June 7, Washington D.C., day one

Entrance to the Smithsonian "Castle" building.

A court yard with a beautiful fountain, and plenty of shade next to the Smithsonian Institute. We are staying in the shade as much as possible.

In the Space & Aviation Museum.

This is the actual plane the Wright brothers built which made that first historic flight. The original canvas covering the frame has been replaced with new, but a piece of the original is on display in a case here.

The Lunar Lander and a tired Dan. We decide to get lunch in the McDonald's, housed in a glass enclosure attached to the building. The ground floor is their traditional fare with an ice cream station, and the top floor serves panninis and wraps as well as various coffee drinks. We order a wrap & a pannini which are delicious. Now that we have had something to eat and a short rest we feel better.

The American Indian Museum. No square corners. The customs of the various native cultures were researched when designing this building so that it would be in harmony with all the tribes included in the displays.

Fountain & creek at the American Indian Museum. The museum covers natives from all of the Americas. This is a new building, completed in 2003. It also has a cafeteria with menus from several cultures in the Americas. It is tempting to take off the sandals and step into the water in the heat we are experiencing today.

One of the Globe art pieces in the Gardens.

First Ladies Fountain in the Botanical Gardens.

We are approaching the Botanical Gardens building from the west side. You can get a glimpse of the glassed enclosure section form here.

The Jungle section.

James Garfield Monument.

We're getting closer.

Capital Building wing on the south side.

At the steps of the Capital. What a huge building, and this shot doesn't include the wings on both sides. This is actually the back of the building.

At the base of the Capital Building. This area is so beautiful. Click on this one to enlarge it so you can see the color of the flowers in the urns along the wall above the fountain.

Caught in the light of the prism in the American Indian museum.

Heading back to the Metro Station. Arts & Industry Building which is closed for remodeling. It is 95 degrees and 50% humidity today (feels like 105). Pretty uncomfortable. It was good to be inside the air conditioned buildings. It will be just as hot, but more humid tomorrow. We'll just have to tuff it out.

We found our way back and stopped at a grocery store on the way. Driving to the Metro Station on our own was not difficult, and we may drive tomorrow instead of taking the shuttle from the camp ground.

June 6 - Maryland

Welcome to Maryland. We left the camp ground at New Market, VA, about 9:30 this morning and expect to get to the KOA outside of D.C. in Maryland around 12:30 pm. Today's trip has been pleasant so far, but we will be entering he big city motorways and traffic in order to get to our destination.

The traffic is pretty heavy passing by D.C., but is thinning out some as we move away from the nation's capital. With the help of the TomTom GPS map system we have found the camp ground. We plan to stay two, maybe three, nights. The KOA has a daily shuttle to the metro train station which we will take into D.C.

After setting up the trailer we look through the brochures we got at the registration desk and find a nice map to Annapolis, which is not very far from here, and decide to spend the rest of the afternoon checking out the historic portion of that city. We park near the water front of the Severn River and walk along the boardwalk. There are plenty of picturesque views and here are some of the photos.

Across the water are restaurants with alfresco seating. The weather is slightly cloudy and cool. Much like our weather in Ventura. It doesn't seem nearly as humid here as it was for the past couple of weeks. Interesting, since we are very near the Atlantic Ocean now. The stroll around the water front is relaxing and enjoyable. A nice respite after the stress of getting here.

These bronze sculptures depict Alex Haley entertaining children with his stories. It make us consider sitting down to listen.

We have found the visitors' entrance to the United States Naval Academy, founded in 1845.

A view of the campus from the entrance court yard.

The remaining photos need no commentary.

This street is on the way back to the camp ground. We need to find a grocery store to get bananas and maybe something for dinner. We are so distracted on the way back looking for a grocery store that we miss a turn in the road we are on. This turn keeps us on the same road and missing the turn takes us directly onto the freeway heading north. Thank goodness for the TomTom GPS map system, it takes us back to the road where we made the error and we do find a convenience store. We get our bananas and a little tub 0f meatballs to add to our spaghetti sauce in the fridge. The sauce and meatballs will go over ramen noodles which are quick and easy to prepare.

The camp ground turned out to be a lot farther from D.C., and regular shopping, than we expected, and it isn't simple getting from one point to another. On top of this the shuttle that the camp ground touts to take guest to and from the metro train station to catch the train into D.C. on a daily basis won't be running tomorrow! For some reason the driver isn't available and no one else is licensed to drive the shuttle. However, parking at the lot at the rail station is free on Weekends. The station is 15 miles form here and the ride on the train into D.C. is 25 minutes. Hope is isn't difficult getting to the station.

