To South Carolina

Friday, October 29, 2010
Up early to continue on to Williamston on I-64 before turning southward on I-17 to the Croatan National Forest. We passed lots of cotton fields with their little white tufts and piles of cotton caught on bridges. There is a beautiful campground on the Neuse River, but due to tall trees we could not get Internet which is unfortunately needed for our jobs, so we moved down toward the coast and are camping at a beautiful campground, Cedar Point located between the White Oak River and Bogue Sound. Hopefully the weather will hold as there are excellent kayaking opportunities and hiking along tideland trails in the salt-water marsh.
The next day we did go for a kayak paddle and a walk to see the wild life.

Kitty Hawk, NC "Wright Brothers"

Thursday, October 28, 2010
We left Virginia on a VERY humid day after a heavy rain the night before. We enjoyed a beautiful drive of the ever-changing colors of the autumn leaves. We made our way over to the Outer Banks of North Carolina to travel down the narrow strip of land to Kitty Hawk NC. to the Wright Brother’s Memorial. There is a very nice visitor’s center and exhibit pavilion and you can walk the grounds to see where their flights took place, restored buildings they worked in and markers showing the length of their 4 most famous test flights. The park is beautiful with lots of walking paths etc. Well worth the trip.
As we left there we drove through Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head before crossing a bridge west over to Roanoke Island and then another bridge back to the mainland. If we had continued south along the chain of Outer Bank Islands we could have visited Bodie Island, the resort area of Cape Hatteras (Hatteras Island), and Ocracoke Island of the famous Banker ponies or Ocracoke ponies brought over by Spanish explorers. We spent the night in Plymouth NC.

Historic, Jamestown

Monday Oct. 25, 2010
Visited “Historic” Jamestown, the original town site of the first permanent English settlement. We took a ranger tour and also attended a talk with a character actor dressed up and acting like John Rolfe, the guy who married Pocahontas. Both talks were very interesting and well worth the time.
They are continuing to do archeological digs at the site, but have unearthed a great deal of the brick and stone foundations of homes surrounding the fort. The nearby archaearium has many interesting artifacts. You can see their discoveries at: www.historicjamestowne.org/the_dig We were able to go into the old church (1608) and wander around inside the old fort.
We also enjoyed watching a man make a beautiful vase at the restored Glasshouse, one of the first industries for the town.
On thw way out we saw some turtles in the swamp. There is also a nearby reconstruction of the entire town called Jamestown Settlement, but we ran out of time to see that, plus a torrential downpour began shortly after leaving Historic Jamestown.
Between Yorktown and Jamestown is Williamsburg which would be fun to visit. They have many re-enactments there in the historic village. The downside is that it is a tourist trap with lots of “cute” shops and the traffic is terrible, even in late fall. It would be easy to spend a month in the area. The three towns (Virginia’s historic triangle) are connected by the beautiful Colonial Parkway, a 23 miles scenic roadway that claims several million travelers a year enjoying the natural and cultural beauty of Virginia.

Yorktown Colonial National Park

Saturday Oct 23, 2010
Visited Yorktown Battle Field, a Colonial National Historical Park. This is where a final battle took place between General Charles Lord Cornwallis commanding the British army and General George Washington’s American and French army. If you remember your history Cornwallis finally had to surrender to Washington on October 19, 1781 essentially ending the America Revolution.
We took an excellent ranger tour here with a gal that really knew her stuff. If she’d been my history teacher I would definitely stayed engaged. She really made the battle come alive.

Chesapeake Bay, VA

Wednesday Oct 20, 2010
As usual, we are behind on our blog. Between work and travel it seems to get away from us. We left DC today for the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. We parked at the Chesapeake Bay Thousand Trails with our large back window looking out on the Piankatank River, claimed to be one of the most pristine rivers in Virginia. We were just 13 miles upriver from the Chesapeake Bay among hardwoods, pines and dogwoods. A person could spend months here there is so many historical places to explore, but with limited time due to Ellen’s work we took in only two this time here, Historic Jamestown and Yorktown Battle Field.

Day 2 in DC

Friday Oct-15-2010
Today we again took the train into DC. We started early so we could get tickets to go to the top of the Washington Monument. They usually are gone in the first hour.

As the sun was coming up took a couple of sunrise shots.

Ellen feeling warm. Not

Washington as you enter the elevator

It is an amazing view from there in each direction. We even saw the president land in his helicopter on the south lawn. That's door service.

East view of the Capitol and the Mall

North view of the White House

North View, again

West view of WW II and Lincoln Memorial

South view of the Jefferson Memoria and Patomic river

While we waited for out time we headed over to the World War II Memorial. It is between the Lincoln and Wa Monument.

After that we headed over to the Bureau of engraving and printing. Where all the money is made.

Did you know there was a $100,000 bill in the past? And now the largest bill is the $100. They said there is no longer a need for anything larger due to checks and credit cards. It is amazing how much money is made each day. To the tune of $700 million each day. They had a little stack of $20 bills there that was only $6 million each! There are no pictures as it is not allowed. So you will have to see it for yourself.

Then we headed over to the American Natural History Museum. By now are feet and legs are tired. We estimated that in the last two days we have walked 14 miles. There is so much to see that it can't be comprehended. We saw the original US Flag, Lincolns clothes he was wearing when he was shot, Julia Child's kitchen and so much more. A day is not enough. Weeks are needed.

Hotel where Lincoln stayed.

Tomorrow we rest and Sunday we hope to go to Arlington Cemetery with the truck.

The White House

We visited the White House (outside) Needless to say you are not allowed to get too close. It was during lunch and we saw these guys playing chess in the park.There are police everywhere in cars, on foot, horses (the horse was thirsty so stopped for a drink in the fountain)

and even snypers on the roof, (can you see the 2 on the roof)