To say that this trip would be a major undertaking would have been a huge understatement! Every time that I thought about this trip, I dreaded the planning as well as the going. I am very fortunate that Matt loves history and does his research when it comes to trips like this. He knew the places that he wanted to visit, he poured his time and energy into our Rand McNally Atlas for days/weeks this winter. To look at the atlas now, you would think it has chicken pox, what with all the circles and dots!
For me, I had no desire to visit DC again. I went in high school 2x - each visit being different areas of DC. I really had no ambition to trek to our nation's capital in the middle of July with 10s of thousands of other tourists. To say that I dragged my feet (maybe even a bit of whining and complaining along the way) would be truth, I am sad to admit. It wasn't something I wanted to do and Matt knew that. After I realized that this trip WAS going to happen, I looked up documentaries for us to watch as a family - preparing us for the trip. Helping us understand the meaning behind the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the history of Arlington Cemetery, touring the plantations of Monticello and Mount Vernon. Anything that I could find, we watched (and let me say, it was pretty cool to have the kids say, "hey, I remember that from the movie we watched!").
We packed up the Thule and the van on Wednesday morning and left our house Wednesday afternoon (July 5th...one day after Kaitee got home from Guatemala!). Our plan was to drive straight through to West Virginia, arriving in the early morning hours. We left home and were met with a tremendous downpour. We hadn't even left the Quad Cities and came across a handful of cars pulled over due to the heavy, blowing rain. We decided that moment would be a good time to pray for our drive! Here is the storm cloud as we came out of it on I-74.
Our first scheduled stop was The New River Gorge Bridge, in Fayetteville, WV. My second trip to the DC area in high school included white water rafting on the New River (I was too chicken to do the rafting!). I have since been in love with this bridge and this area! I was so excited to show Matt and the kids this bridge! We arrived (rather tired from driving all night...but now rejuvenated for our first stop) at sunrise and found the bridge....and an immense amount of very dense fog. I was so disappointed by the construction and the fog. We decided to go find breakfast, in hopes that the fog would dissipate enough to see the gorge.
After breakfast didn't prove any better for the bridge viewing. We walked to the overlook to get some pictures. We waved at the semis in hopes of a honk or two, but they couldn't even see us!
Here is what the bridge looks like on a sunny day (borrowed from the www)...
The bridge is huge - this comparison chart helps to put it in perspective.
We left the overlook and loved seeing the sun softened by the fog.
We drove down the winding path to the base of the bridge, hoping that the fog would continue to fade away. No luck.
We got back on the road again - now heading into Virginia. At this point, we were all a little slap happy!
Our first two state signs of the trip. Crossing over into Kentucky and West Virginia (middle of the night for both), we couldn't stop because the signs were over bridges. We were able to snag Virginia and West Virginia at the same stop.
As Matt looked at the map - figuring out the best way to get to Appomattox - he got so excited to see we would be driving right through Lexington, VA. To me, this meant nothing...to Matt (and any Civil War history buff), this was huge! We (in other words, HE) made a decision to add two more stops to our day.
Our first stop was Washington-Lee University. Taken from their website - "Founded in 1749, Washington and Lee University is named for two men who played pivotal roles in the University's history: George Washington, whose generous endowment of $20,000 in 1796 helped the fledgling school (then known as Liberty Hall Academy) survive, and Robert E. Lee, who provided innovative educational leadership during his transformational tenure as president of Washington College from 1865 to 1870".
Robert E Lee died of a stroke while president of the university. He and his family are buried in the Lee Chapel, on the university grounds.
We did a quick tour of the town as we made our way a few blocks over to Memorial Cemetery - where Stonewall Jackson is buried. To visit the graves of these two amazing generals was a great way to start our trip. They were unexpected stops but so instrumental - helping our trip come full circle in the end.
Our second
planned stop - Appomattox Court House. This is where the Confederate Army surrendered to the Union Army. I am pretty dumb when it comes to historical facts. However, I can empathize and have an understanding of the magnitude of events in our history. To stand on the steps and to walk through the McLean House (where Lee and Grant met to write the terms of surrender) was humbling to say the least.
At this point, we bid farewell to the Civil War and headed towards Monticello. Before we left the park we ate our picnic lunch and took a few minutes to regain our sanity. At this point, we were all a little tired of being in the van and being around each other. Leaving at 4 pm Wednesday, it was now noon Thursday and none of us had slept. We were tired of driving! Lunch helped a bit and we headed out.
We ended our "first" day (I use that term lightly as the day went on and on and on!) at Jefferson's Monticello. We parked in the lot at the bottom of the "mountain", purchased our tickets and took the tram up to his plantation. To say he was a genius would be correct. He utilized the top of the mountain in amazing ways (gardens, home, lawns, graveyards). We weren't allowed to take pictures inside of the house due to property rights of individual items that were on loan to the estate. If you are interested in seeing some of these items, google search his inventions.
Our day was hot with lots of sunshine. There were a few storm clouds building but seemed to disappear as quickly as they appeared. You'd never guess it by these smiling faces, but we were done for the day.
Jefferson's estate is beautiful! We are waiting for the tour in this picture.
We were there towards the end of the day, and were able to get some great pictures without tourists.
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| The house is behind us - Here's the amazing view from a top the mountain! |
The Nickel Picture
We finished touring Monticello and headed back to our van - walking down the mountain instead of taking the tram. Why not, huh!? It really wasn't that long of a walk and it was good to stretch our legs after being in the van for so many hours. We stopped in the gift shop (if nothing else than to enjoy the air conditioning for few minutes!) then hit the road to find our hotel. Along the way, we were going to drive through Charlottesville to catch a glimpse of the University of Virginia (founded by Jefferson). We also planned to stop at the grave of James Madison (Father of the Constitution) but ended up taking a wrong turn outside of Monticello. When we realized our mistake, we decided to forego the grave and university and find the hotel, which was another 45 minutes north.. We were hungry, very tired (driving and sightseeing for 24 straight hours...that doesn't include the 10 hours we had already been awake on Wednesday before we left town) and (I am ashamed to admit) ready to head back home!
We slept REALLY good that night!
