June 26th - June 28th
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As we drove into Washington, DC, we happened upon the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. This was on our list of stuff to see so we parked the car and went in. We saw most of the exhibits on the history of flight and all the planes and missiles hanging from the ceiling. After having something to eat in the cafeteria we found out that it was half an hour to closing time. The rest of the museum was the space exhibits, which was actually what we wanted to see. We did see a bit of it though - will have to go back next time.
Then we head to the hostel that we had booked. Got a great parking only to find out that they were over-booked. So much for reservations! We went on to India House Too, another hostel further away from downtown. We had to wait at least half an hour to check in because the guy was playing table tennis with his buddy - the life of running a hostel!
After we had settled in, we went to Georgetown to have some food. Found a restaurant with a covered outdoor garden and ordered a $3 turkey burger.
Next was the Lincoln Memorial at night. 12 years ago I had been there on my 8th grade school trip. I still remember taking a photo with the whole class standing in front of it. We read his inaugural speech and the Gettysburg Address - Lincoln had some impressive ideals.
From there we could see the Washington Monument and the US Capitol. We decided to take a stroll down to the Washington Monument. Turned about to be a bad idea because we got accosted by cobwebs as we walked the dark path to it. A little freaked out by these tickly things, we were definitely impressed by the size of the Washington Monument.
Wednesday, June 27th
Washington,
DC to Front Royal. VA to Elkton, VA to Ft. Chiswell, VA
I-66 to Skyline Drive to 33W to I-81
We tried to get tickets for the White House tour but unfortunately they were all gone by the time we made it into town. So instead we just walked around it. We also spoke to a guy who supports an organization called Proposition 1. Prop1 has had a 24-hour vigil against nuclear weapons at the back of the White House since 1981. He was a tanned old man with a long beard. Very chilled out, he spoke to us about the cause.
Then we head down to the US Capitol. We took the guided tour - our guide was great, a very enthusiastic man that knew tons about the building and its history. We had to leave the tour early because the day was getting on and we had a long drive ahead of us.
We stopped in Georgetown for lunch. Parked the car on the street, a hassle that we had been dealing with ever since we arrived in DC. Had lunch and got back to the car to find a luminous orange 'Tow' sticker and a $100 parking ticket! We were ready to leave Washington now.
We head west on I-66 to Front Royal. The entrance to the Shenandoah National Park was just after Front Royal. The Skyline Drive is 100 miles straight through the park. It was beautiful and had plenty overlooks with views of the gorgeous mountains around. We stopped at Doughton Park to fill up on gas and got some canned food for dinner. A guy just hanging around at the pit stop told us that someone had just seen a bear down the road. Sure enough 20 minutes later we saw a little bear on the side of the road.
It was starting to get dark so we stopped at a picnic place and had cooked our first 'camp' meal. Shash's little cooker did a great job and it turned out to be quite a nice meal.
It was now pretty dark so we turned off the drive at Swift Run Gap (about mile 65), took the 33 to the I-81. We drove I-81 till sometime after midnight when we finally found a Super 8 Motel in Fort Chiswell, 50 miles south of Roanoke.
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