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.