Virginia (is for Lovers)

June 4 to June 10, 2018:

Our next state on the east coast was Virginia! It was a beautiful state and shockingly southern!

Zane's birthday happened to fall right when we started this adventure so it will also fall right when it ends. For the rest of us we've been in a very unique place and had interesting days full of new traditions, but Zane will not be in a foreign land so we thought we'd do something special. Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg seemed right up his alley and we were right! For those of you that haven't been, it's an indoor water park and themed hotel that reminded us of the Legoland hotel.

But I'm ahead of myself. Steve's dad has been researching their family tree and he came across a possible connection in Virginia so we decided to stop at a small church for some reconnaissance along the way. Christ Church is a small brick structure built in 1735 and fully funded by Robert (King) Carter (possibly the 7th Great Grandfather of Steve). Because of this private funding, it was spared the ravages of the civil war and still stands almost completely original. There is also a small museum on site explaining the old town and the significance of the church. Luckily there is also a researcher that is willing to help with the genealogy to determine if Steve's paternal side was one of the first colonists in North America! Interesting, but not so fun for the kids, so on to Great Wolf Lodge!

The church had really interesting pews. They were corrals of sorts with benches facing each other. There lies a long ago relative (we think)

We hadn't shared our plan with the boys and they were delighted when we pulled in! We explored the property then bowled, had dinner and hit the slides!  The following day we explored the lazy River, funneled through the tornado on a giant raft and rode the wild waves.... All indoors! Zane and Steve even did some boogie boarding! Zane was very happy about his birthday surprise, thanking us throughout the day and telling us how much fun he had. We'll still do something special on June 21st, but it will be our last night on this trip so we'll all have opinions on what to do!

With our room name, Kid Cabin, it was meant to be. 

Zane was pretty good at this thing. 

Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown were the next logical historical places on our tour of the East coast and lucky for us, my friend Becky knew just the place to stay. Her friends from her time in the army, Dawn and Pete, live in a beautiful home on the Powhatan river and readily invited us to come stay despite only meeting us one time 15 years ago (prior to 3 kids)! We can't thank them enough because this was one of the best places we've stayed on the whole trip! Yes, we did the obligatory tours of the historical landmarks (see photos), but we also got to relax in a beautiful setting surrounded by osprey and cardinals, herons, turtles, snakes and fish. The boys spent hours casting a line while Autumn and I paddled around the canal. Pete also treated us to a ride on his boat in the beautiful river system near Chesapeake Bay. The sunsets were amazing and the Cornhole even better! We hated to leave, but history marches on and an old friend would soon be waiting for us further west in Virginia.

Around the house shots...

How east coast colonial is this house? 

The yard up against the river made for hours of hanging out at the house. The weather was spectacular the entire time we were there.

Thanks Pete. You are an awesome host and cool dude.

Yes! They had Wii!!!!!

Sunset Paddle boarding

Meet Sam and Frodo with Autumn the Dog Whisperer

One of three magnificent sunsets during our stay in Jamestown. Pete and Dawn are living the dream (except for the 6 months it is unbearably hot and humid, and the 5 months it's bone chillingly cold). Pete forced us to hang outside as he said this was the best weather he has seen in months.

Jamestown and Williamsburg...

This nice young lady taught us how to navigate a boat before the days of GPS. We learned where the term "knot" came from!

This is Colonial Williamsburg. The three houses (on the right side of this picture) reminded us of Autumn, Zane and Bryce. 

Our favorite new sandwich shop. Went here twice. There are a handful in the bay area which which wich we hope to visit.

On the water....

For an Army guy, Pete did a fine job piloting this boat (except when his hat flew off his head)

Pete was not afraid to punch it. We LOVE a good boat ride. The sun was setting, the birds were out hunting, the temperature was perfect, and everyone had a blast. Thanks for that Pete. 

Farewell Jamestown...

