children, so lots of family presence there. Their oldest son Allan was my server and we had a great time and he poured wines that are not on the regular tasting menu. A great way to end the day.

Washington DC Wednesday June 16th

Traveled into DC again today. Randi has a childhood friend that works at the Pentagon so she took us on a private tour. After getting through all of the security (we were sure we were all going to get a body cavity search) Cookie, Randi's friend took us all around the Pentagon. It's an amazing place, a city inside a city with over 23,000 people working there. We had lunch at one of the restrauants, shopped at the stores and passed by the Joint Chief of Staffs Office. After touring the inside, including the spot where the plane hit on Sept 11th, we visited the Pentagon Memorial outside. The picture on the left is the memorial and the benches represent the 184 killed. The benches facing toward the building Right) are those who were killed on the plane and the ones facing out from the Pentagon (left) are those who were killed in the building.

After the Pentagon we visited Arlington National Cemetery. The top picture is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The changing of the guard takes place every half hour 24/7 365 days a year. Very moving to watch.

That evening Randi, Ivan, Yvonne and I stopped by Cookies house and we walked to a local restrauant for dinner. Great day, but by the time we got back to our motorhomes around 11:00 pm were were beat.

Washington DC Tuesday June 15th

Experienced the Metrorail system as we traveled into Washington DC today. Easy way to get around once you get the hang of it. We only got on the wrong train once. Spent the whole day walking around the city. Yvonne and I have been to DC before, but never spent time visiting the Smithsonian Museums, so took time this trip to experience a few. Too much to see in one day, but we gave it a good effort. This was Ivan's first trip to DC and he spent a lot of his time in the Air and Space Museum. We will travel into DC again tomorrow and Saturday to continue our experience of our nations capitol.

Monday June 14th Front Royal

Arrived Front Royal this afternoon. Front Royal is about 1 1/2 hours from Washington DC. This was the closest RV Park we could fine on our travel route that allowed us to connect with the Metrorail so we didn't have to drive all the way into DC. Quiet campground in the hills located about 2 miles outside of Front Royal and 1 mile from the northern gateway to the Shenandoah National Park. We will use this as our base camp for sightseeing DC, the Shenandoah NP and local wineries.

Sunday June 13th

Left Asheville this morning heading toward Front Royal VA where we will spend 7 nights. Lots of up and down grades with at least one that was 13%. Hit a rain storm so didn't quite make the travel distance we planned on (169 miles). Spent the night at Fort Chiswell RV Park.

Chimney Rock State Park Saturday June 12th

Short day trip to Chimney Rock State Park. The views from the top were amazing. The top of Chimney Rock is 26 stories above the parking lot and around 3,000 feet above sea level. You can probably tell I was not to comfortable next to the railing looking down. I am not a fan of heights and going up the stairs to the top was a challenge, but I made it. Yvonne decided not to make the trip since she can not handle heights and drop offs.

Friday June 11th After A Day Of Sightseeing

After a day of sightseeing it was time for Happy Hour. Aaron spent 3 nights with us and will be heading home early Saturday morning. We had a great time together in Asheville. It will be a sad morning when he heads out as we will not see him again for quite some time. We enjoyed the 3+ weeks we all had together and wish he lived closer to Hemet.

Blue Ridge Parkway Friday June 11th

While Aaron and Ivan did a Zip Line tour Yvonne, Randi and I took a trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We traveled about 60 of the 469 miles that the parkway extends along the southern Appalachians. It links the Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks. Construction was started during the depression and this is the 75th year of the parkway. Little traffic and the pace you drive is slow so you can enjoy all of the views along the way. Not a road to travel in a large motorhome.