Our Trip to Washington, DC - Part II

So, in between seeing my Aunt, Rachel and I were able to see some of the cool things in the Washington, DC area.

First, I have to say that DC’s METRO system is one of the best Public Transportation systems I have seen. Rachel and I took this a couple times from about an hour outside the city of DC into the heart of it. It was very simple to use. We did drive into DC and parked one time and it really was about the same price. There were pros and cons with both but I won’t get all into that. Just wanted to shout out to the METRO and post this funny picture of us riding the longest escalator we have seen ever in life.

Me on the longest escalator ever

In Part I of this post, you saw that we went to the Air and Space Museums and spent time in Old Town Alexandria. We also spent a day walking around the rest of the National Mall. First, we went to see the White House. It was Rachel’s first time ever in DC so she hadn’t seen it in person before. 

I think when you see it for the first time it just feels so unbelievable that the President stays there and that so many world changing decisions are happening just a few hundred yards away. The kind of folks you find outside the gates are interesting, too.

Protester outside the White House front gates

We, then, made our way over to the Lincoln Memorial. I’m not sure why, but I was very excited to see this. Of course, it didn’t disappoint. 

Outside the Lincoln Memorial

I think when I see things like this up close and personal it takes me back to the history behind such memorials. It makes you think about what it was like back then and the impact that someone like Lincoln had on the world.

Inside the Lincoln Memorial

From the Lincoln Memorial you get a really great view of the Washington Monument and the Reflecting Pool. After the deep thought above, is it bad that when I saw the Reflecting Pool I thought of the scene from Forrest Gump when Forrest is making his speech and Jenny runs out of the crowd into the pool? Classic movie.

Washington Monument and the Reflecting Pool

Anyway, it was getting late so that was all we were able to see. We were able to get this gem, though, on the walk back to the car, lol.

Two beautiful Statues in a park

 The day before we left we were able to make it to the Arlington National Cemetery. 

Arlington National Cemetery Welcome Sign

It’s hard to find the words to describe this place. The headstones of all of the fallen soldiers seem to never end. You cannot help but feel heavy-hearted. 

Graves at Arlington Cememtery

The history behind how the family of Robert E Lee. acquired the land and how during the civil war it began to be used to bury fallen soldiers was very interesting. You can tour the Estate and a small museum on the grounds that explains everything.

We also got to witness the Changing of the Guard Ceremony for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. . We actually got lucky and stumbled onto this as we made it to the Tomb. It is guarded 24 hours a day 365 days a year even in inclement weather.

Changing of the Guard Ceremony

If you ever make it to the grounds, be prepared for lots and lots of walking. We were not able to see everything thing we wanted to like the Challenger memorial, but we did get to see where JFK is buried, the Estate and the Memorial Amphitheater to name a few.

JFK burial site

The Estate at Arlington National Cemetery

DC has so many places to see and things to do and we definitely want to come back. Some places we missed but want to see are the Modern Art Museum, Mount Vernon, Monticello and the Capitol Building.

Our Trip to Washington, DC - Part I

The last time I was able to visit my Aunt Marilyn in Washington, DC was around 20 years ago, so we wanted to make it a point to go see her this year as we were traveling around the U.S. She has worked at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum  for 28 years. 

Rachel in front of the Air and Space Museum at the National Mall

She was very busy getting ready for the 40 anniversary of the museum on for the July 4^th weekend. It was cool to be able to see a little bit behind the scenes of what goes on.

There are actually two Air and Space Museum facilities in the DC area. One is in the heart of DC at the National Mall and the other is the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.  

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia

There is so much to see at each museum that you could spend days there and still not see it all. At the National Mall museum we went through an exhibit on the planets and watched a movie about stars at the planetarium. 

Uranus is so much bigger than we thought

My Aunt arranged for one of her coworkers, David, to give a special tour of the Hazy Center. They said the Smithsonian had so much stuff in storage that they needed another place to display everything. There are hundreds of fully assembled and restored planes on display. It was cool because David had a lot of knowledge to share and we saw the plane that dropped the atomic bomb, another that is one of the fastest planes ever built, and many others from the different wars of the past. Oh, and the Space Shuttle was there, too. Thanks David!

Inside the National Mall Air and Space Museum

My Aunt lives in Old Town Alexandria, so we ate at a couple of restaurants she recommended. One that we loved was called Gadsby’s Tavern. 

Apparently, George Washington and the founding fathers ate there. The whole ambiance of the restaurant was set back in colonial time. The servers wore traditional colonial dress and the menu had the same theme. Rachel and I both had the Beef Bordelaise and it was delicious. We definitely recommend it.

