The town had a population of over 7,000 at one point thanks to a soapstone quarry, but has diminished to next to nothing. Currently there is a Walton's Museum and 'Ikes Store' that keeps the town alive at this point. The museum had a lot in it, and was housed in an old school. It was fun to see the exhibits. Here we are in front of the home that Earl grew up in.
We drove into Shenandoah National
Park. Most of the park is closed, due to snow and ice, but we were able to
drive 30 miles of the Skyline Drive. The mountains are beautiful.
We turned around to catch the Virginia sign we missed the day before.
We ended the night driving into
Washington D.C. around 8:30pm. We were in awe when we saw the Washington Monument all lite up. Beautiful. We are staying at the International House Hostel
just a few blocks from all the happenings. We have stayed at Hostels before, in
Europe many, many times, and with the girls once in San Diego. We consider them
part of the ‘traveling experience’ we love to share with the girls. Tonight the
three of us girls have a room by ourselves, and Scott is in a mixed dorm with
five other beds. Tomorrow night, the three of us girls will share a room with another
man, not Scott … such is the hostel life!
Here are a couple of photos to help
you see how we travel. The first is of Paradis making sandwiches while in the
McDonald’s parking lot. We try to eat at least two meals ‘in’ each day. The girls are in charge of making all the meals in the back of the van; they usually do it while we are driving down the road but we had to stop to get my 'fix' (AKA McDonald's Unsweetened tea with light ice).
We tell the girls this next photo is
what you get when traveling with ‘older’ parents. The girls absolutely hate the
chain Scott keeps on his glasses, and I’m sure you can imagine how they feel
about my ‘dual glasses’ set-up. But it works for both of us, and so we roll
with it!
I’ll leave you with a photo I took
before going to bed. This is the luggage we ‘collected’ from the van before
returning it to Union Station (we will take public transportation or walk the
next three days). It was another good day on the road.
P.S. No stats tonight. I’m behind on
the blog, and I need some rest!
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