Autumn Road Trip 2007
October 19-27

Planned sites: D.C., Shenandoah Valley, Blue Ridge Parkway, Grandfather Mountain, Asheville and the Smokies

This was a quickly-planned trip and started as 5 days in D.C. and 3 days to drive back along the Parkway. But our true nature came through and we opted to get a quick peek at D.C. on Saturday and Sunday and head back so we would have more time along the Blue Ridge. Our reasoning was that we could not see all D.C. and the surrounding area had to offer even if we stayed for weeks there, so might as well just hit a few highlights and have a better idea of what to expect when we do go stay for a while.
Plus that-it's Autumn in the Appalachians, rivaled only by Spring as the best time and place to be alive simultaneously.

October 19-20

We left the house at about 11:30 on Friday and went to Huntsville to return library books, have lunch and fuel up.

We stopped again at Unclaimed Baggage in Scottsboro and the kids each snagged a new Gameboy game for between $6 and $10. Woo! Chan also scored a used Gameboy that looks brand new for $20.

We stopped once more in Bristol, VA for a quick dinner and a final time at Salem for gas. Other than a couple rest-stop breaks for about 30 minutes of snoozing at a time, I drove us all night and at 6:30 Saturday morning, we were in D.C! I drove around and around the city and got the lay-out in my head before there was even any traffic! We scored a free parking spot just across the street from the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and hung out on the Mall the rest of the day, using the van as a crash pad and snack machine on occasion. The sign said 3 hour parking, but no one else moved after they got parked, either.

We got to see the sun rise over the Capital.

We roamed around snapping photos a while and meandered down to the Washington Monument and found the line for tickets. There was only a 10 minute wait for the ticket office to open, so we got in line after using the very nice and clean bathrooms there. We scored 5 tickets for 11:30 (it was 9:30) and later heard they had given out all 6800 tickets to the top of the monument by 9:45! What luck!

We killed some time walking around the monument to the Lincoln Memorial and the war monuments there-Korean and WWII. We opted to head back to the van for snacks and on the way, toured several of the solar-powered houses set up in front of the Smithsonian Castle. The kids did not want to ride the carousel! It was pretty crowded by 11, there was the solar house competition as well as a Walk for Autism-I would not be surprised to hear there were 5,000 people in that as well as the regular Saturday family crowds and joggers.

The Solar Decathlon was in DC while we were there-SO cool!

After the Washington Monument tour-which was very nice, we loved the views and I loved watching Ben examine the monument, it is a huge block tower after all!

Ben compares the difference between the Capital view in 1900 and now.

The Mall and Capital-hey, I can see my car from here!

Jefferson Memorial. You have to swim over to visit that one, it's on an island.

Washington D.C.

View from top to the Lincoln Memorial.
Yes, that really is a Native American encampment down there on the lower right.

View of Washington Monument from the Lincoln Memorial

And the White House

After we came back down, we headed over to the Museum of Natural History.

We were winding down, so we only did the lower floor. The insect zoo is closed and no one really wanted to see the Hope Diamond, so the second floor held no allure.

We left town around 2 to get to the hotel, which after we FINALLY found it-no where NEAR where their website claimed, and not even close to the 3 stars, I refused the room and we ended up back in D.C. at the Days Inn for Saturday night at least. My original plan was to stay both nights, but I am thinking we may head West after the ghost tour tomorrow night to get clear of the traffic Monday morning. It was bad enough today! But I never got cut off and I always managed to get over when I needed to, everyone has been nice here. There are cops every 10 feet, too. I mean Police.

We ate dinner at the IHOP next door and Matt is already passed out (it's 6 p.m.) I had a hot bath and plan to hit the sack myself in a few. Last night has not caught up with me just yet. I feel it coming though...

Tomorrow, the plan is to see the zoo and ride the Metro and we have reservations for the ghost tour in Alexandria at 7:30.

As you may have noticed-the leaves have not really started changing here yet.

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SUNDAY