One of the really cool things I remember when I visited years ago was going to her house on the Potomac River. Last time, my brother and I took their canoe out and scared the crap out of my mom. I asked Rachel if we could relive the canoe ride, but she wasn’t having any of it. The house sits up on a hill with an open view of the river, so freaking beautiful. We were able to enjoy the great weather for a while on the porch.

My sweet Aunt Marilyn and Chris

We had such a great time with my Aunt. Can’t thank her enough for spending time with us. Love you, Aunt Marilyn!

Stayed tuned for Part 2 of our Washington DC Trip coming soon. We got to check out the White House, Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Cemetery.

RV Park Review - Raleigh Oaks RV Resort and Cottages – Raleigh, NC

Check-in Date: 25-JUN-2016

Check-out Date: 26-JUN-2016
Type of Accommodation: Standard Back-in Full Hook-up RV Site
Number of Nights: 1
Charges: $30.00 w/ Good Sam Membership

Customer Service: The staff was very nice and helpful. They let us know some of the events they were having for the Fourth of July weekend. They escorted us to our spot which is always nice.

Site: The site we stayed at was a “Back-in” which was easy to back into. The ground was gravel and uneven. You will need some leveling blocks for sure. The water hookup was very powerful so a regulator is also needed. They had cable which is always a plus for us and the 50 AMP electric hook-up was fine.

Amenities: This place had a lot of stuff to do. They have very nice facilities and so many extra activities. The fitness room, though we did not use it, looked very nice. We played pool in the billiard room where there were two pool tables and a TV. 

We played an intense game of miniature golf, though we used my putter. I don’t think they had any equipment after a certain time. 

The pool area was very nice. There are actually two pools and one had a hot tub. We really liked the fact that they had 3 dog parks, unfortunately they were sand and gravel which hurt our dog’s feet. But still, it was a good place to take the pups and let them play.

Wifi: The signal was ok but not enough to stream video.

Other Extras: The one day we were there they had a 4^th of July celebration with a free Bar-B-Q dinner, a live band and a fireworks show at night. It was pretty awesome. We kind of wished we were able to stay a little longer but we just didn’t have the time.

Stores/Restaurants/Gas nearby: Right down the street were two convenient stores. One was very nice and even had a little bit of produce. The other was right across the street and had good pull through gas pumps. We filled up here and hooked up our toad.

You can see all of Raleigh Oaks RV Resort and Cottages amenities, pricing and other information at their website. 

We highly recommend this RV Park and we will definitely keep it in mind next time we are in North Carolina.

Shenandoah National Park

One of the lovely overlooks

When we decided to hit the road one of our goals was to go to as many of the U.S. National Parks as we could. So far we have made it to...1. haha That is right this past Saturday we finally made it to a National Park! To be fair we haven't even been on the road for two months yet.


The drive to Shenandoah National Park was beautiful. We took route 211 and entered through the Thornton's Gap entrance. It was only $20 per car and you can come back for up to 7 days. Shenandoah has 4 different locations you can enter through.  Once you are in the park you drive along the beautiful Skyline Drive and can stop at the different overlooks (there are 75 total). There are also different parking areas for the different trails. The full length of Skyline Drive is 105 miles and about a 3 hour drive. Some people just come to do the drive and stop at the overlooks.

On the way to the park

Another picture from our drive there it was a gorgeous day

Mary's Rock Tunnel

We didn't do the full 3 hour drive. We maybe drove a couple hours and stopped at about 10 overlooks. We went to the Harry F. Byrd Visitor Center to get our National Park passport stamped. The Visitor Center was right next to the  trail we had planned on going to which was the Dark Hollow Falls Trail. We should have known this one would be one of the most popular trails since it had a water fall at the end. We had a hard time finding a parking spot and ended up in the grass.

A lot of the overlooks did look similar but they were all still beautiful

Stony Man Mountain Overlook (supposed to be a man's profile)

Chris enjoying the view

pretty flowers at an overlook

Being goofy at the visitor center

The Dark Hollow Falls Trail was only a 1.4 mile hike but it was pretty steep. The way back was mainly all uphill.  I was pretty excited to see some cool wildlife on the trail. The only animals we actually saw were a chipmunk and a giant rattlesnake. We weren't expecting that. Luckily there was a group in front of us that heard the snake and we all waited for it to go back uphill before we walked by.

Chris on the Dark Hollow Falls Trail

The falls at the end of the trail

I was really hoping to see a black bear on our drive. If you go you do need to check the alerts on their website first. Right now they have a lot of  trail closures due to increased bear activity.

If we have time before we leave we will go back and check out another trail since our pass is good for 7 days.