Monticello was our next historical destination. Thomas Jefferson designed and built his beautiful home despite spending half of his life away from it in political service. He's a man of contradictions but was an amazing intellect who was way ahead of his time. I enjoyed seeing the clever inventions inside of his home along with the beautiful gardens outside, but the kids are pretty much done with old buildings and historical facts, and the humid conditions made us depart a bit sooner than we may have wanted. There was also a pool calling at the hotel we were to stay in Charlottesville. Unfortunately a thunder storm interrupted those plans, but cleared in time for us to explore main Street and enjoy a great dinner on the main drag.

Pretty impressive garden. Autumn got to use one of Jefferson's inventions, the Polygraph. Not the lying type, but rather a device that would create a carbon copy while writing a letter. 

I woke the next morning very excited as our long time friend, Nina, was arriving in Roanoke to spend some time on our adventure. Originally, Nina was going to meet us in Croatia, but we all know how that turned out, so she decided to meet us wherever we were! Luckily we were about to go to the Great Smokey Mountains and had booked a great big house in the woods. We found Nina at a Starbucks near the airport and true to form we headed toward our next "sight to see" (we can't just drive to the next hotel)... the largest freestanding wooden star in the world.

Our next stop, 2/3 of the way to the Great Smokey Mountains, was the small town of Wytheville ("there's only one") (pronounced "with-vil"). It's a classic small town in the Appalachians with a Waffle House, Bob Evans and Cracker Barrel along with a hand full of hotel chains. It was early in the afternoon so we decided to scale the tower at Big Walker Lookout and visit the general store. We are so glad we did because it was a great piece of Americana with a store full of handmade goods and a rickety tower with a 360 degree view of the mountains. This stop also made us all hungry for dinner and Cracker Barrel was just the thing. It has changed since I was a kid but we got to choose from some classic American dishes and we all went back to the Travel Lodge with full bellies. BUT not so full that we didn't wake up and head right on over to the Waffle House! Now we're ready to get to Tennessee!!

This was not the most stable structure we have climbed. But they wouldn't let the public on it if it wasn't safe, right? 

Notice Steve's death grip. We were a long way up on a tower that shimmey'ed and shook. 

Our first uppie with framily.

Surprisingly good waffle. Was more like the Strupwaffels of Amsterdam. 

Top o' the mornin' ya'll

All for now... Next Step: Great Smoky Mountains!

York & Lancaster, Pennsylvania - Amish Country

Another Autumn classic shot. This is in Gettysburg. [wink wink, this is from inside the car. She didn't want to get out....]

[Editors note... Narration by Nicole]
May 22 to 25: York
Our next stop was Pennsylvania. Not Philadelphia though. We've been there before and wanted to explore the lesser known back roads. The drive from the bustling City to the peaceful countryside was uneventful, other than I got White Castle for the first time in decades! While I know it's horrible for my body and not tasty to most, it brings me right back to my childhood and tastes like heaven. Steve and the kids were not impressed, but tolerated my pit stop. Our home near York was idyllic, set on 10 acres with horses and a barn cat and we wished we could have stayed there longer (but alas, the home was booked on either side of our three night stay). From this home base we visited Gettysburg and Hershey. The battlefield was impressive with the museum and movie being very well done by our National Park Service. We learned a lot about the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln (Steve's favorite president). Hershey kept us busy at Hershey's Chocolate World and Hersheypark (Basically a Six Flags park with intense roller coasters. Because nothing says Milk Chocolate like a nausea inducing thrill ride). We were reminded, however, that Steve and I enjoy amusement parks more than the kids!!

  
> Gettysburg

The "cyclorama", a massive 360 degree mural that blends in to the foreground was very impressive. This was painted over 100 years ago and was like going to the movies before motion pictures. 

Another roadside picnic

Contemplating the severity of Picket's Charge.

Historic cannons are found throughout the Gettysburg countryside showing where and how the Union faced the Confederates. 

The site of the Gettysburg Address. 

 > Our Airbnb / Horse Ranch

This was a first for us. The Airbnb had a great game room, with darts, billiards, foos ball, and... a shuffle board table. Although Zane kept calling it "Slide board"

> Hershey Park

Bryce is doing his very best to avoid bumping the center rail.

Was a warm day and this log ride was a welcome bit of chill.

