Manasas, Virginia and a great visit!

Greenville Farm and Family Campground
Beautiful Sunny Days

We made the short trip from College Park, Maryland to Haymarket, Virginia on Wednesday morning. The Greenville Farm is a working farm complete with soybeans, cows and silos.  The campground appears to be an afterthought for a good use for extra land.  It is a basic camp, but has everything we needed.  It was very quiet and peaceful.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner at my cousins beautiful home in Manasas and really got to relax and catch up.  The great thing about family is many years can go by but it's like a minute passed since you last saw them.  We certain enjoyed Denise's company.

Thursday we headed over the the Air and Space Museum at Dulles.  It was amazing and I enjoyed every minute.  Eric enjoyed the War planes and I enjoyed the space program exhibit.  We saw the Discovery Space Shuttle on the launch pad in 2010 and it is now housed here.  The size is mind boggling.  You look behind you and there is the Mercury Capsule that carried one astronaut in very tight quarters.  Amazing!

Mercury Capsule

Gemini Capsule

Heat tiles on the Shuttle

The engines

Discovery

The Enola Gay

The Concorde

The capsule that Felix Baumgartner leapt from 

Saturday was a sunny beautiful day with not a cloud in the sky.  We ventured down to Mt. Vernon to George Washington's estate.  We got there early to avoid the crowds which were plentiful later in the day.  We brought the pups and Denise watched over them while we did the short Mansion tour.  No photos are allowed inside.  It was beautiful.  I was most impressed with the gardens.  You can buy small plants from the gardens and I would have loved that, but I don't think I could keep it alive across the country.  Denise and I enjoyed roasted apples dipped in honey for a snack.  They were good and warded off starvation.

After we wandered about for awhile, we were starving.  We got our names on the list for an outdoor table at Mt. Vernon Inn for lunch.  The pups could stay with us while we ate.  We ordered three appetizers, three entrees, three soups, and three glasses of wine.  We ate it all! Delicious food and I would definitely recommend.  We took the scenic route home and enjoyed Denise's hot tub and nice wine.  So relaxed, I slept like a rock when we got back to our coach.

Sunday we headed to Antietam for the bloodiest day of the Civil War.  The leaves were beautiful and the battlefield was peaceful.  

We headed over the Harper's Ferry for a quick lunch and to wander the little town and see where the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers merge.  What a neat place this is.  The Appalachian Trail passes through here and it is home to the US Armory taken over by Abolitionist John Brown.   He wanted to take the 100,000 rifles and give them to slaves in Virginia.  He never made it out of the Armory.

We so enjoyed our weekend and I am going to miss my cousin.  It was nice having someone to talk to and someone my age around.  Tomorrow we head further south so I can visit the Virginia Quilt Museum and Eric can enjoy the Virginia Military Institute.  

Washington DC-Amazing and a must do for everyone

Cherry Hill Campaground
College Park, MD

We are staying at Cherry Hill, the closet campground to DC.  This place is huge and is getting bigger with ongoing expansion, construction, and improvements. If you are going to DC in an RV, this is an easy place to do.  You are fairly close to the subway station that takes you right into DC and drops you off at the National Archives, where the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bills of Rights are displayed.  It is very easy to get around.

We arrived on Friday early afternoon and went to our site.  It was so tight we couldn't open our slides without hitting the neighbors awning.  Our door opened right into theirs.  I called the office to see what else was available, drove around and found a much better site for coaches.  A simple move and we were in for 5 days.  The campground holds a tour seminar every day that explains how to get into the city, how to buy and fill your subway card and of course sells tours.  We decided to do the night time bus tour as we do not travel at night anymore, let alone in a strange city.  It was interesting and gave us a lay of the land so to speak so we could get around on our own later.

 The monuments were amazing at night.  It gave a different perspective to them all.  There were a lot of people wandering about.

On Saturday we took the subway in and visited the National Archives, the Smithsonian American History Museum, the US Capitol, and the Library of Congress.  Whew, busy full day.

No photos allowed inside to protect the Documents.  They are something to see.

The Natural History Museum

There is that comedy album again!

The Ruby slippers were a light hearted break

The Capitol is undergoing renovations of the dome

George Washington is sitting in the middle.  The donut protects the Rotunda from the renovation.

Stained Glass at the Library of Congress

Sunday we took the day and went to Fort McHenry and take a drive thru Delaware.  We did a little podcast for the classroom of the Star Spangled Banner and the War of 1812. 

This flag went into space

Monday we were booked up with live podcasts for the class from the Lincoln Memorial, WWII Memorial, Korean War Memorial and Washington Memorial.  We did a recorded video from the Vietnam Memorial.  I am not sure if she will use it.  It was really hard to do and it came across very somber.  I had a POW Bracelet I wore in the 70's.  I had researched Nicholas Brooks and found his name on the Wall.  His remains were one of the very few that were returned from Laos in 1982.  His pilot has not yet been returned.  After that we headed over to Fords Theatre.  By then I was tired and a little down from all the memorials, wars and death.  Maybe doing all of the memorials in one day is too much, but now we done.  

The Korean War Memorial

The Gun that killed Lincoln

We thought we had visited everything we wanted to, but wait-there's more!  On Tuesday we headed to the US Supreme Court for a lecture in the Court room.  Very well done with a knowledge docent driving home how few cases are heard every year.  No photos are allowed in the Court room.

The Court Room

The old Supreme Court Room in the Capitol

The model for the statue Freedom

After that we decided to do the Capitol tour again since there were so few people wandering about.  So glad we did as we got into a small tour and visited other parts of the building we didn't get to see Saturday.  We went to Harry Reid's office to get passes for the Senate and House Gallery's.  Nothing was going on, but it was nice to see the Chambers.  Again, no photos as they take away your phone and any electronics before you go in.  

The students wanted a podcast from the White House so we walked the 2 miles to the White House and walked around the entire area.  It was nice seeing it during the day and wow things have changed.  When we were here before you could get a little closer but roads are now shut down and there is lots of security everywhere you look.  

So after 5 days in Washington DC we spent a total of $150.00, $80.00 of which was the night time bus tour.  This included lunches and subway fares.  Everything we went to was free.  This is a great city and easy to do on a budget.  My vivo-fit counted about 8 miles a day as we walked everywhere.  I enjoyed the history and learned a lot.  

Next up is visiting my cousin.  I am looking forward to catching up with her as I haven't seen her in 5 years and I've always felt close to her.  Get ready Virginia-here we come!