Lynchburg, VA

10/14 We left Front Royal today and drove south on Highway 15 (James Madison Highway) almost all the way to Lynchburg. Very nice drive. Unfortunately, the weather got worse the farther we went. Started sprinkling and rain by the time we got there. Temp started dropping as well into the low 40’s. The worst part about the day was that, as I was trying to back into a site, I could not see what was on the left side. The corner of the trailer found a tree.

I haven’t looked at it too closely yet due to the rain, but it doesn’t look too bad. Probably have to replace a portion of the bumper (hope that is all!!).

10/16 We drove down to Brookneal, VA. and found the home and acreage of Patrick Henry where he lived for the last six years of his life (Red Hill plantation).

The whole area is beautiful.

We saw his house,

his office,

the slaves’ house,

the kitchen house,

his burial grounds,

a blacksmith shop,

a view of the countryside behind his land,

and a garden that had cotton and tobacco growing in it.

Mom, of course, got some of the cotton.

From there we made our way over to Appomattox to see the historic sites. However, we were to late so we will have to go back at a later date.

10/17 Drove over to the Gladys, VA post office to get our mail. Unfortunately, it has not arrived yet.
Drove into Lynchburg to see some sights. Saw a farmers' market and had to walk thru it.

You might know that, for all of the vegetables, etc. that were for sale, we ended up buying some good stuff:

(School was having a fund-raiser).  Now that we had donuts, we needed coffee!!  Found the visitor’s center and told the guys in the Center that if they had coffee, we had donuts!!  And, guess what?  They had coffee!  So we had donuts and coffee while we watched a short movie there.  Got some brochures and some great information about what to see.
We walked up 172 steps to get to the Lynchburg Museum (and it was well worth it).

This is the view looking down at the James River:

Each level commemorated the soldiers of Viriginia that were killed in the wars from the Civil War thru the Vietnam War.

After spending a couple of hours there, we walked back down the steps and drove out to the Old City Cemetery where they have sections for the confederate army, the coloreds, and the townspeople.

This is a picture of what was commonly found at a colored's grave site.  Empty bottles were hung to keep the spirits out and the bed post was there for them to gain easy access to heaven.

Union soldiers were originally buried there as well, but after the war, they moved them further north.
From there we drove over to Natural Caverns where we saw one of the seven wonders of the world.

Very impressive. Just up from the Cavern was a replica of a small Indian village.

There were people dressed in costume (one lady was actually a descendent of the tribe) and they talked about life during those times.

It was quite a drive over and back – we drove up and down to sets of mountains to get there.

In one stretch trucks over 65 feet were forbidden due to the sharp curves. And, we saw two trucks get turned around by the state patrol!! Apparently, it is a good shortcut for them if they don’t get caught!
We got back to the CG late but the long day was well worth it!!

Washington DC and our visit with the Swartz's

10/10 This morning we started our trip in to see Larry and Laura Swartz in Clifton, VA. We started out on I-66 in Front Royal about 10 AM and drove right in to Washington, DC to see the sights (about a 65 mile trip). We didn’t get out of the truck at all but just drove around and saw all the sites
Here we are crossing the Potomac River:

Washington Monument

White House (can't drive in front on Pennsylvania Ave anymore)

Lincoln Memorial

Jefferson Memorial (front and back)

Arlington National Cemetary

Pentagon

Afterwards, we headed back out I-66 to the Swartz’s house. We got there about 3PM. After a couple of hours of catching up, we started playing cards (which we used to do in NJ with them). We started with HI-LO, a game that we had taught them years ago, took a break for supper, and then continued on with the cards. At some point we switched to Spades, and finally ended about 12:30 am!

We stayed overnight at their house, got up around 9, had some breakfast, did a little more catch up and then started cards again! We playing until about 1 PM, had some lunch, and then watched the Steeler game with them and their son, David. He lives in Arlington and is an AVID Steeler fan; he couldn’t get the game on his TV, but Larry had access to all games, so he came there to watch.

Here is a picture of the 3 of them:

Their other son, Dan, and his wife and granddaughter (Lydia) live in PA so we didn't get to see them.

Mom and Laura left around 3 PM for church. Laura is the piano player for the band and had to be there early for practice. Larry and I left the house around 4:30 and drove to church for the 5PM service. It was an Anglican church so the service was not like back home, but was very good.

After church, we said our goodbyes and left for the CG.  All in all, it was a great weekend.

Virginia - Front Royal

10/7 Today we left the Hershey CG and headed toward VA. We actually left PA, went thru Maryland (all of about 38 miles), then into VA, then out of VA into WVA, then out of WVA and into VA. Sound confusing??
Front Royal, VA. is located in the Shenandoah Valley of North Western Virginia between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Massanutten Mountains. The Shenandoah Valley is part of a 1,200 mile long valley extending from southern Canada to Alabama.
Front Royal got its name back in colonial days.  A giant oak, the "royal" tree of England stood in the public square.  There, on muster days, the local militia drilled, composed of raw recruits slow to learn the military commands.  On one occasion, the sorely tired drill sergeant became so exasperated by the clumsy efforts of his troops and their failure to follow his command that he hit upon a phrase all could understand and shouted:  "Front the Royal Oak."  It was repeated many times and eventually ended up as "Front Royal."
Our CG is about 10 miles southwest of Front Royal. The scenery is fantastic.

This is a picture of the Blue Ridge Mountains from our CG. The scenery is fantastic.

On Friday we drove into Front Royal where the Shenandoah National Park begins.
They have a 105 mile scenic drive called 'Skyline Drive," from one end to the other (35 MPH speed limit). We started at Front Royal and were pleasantly surprised when we drove up to the park entrance. We noticed that the rate was $13 per car or $10 for seniors. When I asked the ranger for a senior pass, he asked if we had the Golden Age Pass, (which we remembered that we did), we found our card and got in for FREE!
After leaving the ranger station, the road immediately started winding uphill. I think we got to about 2500 feet before we sort of leveled off and started enjoying the scenery. They had many turn offs where you could view the countryside below. We took so many pictures because it was all so neat, as you will see below:

Eventually we started climbing again to about 3300 feet and stayed at that level for a long way.

Even encountered a tunnel up here:

  Pictures cannot begin to capture the real beauty of the trip.  The entire trip is about 105 miles; we got off after 65 miles and 4 hours later. We came down the mountainside into the valley and then made our way back to Front Royal via Hiway 340 and back to the CG.  The weather was great - temperature in Front Royal was 80+ while up in the mountains it was in the 70's.  A great day for sightseeing!!