The Final Trip-o-logue

Okay, first of all, sorry for the lo-o-o-ng delay in posting. It's been a crazy week, with regular worship leading responsibilities, plus I did the preaching this morn, and I've been putting together our church's budget, compiling everyone's individual budget amounts and getting them all put into one master budget to present on Monday night. So, any free time has been with the fam, not much in front of the computer.

In any case, here's a brief summary of the end of our trip across the US of A...

We left Philly on Friday the 13th and made a 4 hour stop in DC. While there we went to the National Archives where we saw the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, all locked away in specially lighted, hermetically sealed, bullet proof cases. No pictures allowed inside, but we did snap this one on the front steps.

Those little colored stick figures you see under the banners are Karen and the girls.

While there we grabbed some hot dogs and pretzels for a quick snack at the fountain outside one of the Smithsonian Museums.

As I said, it was only four hours, so we drove by lots of stuff, but only got out to see a few things. We did go check out Abe, and sat on the steps of his Lincoln Memorial and gazed out at the reflecting pool and the Washington Monument. Once again, this was reminiscent of a scene from National Treasure (and many other more historic events...but National Treasure is the girl's reference point).It was extremely hot and sticky that day, so you might notice we look a bit, uh, dampish and weary in the above photo.

After DC, we headed south to Williamsburg. G'pa was meeting us there along with Aunt Sharis (my sister), Uncle John and cousins Kennedy and Jack. We spent three days together in and around Williamsburg. Lots of cousin love in a short amount of time.

The first day, all the kids, Aunt Sharis and Uncle John went to Water Country USA for some serious water slides, games, pools, etc., while Karen and I picked up G'pa from the airport. The second day we spent at Busch Gardens, and while there the adults (except Karen) had to ride the Griffon. It's a roller coaster, three rows on a car, each row 10 people wide. It starts with a steep climb, then slo-o-o-o-o-w-ly hangs you over a straight vertical drop before letting loose to fly through the twisted steel. Here we are at the top, hanging out before the first cookie-tossing drop to our death.

The children were afraid they might never see their parents again...We survived. Obviously. Or I wouldn't be writing about it, would I?

The last day together we went to Colonial Williamsburg for a little living history. We wandered through restored homes, shops, blacksmiths, arsenal, courthouse, schoolroom, pharmacy, all with costumed "residents" who explained and elaborated on life in the 1700s. We met Martha Washington, and Anne Wager the founder of a school for slave children. Here the kids tried on some period hats.Adorable, aren't they?

We had a good time that day, although once again it was a bit warm, but not totally unbearable. We were hoping for a little more revolutionary times re-enactments, but there weren't many going on while we were there. Mostly it was just fun having all the kids together.

The next day was the beginning of our journey home. We had thought maybe we would stop at kitschy interesting places along the way, but once we started west, we pretty much just wanted to drive as far as we could each day and get home as soon as possible. So we traveled from Williamsburg, VA, to Orem, UT, in three days. Yahoo!!

And after 3 weeks on the road, living together in a van and hotel rooms, there really is no place like home!