We stayed in many fun and interesting locations over the course of our travels, but there is one place that will always stick with us.
It was the Air B&B, a dairy farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania among rich farmlands and Amish and Pennsylvania Dutch culture. We were immediately welcomed and immersed in life on a farm. The 200 year old farmhouse, hundreds of acres of farmland as far as the eye could see, a working dairy operation, homestyle cooking, quilt covered wooden furnishings, gathering fresh eggs, feeding baby calves, exploring the local back roads and simply peaceful lifestyles of the people in this place aptly named Paradise.
Leaving Paradise, we traveled south east to the Delmarva Peninsula. A large peninsula on the East coast that includes most of Delaware, part of Maryland and some of Virginia's eastern shore. It is a really unique and interesting area that deserves another visit for more exploration...especially Assateague Island with its' wild ponies and abundant sea shells.
We had an early evening stroll along the sandy beaches of Cape Charles and learned some history lessons crossing the impressive Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Chesapeake Bay Tunnel.
Our next extended stay would be in Williamsburg, Virginia. From there we would explore Virginia Beach, Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown Settlement, Yorktown, and venture on a day trip to Washington, D.C.
I think the kids actually enjoyed time at the beach.
Hard to believe right.
Walking through Washington, D.C. was an overload of sights, museums, monuments, the Smithsonians, oh my! The capitol. The White House. The list continues. And we must not leave off the International Spy Museum. We walked, and walked and walked as fast as we could from one to another to sample as much as we could take in one extremely full day.
Spending part of our trip touring the settlements of Virginia was like traveling back in time to view a bit of our nation's early history. I remember once when I was young, my literature teacher told us that reading a good book was the way to travel vicariously. I completely agree. I love reading. I also love visiting actual historical sites like this and getting the actual, atmospheric, physical feeling of the surroundings while imagining a time long past.
Side Note: After this trip, I totally devoured some historical fiction books at home...and got myself and my husband hooked on the AMC series TURN.
On the last portion of our trip heading west toward home we stopped to stay a couple days at a beautiful place in the Blue Ridge Mountains that is kinda sentimental to us.
The Biltmore in Asheville, NC.
We had come here years ago on our honeymoon so it was neat to come back with our kids and see it again with them.
We also visited their winery and drove through the enormous property this time and saw the hotel that is styled like the main house. Very impressive. I liked seeing the kids doing the "stomping of the grapes" at the winery. Looked like fun. But we didn't have tickets to participate in that so we had to just be observers. Ah well.
On the way home we took in some scenic by ways and overlooks, the kids swam in the hotel pool, we stopped for some "famous chicken" in Memphis and saw the home of the King of Rock & Roll (from the outside), stayed in one slightly scary hotel that we will not mention further, listened to music and sang along loudly, had a dirty sock fight in the car (don't ask), crossed back into Texas and heard a whisper in the warm breeze saying welcome back home.
So many wonderful memories were made on this crazy long family road trip and I am ever so grateful that we got to do it together.
2 comments:
What a great trip! Some of those places look familiar, and some are still on my list. Thanks for sharing it!! Love you guys.
Nice, I really liked this post, all the pictures in this post are amazing and beautiful. Thanks Jackie! for sharing your memorable trip with us.
Romantic Lancaster, County PA
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