June 4-5, New Market, Virginia

We arrived in New Market, VA, yesterday around 2:30 pm EST just ahead of a storm. The clouds followed us from the west. We were worried that we would be setting up the trailer in the rain, but we were finished and inside relaxing when the down pour began. It stopped raining after about an hour, so we did our laundry and asked the KOA manager to recommend a place to eat. She sent us to the Southern Kitchen which serves home style southern foods. The meal was delicious. However, while we were enjoying our dinner the down pour began again and we were glad we had parked just outside the door to the restaurant. I grabbed a free local news paper for protection, since I has left the umbrellas in the van, but the rain stopped by the time we went out side. There was quite a lightning show in the sky that evening. While reading the paper Dan found an ad for a walking tour of the historic town. Since we had done one of these in Ventura we knew it would be a great way to see and learn about the town.

We meet the colonial lady, Betty Karol Wilson, who will be our hostess and walking tour guide. She owns the Apple Blossom Inn, a Bead and Breakfast on the main street, Congress Street, of New Market, VA. This town was the location of one of the important battles of the Civil War. There were supporters of North and the South living here. This is the area Lincoln was raised, but there were more supporters of the Confederate side here and they did not want to see Lincoln become President. Our hostess/guide is an historian who, along with others her in town, has put in a good deal of research gathering information about the area and it's Colonial residents. She is from Texas and came here a little over three years ago to care for her ailing grandfather who died shortly after she arrived. She purchased the house and converted it the the B&B. In her research of the town history she found relatives that gave her a tie to the place.

Here is the Apple Blossom Inn owned by our hostess, walking tour guide and historian.

It is amazing how many houses and building have been preserved, maintained and in constant use since they were built in the late 1700's & early 1800's. The chinking in the split log buildings, such as this one, has all been recently replaced with modern, sturdy materials such as concrete.

This was the house of one of the doctors in town. It was built in the early 1800's.

This small building is to the side of the house above and was built as a medical office. While other business men had an office parlor in their homes, the doctor did not for he would not want ill patients entering his home for treatment.

Our hostess informed us that a building of two stories with five window on the top story and a door centered on the bottom story was as tavern. Since New Market was an industrious town there were several taverns along this main street. This one is built with limestone and it is not known exactly when it was built. Today it houses a bank.

The apothecary at the back of the brick court yard behind the house which belonged to a doctor. Only those who were well to do had personal wells in their yard. Most of the people of the town got water from the public wells. The bricks were made in New Market, these are the original bricks.

Historic buildings on the main street of New Market.

After the walking tour we had lunch at a Mexican restaurant. I was concerned before we went in about how authentic the food would be. This far nort of the Mexican border the restaurants are often owned by people who are not Mexican and don't know how to prepare the food. To our pleasant surprize the place is owed by Mexican people and the food was fabulous. We have had some very good meals at restaurants on this trip.

This is why Dan selected New Market as a two night stop. This area is dotted with caverns because of the large deposits of limestone and the abundance of water.

This one is called "Santa's Sleigh".

This portion of the cavern has blue limestone which is quite a contrast to the red hue from the iron content of the formations.

We are at a fuel station filling the tank for the trip tomorrow. These clouds have been gathering this afternoon. The weather report is for possible t-storms. Hopefully that won't be the case.

After getting back to the camp ground we see a couple who are traveling by motorcycle and a tent camper trailer in a space near ours. We stop to visit with them and learn that they are from upstate New York and are on their way to New Mexico. They are the Gores and when we tell them we are the Cowells, he says he knows a Bill Cowell in New York. What a coincidence!

The t-storms never materialized, in fact the skies cleared up.

Tomorrow we head for Maryland to stay a few days while we visit D.C.

June 2, Wytheville, VA

The Virginia state flower: American Flowering Dogwood. This is a beautiful tree and is also the state tree. The state bird is the Cardinal many of which we have seen flying across the highway as we drive along.

Thomas Jefferson, I thought you would be taller, and you look really good for someone your age.

Hey! I'd like a fresh one of these.

The bridge with a "tourist".

Virginia landscape, miles and miles of grassy hills, barns, silos, can cattle. We are in Wytheville, but are content to just stay in the trailer and relax. The weather is hot and humid with rain and occasional t-storms.