Last post on our trip - I promise!

We spent the final few days of our trip in Washington, D.C. Dan had some business meetings there so I spent time visiting with my college roommate, Bridget Harding, and her family. This was Stephen's favorite thing because Bridget has 3 young children. Unfortunately, we were having so much fun, I forgot to take pictures! I hate when I realize that later. Right before we left, we had a neighbor come over and take a picture of our two families (I'll post it as soon as they e-mail it to me).

We headed into the city late one afternoon and visited Arlington Cometary. We decided to leave all the other D.C. sites and museums for a later visit when it wasn't so humid. The temp was in the high 80's with 70% humidity and climbing :( Poor Daniel had a very difficult time since he walked around with his own built in heater 24/7.

Arlington was beautiful. Stephen enjoyed watching all the squirrels and Daniel enjoyed watching the changing of the guard at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.



My favorite place was the "Memorial Amphitheater." It is a beautiful amphitheater constructed almost entirely out of marble in Roman style. What made it so meaningful to me were the inscriptions. The first is from George Washington when he was General of the Continental Army, "When we assumed the soldier we did not lay aside the citizen." The second is from Lincoln's Gettysburg address, "We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain." And the third, translated from the latin, "It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country. Then inscribed around the colonnade are the names of 44 battles from the Revolution through the Spanish-American war and the names of 28 generals and admirals prior to WWI.

This amphitheater is right behind the Tomb of the Unknowns and since they ask for silence there - the amphitheater is pretty quiet too. It made it a beautiful and peaceful moment to reflect on all the men and women who have sacrificed for us to have the freedoms we do. And it made both Dan and I resolve to do what we can to insure they they did not die in vain.

Favorite Houses

We were worried that we would leave Virginia without having seen the homes of two of our favorite presidents, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Luckily we were able to fit both Monticello and Montpelier into our plans. We didn't get to spend as much time at either home as we would have liked but we did get to see both of them - so we'll take what we can get ;)

Monticello was very busy. We had to wait quite a while for our turn to tour the home so we spent lots of time on the grounds (which are very pretty). We started an outdoor tour but the guide was really negative so we just did the self-guided thing. And then as the luck of the draw would have it, our tour guide for the home was not so good either :( As we waited for our turn we heard other tour guides we wish we could have had. I just don't know why anyone would want to work at the home of a man they didn't like.

So our time at Monticello was nice - we just had to pretend that no one else was there ;)

Then we took off for Montpelier. The drive was lovely - it's really amazing how much land there is in Virginia without houses on it. The only bug was cell reception - that was awful. Both Dan and I had some business we had to take care of over the phone that afternoon so frustration was running high.

Montpelier is going through an extensive remodel to bring it back to the state it was in when the Madison's lived in it. They are almost finished. We want to visit this home again when it's furnished and the grounds around the house have grown back.

Our tour guide here was absolutely awesome! She was not only very knowledgeable, she really loved and admired both James and Dolley Madison. Because of some storm warnings, very few people were visiting this home. In fact, we had the tour guide all to ourselves! Which was good because this is the house in which Stephen announced he was finished touring. He rarely screams or cries but he let loose in this house. So daddy spent 1/2 the tour outside - bless his heart. The cool thing about this home is that the property is so extensive. It sits on 2,650 acres! And 200 of those acres make up this amazing "landmark forest" with a bunch of trails running through it. I really wish we could have spent the entire day here.

The Best Little Traveler

Stephen has been so good while we've been traveling this week. He looks out the window as we drive from place to place and just jabbers. He is VERY talkative. He makes us laugh during long drives even at home.

He loves picking up rocks whenever he gets out of his stroller (I have no idea why it keeps loading sideways like that - I've uploaded it 5 times - oh well just turn your head ;). If there aren't any rocks then he loves pushing his stroller or running about with his leash on. He always takes time to point at things he loves and to flirt with ladies of all ages.


At the end of the day - he's a lot of fun in our room. This little movie shows the first time we let him jump on the bed. We're probably starting something we'll regret later but he was just too cute!

Historic Triangle

We just finished 4 days visting the sites of the "Historic Triangle" which includes Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown & Yorktown. It was fabulous!
We bought a 7 day pass to get into the three areas and we felt it was well worth it. We could have spent another day if we had the time.

Both Jamestown and Yorktown had recreated areas which were interesting but our favorite parts were the actual locations. All of the sites had great museums and visitor centers as well as extremely knowledgeable and friendly guides/staff. I don't want to bore any of you with the details (especially if you've visited these areas before) but I will share the things we enjoyed most at each site:

Colonial Williamsburg
We went to see George Wythe's home and were not disappointed. It was extremely well preserved and so I got to walk and put my hand places that I know both George Wythe and Thomas Jefferson had - how cool is that?!

The other thing we really enjoyed were the dramatizations they did. At first I worried that it would be boring and cheesy - I was pleasantly surprised. They do various dramatizations throughout the day and then for about 2 hours they have things pretty non-stop right in downtown Williamsburg. Our favorite reinactment was when the traitor Benedict Arnold came riding into town after the British captured Williamsburg and gave us (the townspeople) the "terms". He did a masterful job with his part and we were impressed with some ad-libbing he did as well. You could just feel how betrayed everyone in the town would feel to have Arnold of all people capture their city. They planted townsfolk in costume to help keep the fervor alive and help you understand the feelings of the community. The day before they reinacted the forming of the militia at the beginning of the war. They grabbed tourists to play the parts and Daniel wanted to join in as they marched through town to the fife and drum.

Jamestown
The thing we enjoyed most at Jamestown was the archaeological dig area and the museum that houses everything they have found so far. The stuff they've been able to discover through forensics about the bodies of the dead is phenomenal. We learned interesting things at the recreation area but you can't beat actually being there! The grounds surrounding the archaeological area were beautiful and as it neared dusk there were tons of deer out as well as other animals. Stephen went crazy chasing all the squirrels.

Yorktown
The Battlefield sounds like it would be kind of boring, but it was really exciting. We had a little guided tour of some of the battlefield and then we did the rest in our car. This siege at Yorktown was not only decisive - it was the last major battle of the war. Washington made the decision to take Yorktown while in Williamsburg (they reenacted that as well) and one of my favorite soldiers of the Revolutionary War, Major-General Lafayette (of France) was instrumental in taking Yorktown with very little blood.

We also enjoyed touring the original Yorktown Main Street and Waterfront area. The best thing was seeing Governor Nelson's home. Governor Nelson was in charge of the Militia and was part of the siege. He noticed that his men were taking care not to fire the canon anywhere near his home. Knowing that the British were using his home he asked his men what they were doing. They said they didn't want to fire anywhere near his home. He asked them to but they hesitated. So he got out in front of the canon and commanded that his men fire on his house. They did and there are canon balls still stuck in the walls of the home. We don't know if they blew out windows but Dan was thinking that although they fired on Nelson's house it seemed they tried not to use very much gunpowder so the balls didn't go so far as to blow huge holes in the walls ;) The second picture shows another canon ball between the two windows on the third floor.


So now that we have this triangle finished - we're off to Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's home) and if we have time we'll see Montpelier (James Madison's home). I'm so excited! I have wanted to visit Monticello for years and years!