Virginia in the Fall

It is so pretty here when all the leaves change. We went camping in the Shenandoah National Park with Corey and Jill over the weekend and it was so fun! Even though we had to drive in the fog, and even though we got drenched from a sudden downpour and got cold during the night because we chose to buy the cheap sleeping bags at Wal-mart--not a good idea. But we had so much fun being away from the city for a few days.
















We went on a hike Saturday to the Doyles River Falls. They were pretty, nothing spectacular due to the drought in Virginia, but still pretty. We all realized how out of shape we are. The hike started off downhill (we started at the top of the mountain) so that wasn't too bad, but the trek back to the car was pretty gruesome- or so we thought. Lots of breaks for drinks and pictures made it endurable. We went right back to the tents and took a nap. The trip was short but so worth it.

The Last Few Days of Their Trip

Wednesday, Nina went to the Virginia Library to hopefully find some missing links in her family history. She didn't have much luck. That night we had Brian, Kimberly and Cameron over for a dinner of Navajo Tacos. We had a very full apartment. After we had eaten enough scones, we played the Candybar Game.














Thursday afternoon Matt took everyone to Carytown to stroll down Cary Street and eat big, messy burgers at Carytown Burgers and Fries.

Thursday night we ate at CiCi's Pizza--probably the cheapest all-you-can-eat pizza buffet on the east coast. And the pizza's not too bad either. After dinner Matt and Jason played Halo while the girls watched HGTV on the computer. We love watching all those home improvement shows.


Friday we went on a Canal Cruise in Downtown Richmond. Before we got on the boat we took some pictures of the three guys and their goats. This was the longest I had ever seen Matt's facial hair. He was so proud of his manly gotee. Our Canal Cruise began. The boatman and tour guide told us historical facts about how the canal system came to be and some interesting stories of Richmond.




Later, we treated the others to dinner at Bottoms Up Pizza. (can you tell we like pizza?) We are so glad that Tom and Nina, and Jason and Candice could come to Richmond and spend time here. It really meant a lot to us. So thanks guys!!

More DC

All day Tuesday we walked and walked and walked. Our feet and legs were so tired, but we were able to see so many fun things.

Iwo Jima Memorial

Arlington Cemetery

Hain's Point- The Awakening

Thomas Jefferson Memorial

Jason's tuckered.

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

We were only able to tour the gift shop since tours were closed for the day. bummer.

I've got a million bucks!!

Matt is $1,747,500 tall in 1oo dollar notes. Where's the line to collect our money?

Museum of Natural History

sittin' with the monkey :)

Big rock with a hole in it. ooooh.

Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial

(one of my favorites, even more so now that I've seen it at night)

Hopefully all who were involved in the DC death march have recovered from the miles of walking.

DC at night

We finished at Mount Vernon and decided to take the more scenic route to Washington DC. By doing so, we got lost and had to stop and get a map. After driving around some more, Matt realized the map he got was not helping at all. So we stopped again and got a book. Our navigator, Matt, by this time totally frustrated, was finally able to get us on the right track towards our hotel. I don't think anyone was more excited to see the hotel than he was.

We stayed in the Hyatt Hotel in Arlington Monday night. We thought it would be better that way so we could see more of DC. AND, we were able to get our rooms for only 60 dollars each! (regularly $249) Thanks to Candice and I, and Priceline. The guys can't take any credit for this, they were playing Halo the whole time. So we finally got settled in our rooms and went to Georgetown for dinner. Corey told us about a good barbeque place, Old Glory. Thanks Corey, it was great! The best part of the meal was the Tootsie Pops at the end. Any place that gives out suckers has my vote.

After dinner we drove to DC and walked around to some of the monuments in the dark. Most of the pictures were blurry and don't look very good. I guess that's when a tripod would be very handy.

Candice found the name of her uncle whose name is on the Vietnam Memorial Wall.

Mount Vernon

On Monday, we went North to visit the home and estate of George Washington, Mount Vernon.

We took a garden and landscape tour that talked about Washington's layout of his gardens and some of the plants that were around during Washington's time. He planted Tulip poplar's along the sides of the road. Two trees are still intact.

We had already been through the house, and seeing the forever line, Matt and I decided to walk around the gardens some more while the others took the tour of the house. Most of the flowers were finished blooming for the season, but I got a few good ones.

We also did a Slave life tour that was pretty interesting. Washington had over 300 slaves working at Mount Vernon. And he was the only President, out of the nine that had slaves, to free all the slaves he owned. Before the tour, we had some time to relax. Do you notice something missing from Jason's foot?

We finished off the afternoon with some refreshing ice cream.

Candice is sure loving her ice cream cone :)