Shenandoah Valley Wine Trail

When we were driving from Centreville to New Market, Virginia we were surprised to drive by so many wineries. I decided to look some of them up and found out they were all part of the Shenandoah Valley Wine Trail.

There are over 20 wineries on the trail. On Sunday we went to two wineries in Edinburg which is North of New Market.

The blue marks represent the Shenandoah Valley Wine Trail. ( the red dot is  our location in New Market).

Shenandoah Vineyards- Edinburg, VA

For a full wine tasting at Shenandoah Vineyards it was just $10 a person and we got to taste 10 different wines. Chris loved the unsweet Johannisberg Riesling and we both liked the Rebel Red.

• 2014 Founders Reserve Chardonnay
• 2014 Chardonnay
• 2014 Johannisberg Riesling
• 2014 Shenandoah Blanc
• 2014 Founder's Reserve Chambourcin
• 2014 Cabernet Savignon
• 2014 Rebel Red
• 2015 Medium Sweet Riesling
• 2014 Fiesta
• Nocture

We knew we were going to another winery so we ended up not buying any bottles here. Instead we walked around the property and took some pictures.

Shenandoah Vineyards. Wine tasting is upstairs.

View from Shenandoah Vineyards

Jane Meyers this is for you- Chris heard it through the grape vine

Wolf Gap Vineyards-Edinburg, VA

For a full tasting at Wolf Gap Vineyards it was just $7 a person and we got to taste 10 different wines. We actually enjoyed the wines here more and the tasting was cheaper than Shenandoah Vineyards.

• Chardonnay
• Viognier-Traminette
• 2010 Chambourcin Reserve
• 2011 Caberet Franc Reserve
• 2011 Cabernet Sauv Reserve
• 2010 Mariage Reserve
• Chambourcin Bleu
• Lobo Loco Rose
• Traminette
• Blueberry Wine

My favorite was the Cabernet Franc and Chris liked the Chambourcin Bleu so we decided to have a glass and enjoy the beautiful view.

This view is just awful isn't it?

Loved this little Wino Xing sign at Wolf Gap

We bought a bottle of wine and were given a free Wolf Gap wine glass as well.

Bluestone Vineyard- Bridgewater, VA

We were pretty excited to find out that our Harvest Hosts membership included a Shenandoah Valley Wine Trail winery. We felt like it was a no brainer to stay here on our drive south.

There are 4 different tasting options at Bluestone Vineyard. We both tend to like red wines the most so we both did the red wine tasting only which was $5 a person.  They also have tastings for white wines, reserve wines and sweet wines. There are 19 wines total on the tasting list. Our favorite was the 2013 Dry Dock. with 16.4 % alcohol. Yeah!

Once again there were beautiful views from the winery. They also have live music and food trucks on the weekend which is pretty cool.

Chris enjoying the view

If you like wine (and who doesn't?) I would definitely recommend visiting the Shenandoah Valley Wine Trail. We would love to come back sometime and check out some more of the wineries.

Endless Caverns Tour

Chris and I decided to do the cavern tour today at our RV Park- Endless Caverns in New Market Virginia. If you have never seen caverns before you should definitely go see some sometime. These were nice but they were no Natural Bridge Caverns in Texas. We are staying at the campground so we got a discount and it was only $15 per person to get in.

Chris all bright eyed and bushytailed at the beginning of the tour

The tour was 75 minutes and it was nice and cool inside around 50 degrees. The ground was pretty slippery since it rained recently and we were glad we both wore our tennis shoes. Our guide was knowledgeable, friendly and open to questions.

Our tour guide was also full of cheesy jokes that were quite painful. He kept describing everything like it was food. For example one area looked like a sundae to him. Then he had to point out every detail of the sundae all the way down to the caramel drizzle on top. There was also a lot of bacon and then one area was Santa's sleigh or it could also be a bar with a full description of how it could be a bar.

Chris was loving those jokes!

At one point while the tour guide was talking someone let out the loudest fart. There were only 11 people on the tour and we all kind of looked around in disbelief. I think we were also all trying to figure out who did it. I kept hoping it was just a weird shoe sound on the slippery floor. Nope. I wasn't sure of this until later though when the guy started farting loudly again and his poor young son was saying "Dad stop".

The other thing is these caves are protected by law and you are not  supposed to touch anything except the hand rails. This guy kept touching and leaning on the walls every chance he got. What is wrong with people?

The best part of the tour was the end. Not only because we were glad to escape the bad jokes and farts but they actually had a little light show with some music at the prettiest part of the caverns.

Even though this probably sounds like we are complaining we both actually found the whole thing to be kind of funny.