May 25 to 28: Lancaster
From York we traveled on to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Yes, Pennsylvania Dutch (which should actually be Deutsch as they came from Germany) country where the Amish live. Our goal was to learn who they are, why they live "differently" and what that tells us about our country. We first traveled to the oldest home in the region, built in 1719 by Christian Herr. Steve was fascinated at the structure and the rest of us learned a bit about colonial life. It was impressive that 300 years later, this building is still strong without a single nail or screw. After this we "moved" into our next place, a basement apartment in farm country. While perfectly comfortable and quite large, the family above was a bit loud and we were reminded of apartments in the cities we've spent time in. At least the basement was a cool respite from the humidity, and the house border collie, Buddy, was a hit with the kids.

> The homefront

His name is Buddy

The last house had table shuffle board, this house has full shuffle board! Steve and Zane took full advantage.

Of course, Bryce and Zane occasionally broke out in to a game of wiffle ball to pass the time.

We spent the weekend exploring the area from an Amish buggy ride to Kitchen Kettle Village, to the oldest Farmers Market still running in the country, to an Amish farm with school house, to the Choo Choo Barn (huge model train center). We learned that the Amish are very proud of their traditions and religion. They remain simple, "plain" folk to express this commitment to their culture and religion. Modern times are changing their lives in so many ways including solar power and a decrease in farming as they can no longer compete with the commercial operations driving the prices down. The new generation is trying to find jobs, but with only an 8th grade level of education (the highest grade the Amish attend), it's difficult to find employment. It is an interesting time for these people. We are proud that they can make these choices in our country freely, as our kids have seen this is not possible in many places throughout our world. 

> Central Market (Lancaster)

Autumn with her Shoo-Fly Pie and Whoopie Pie in front of the Central Market

Inside the Market. Really beautiful old "barn" style building

> Hans Herr House

We arrived during a demonstration day. This guy was really in to talking about coke (not the drinking kind, but the smelting kind).

The kids playing a colonial stick and hoop throwing game. Harder than it looks.

Original home. Has the oldest staircase in America, so they say.

 > Abe's Buggy Rides

Our Amish buggy driver, Sadie, was a wealth of information about the Amish life and the challenges of maintaining this lifestyle while surrounded by a modern society.

Zane drove nearly the entire time (except for when we had to turn across oncoming motor car traffic!)

 > Around Lancaster

A very typical scene around Lancaster. The Amish continue to do all their farming with horse drawn tractors. Seeing them stand behind horses five wide is really something else (and definitely something we'll never see in California). 

Lancaster County has an abundance of covered bridges

We're not quite sure of their utility, but the Amish have an inordinate amount of miniature horses. They're everywhere in Lancaster.

The Amish don't use bicycles, just these big wheel push scooters.

> Kitchen Kettle Village

This store has a cornucopia of sampling stations. We spent a solid 30 minutes in this store just popping from one shelf to the next, slopping jams, jellies, salsas, honeys, etc, etc, on small crackers. 

 > Buggies around town
[Note from Steve... One of the most striking things to me about the Amish Country is just how devoted they are to maintaining their way of life, and it is never more apparent than the ongoing use of the horse drawn buggy. It's not just some fictitious thing we see on TV or in Movies. It is genuinely how they get around, and causing havoc with the cars and trucks around them. It's truly fascinating. They are modest folk, and don't necessarily appreciate having pictures taken, but I had to snap some candid photos to immortalize the experience]

https://youtu.be/9ZcF3gwlog4

https://youtu.be/HXxhWj-iM34

> One Final Pic...

Call it what you will, but it's pretty amusing that the epicenter of the Amish country in Pennsylvania is a town called Intercourse (which is halfway between a town called Blue Ball and Paradise - and that's no joke... google it)

We were also able to have dinner with my cousin Kim who just moved to a home on 3 acres near Harrisburg. Her mom, my Aunt Tricia, has been living at our house for the past year and we are so grateful. I know we could not have done this without her taking care of not just our home, but my parents as well 😉. (Although I think my Aunt, my Dad, and my other Aunt, have been having a blast and are sad about our return). It was so nice to see Kim and meet her husband, Jason. The place they have chosen is a beautiful part of our country!

Kim and Jason

All for now... Next Stop: Washington DC!