Saint Louis

Following a night in a Tennessee State Park, we drove to St Louis to visit friends for the weekend. On Saturday, we visited the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (the Arch). The arch was more impressive than I expected. The museum there was very nice, and the movie about how they built the arch really drove home what an engineering feat it was.

 

While claustrophobic, the elevator system used to take visitors up to the top of the arch was really interesting, and the views of St Louis and the Mississippi River were pretty great.

Today we visited the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site. US Grant's house was a bit of a disappointed after how much we liked Eisenhower's. To be fair, however, they are a fairly new park, and had just moved the visitor's center into a new building, so not all the exhibits were set up. It should get better in the next few years.

We also took a tour of the Anheuser Busch factory. It was interesting, and the kids enjoyed seeing the stables of the Clydesdales. I enjoyed the free beer in the tasting room.

Finally, we stopped for some frozen custard.

Great Smokys

Thursday we drove through the Great Smokys, and weren't too impressed. It was pretty enough, but it's no Yellowstone or Yosemite. Maybe if we had taken the road to Cades Cove. Anyway, they claim it's the most visited park in the nation, but we were a little skeptical, since they don't have admission booths like some parks. That said it was pretty crowded, especially considering it was a weekday in October.

Most of the turnouts contained at least a couple of cars, so I was unable to pull the motor home in. I imagine it's close to unbearable in the summer. We stopped at the Oconaluftee visitor center in North Carolina on the way into the park, and the Sugarlands Visitor Center in Tennessee on the way out. 

After leaving the Smokys, we drove through Pigeon Forge, TN, and stopped at another Boyd's Bear shop. Pigeon Forge reminded us a lot of Kissimmee - lots of mini-golf courses and touristy shops and restaurants.

Appomattox & Blue Ridge Parkway

After Jamestown we drove east to Pocahontas State Park, south west of Richmond, where we stayed the night. 

 

Yesterday we continued east to Appomattox Court House National Historic Park, where Lee surrendered to Grant to end the Civil War. We spent almost two hours looking through the buildings and the visitor center. From there we continued east to the Peaks Of Otter Campground, which is part of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

This morning we picked up Junior Ranger packets from the Peaks of Otter visitor center, and the kids completed them as we drove the Parkway to the Folk Art Center near Asheville, North Carolina, where we turned them in. We then camped nearby.

Yorktown and Jamestown

The weather was better on Sunday, so we spent the whole day at Busch Gardens. We bought a pass that would allow us to visit all the Busch Garden and Sea World parks for two years. Germany has a dark ride called Curse of DarKastle, which uses sets and large 3D screens.

We enjoyed the train ride and car ride, as well as kids area, the Land of Dragons. There were also a few flat rides the kids enjoyed. We did almost everything, including a few live shows and a Halloween maze that night.

Monday morning we went to nearby Yorktown, where Washington won his decisive victory over the British gave the Colonies their independence. We explored the visitor center as well as driving around the battlefield and the surrender memorial.

In the afternoon we drove the Colonial Parkway through Williamsburg to Historic Jamestown, on the bank of the James River. Jamestown was the first permanent English colony in North America, where John Smith and Pocahontas once walked. Although the original fort is long gone, there are several memorial statues. A brand new visitor center is currently under construction, and the kids found the glass-making area very interesting.

The kids earned Junior Ranger programs at both sites of the Colonial National Historic Park.

Williamsburg

Yesterday, we got up and drove toward Williamsburg, stopping in Richmond to earn Jr Ranger badges for the Richmond Battlefields. We stopped at a couple of battlefield sites, but rain kept us from getting out and walking around. We did spend an hour at Cold Harbor, a small visitor center that had a real nice electric map that detailed two civil war battles, one in 1862 and the other in 1864.

In the afternoon we spent a few hours at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. It's a nice park. It doesn't have a lot of large family rides like a Disney park, but the landscaping is pretty, with fairly heavy surrounding woods.

Each area is themed to a different country in Europe - England, France, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, and Italy - and they were all decorated for Halloween. There are several coasters - Big Bad Wolf in Germany, Loch Ness Monster in Scotland, Alpengeist in France, and Apollo’s Chariot in Italy, plus a few dark rides and family rides and shows. 

We would have stayed longer, but the rain caused us to call it a night. Unfortunately it rained pretty hard all day today, so we just sat around the RV. My wife did scrapbooking and I worked and the kids did some school work and played games.

Washington, DC

Wednesday morning we took a bus to the Metro, and took the train into downtown DC. We toured the monuments mostly, including going up to the top of the Washington Monument. 

The kids worked on a Jr Ranger program for the Mall, and completed ones for Ford Theater and the White House/President's Park. We also went up in the old Post Office Tower.

Thursday, I drove the RV into downtown, parking on a street near the Potomac between the Roosevelt and Jefferson Memorials, and the kids finished the Jr Ranger program for the Mall. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to tour the Capitol or any of the Smithsonians.

Then we tried to drive down the George Washington Parkway to Arlington Cemetery, but I couldn't find the signs and ended up passing it, so we just stopped in Alexandria to visit the George Washington Masonic Memorial, which was pretty cool. After Alexandria, we drove down the George Washington Parkway to Mount Vernon, but it closed just before we got there, so we drove down to Fredericksburg, where we stayed the night.

Harper's Ferry

From Gettysburg, we drove south through Maryland and turned west into West Virginia, where we stayed the night. The next morning, we visited Harper's Ferry NHP.

Located at the junction of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers in West Virginia, it contains tons of history. Its location made it a natural place for the construction of rifles, so it became a national armory. Just before the start of the Civil War, the armory was raided by John Brown, an abolitionist. Strategically important, several civil war battles were fought there, and afterward, it became home to a black college.

After that, we drove toward DC, stopping at Great Falls National Park on the Potomac. Besides its natural beauty, Great Falls has historical significance. George Washington, while serving as the President of the Patowmack Canal Company, pushed for the construction of a canal around the falls to improve commerce. This park is also part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway.

We stayed at a campground just outside the Beltway, at College Park Maryland. It was pretty expensive, but when we called for a quote, they said wifi internet was available for an extra $3. When we got there, we learned that $3 charge was per hour, which was a little disappointing. Still, we were able to get free cards to use it for 1/2 hour each day, which was enough to check e-mail, but not to post.