Plymouth

Plymouth

The kids and I made a trip over to Plymouth to see the Mayflower and other sites there.  

The genuine Plymouth Rock of 1620.

The harbor at Plymouth

A full view of the Mayflower II.  I was surprised at how small the vessel was.  

The crews quarters

The cook's stove

New York City

New York City

We arrived in NY about 6:30pm and got setup at the RV Park right across the Hudson River from the City.  We were eager to get into the city and see the sights so we headed out on the subway into Times Square.  The city was bustling with activity and people and we stayed out that first night till 12am.  

The next day it was raining all morning.  The kids and I headed out to the 9/11 Memorial.  It's hard to get the scope of the site from this picture.  The pools are as big as the foot print of the buildings that were destroyed.  The outer edge of the pools have inscribed into them the names of all the victims of the terrorist attack.  The pools have waterfalls that go down the edge and then down the middle to a bottomless pool.  It's a beautiful site and will be even more so when it's completed.

We walked through Central Park

The view from our RV Park...

Philly Cheese Steaks

Philly Cheese Steaks

We had to go to Philadelphia and have an authentic Philly Cheese Steak at Pat's King of Steak.  We saw this restaurant on Diner's, Drive-ins, and Dives and it was excellent!!!

That's all we did in Philadelphia.  We made the mistake of driving into town in the RV.  We thought the Liberty Bell Museum would have a parking lot to accomodate us but we were wrong!  They had a parking garage and we had to look to park the RV somewhere else.  We found a Walmart a ways away and after doing all that and eating the Philly Cheese Steaks we were a bit exhausted and eager to get onto NY City...

Washington DC - Meanderings

Washington DC - Meanderings

The biggest escalator we've ever seen.  I got a little dizzy going up it...

Alan and the boys went to the Air and Space Museum...  Alan loved it - the boys were a little tortured...

The boys entered a pie eating contest at the RV Park we stayed at...  Turns out there's a definite technique to pie eating and they didn't have it!!!  They had half the pie done when the people down at the end of the table had completed.  They thought they were gonna have this one in the bag!

Washington DC - The Monuments

Washington DC - The Monuments

We took the monuments by storm.  The first day it was Alan and me and the boys only.  The second day we rented bikes and the girls joined us.  One thing I noticed is that they are much bigger and grander than they appear in pictures.  If you think about the period of time in which the Capitol building was built it's amazing to me that we could build such structures.  The interior of the Capitol is filled with beautiful artwork - both statues and paintings as well as the architecture of the building itself.  The monuments are very spread out too.  The first day we walked and my feet were killing me.  Biking is definitely the way to go...  We also went to the Smithsonian Museums of Art and Natural History...

Outside the Capitol

We had our own tour guide.  An intern for Senator Boxer.

We weren't the only ones!  The building was full of people getting a little history.

This is the lucky spot in the Capitol.

Outside Lincoln Memorial

The reflecting pool and Washington Monument.

Our bike entourage...

The Lincoln Memorial

Inside the Memorial

World War II Memorial

World War II Memorial

Washington Monument

Jefferson Memorial

Alan, doing a wheelie in front of the White House.  (I couldn't figure out why my video is sideways or how to flip it - sorry).  We weren't allowedd tours of the white house and the president has closed it off for about the last six months.  

Virginia - Canoeing and other Adventures

Virginia - Canoeing and other Adventures

We did a ranger-led canoe trip through a creek in the York State Park.

Aaron was my canoeing partner.  

He felt like he was doing all the paddling...  That's because he was facing forward and couldn't see that I was really the one doing all the paddling!

The creek runs out to the York River - which was too choppy and windy that day for us to go out on.  We say several osprey, crabs, herons and other wildlife...

Alan and Ryan were paired up..

At camp, they had a giant waterslide...  

Virginia - The Appalachians

Virginia - The Appalachians

We left Monticello and were eager to get away from it all and vegitate in the forest for a bit.  As we drove down the highway I saw a turnoff for the Blue Ridge Highway and said let's take it.  As we went up our cell service started to get sketchy just as Alan started to receive a bunch of phone calls.  One of them was 'urgent' and he couldn't make out what it was.  We continued on up to the campsite where he got us all situated and then he had to drive back down the hill till he got service.  While he was one the boys and I went hiking on a trail that wound around the top of the peak we were on. 

Our campsite in the state park.  

The trailhead.  We packed a backpack to take in case we got lost.  We had a compass, water, snacks, jackets, a hatchet and a knife.  Of course, who do you think got to carry it?

We spot a deer on the trail.

 

The boys try to see how close they can get.  At one point back in the campsite We spotted seven deer and they encircled Ryan.  It was a wondrous place!

View at the top of the trail.  Looking out over the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Aaron looks over and says "Look, we can climb down."  I don't know what's wrong with this kid!  It was a forty foot drop with crumbling rocks and sharp spikey rocks at the bottom.  I'm not sure what's in store for me, but I'll have to keep an eye on this one...