Day 9: Virginia

Ok, now we're back on track, but I've written the last three days all in one night so don't expect anything big for this one. Today on our ninth day of sight seeing, we went to Colonial Williamsburg and James River Park. Colonial Williamsburg was awesome! There were constant reenactments, and houses and shops you could visit to see how things were done and made.

James River Park in Richmond was not worth the hike we took to try and find it. Again more bad directions from the locals; a confederate mile must equal about five northern miles. The only reason I kept walking was so that at the end I could go in the river and drown myself. I did however end up saving a fish from frying itself in a drying up pool of water so I guess I had a reason to go there in the end. Dad note: Jessie and I had fun here, Alli didn't want to go in the water and is getting tired of hiking. Won't tomorrow be fun - up two mountains in NC.

Day 8: Virginia and North Carolina

On day eight we visited First Landing State Park, Wright Brothers Memorial, and the Historic Jamestown Fort (photo). First landing wasn't that interesting; just a walk in the woods (cypress swamp) with lots of mosquitos eating you alive, and sucky directions from both signs and people. It was however the first place where members of the Virginia Company landed. The Wright Brothers Memorial was more entertaining though. We saw the memorial, the museum/visitor center, and the airfield and distance markers for their first four flight attempts. At Jamestown we saw remains and replicas of old of buildings, some statues, and a museum where they showed artifacts that had been discovered at the site. Life was pretty rough back then.

Day 7 (part 3): Delaware

We took a ferry across the bay to Cape Henlopen State Park. The storm blew over while we were waiting for our ferry so we actually got to do stuff here such as play on the beach, play in the water watch dolphins, and look for cool shells. The beach was beautiful and we were just about the only people there.

Day 7 (part 2): New Jersey

Cape May Point State Park. We stayed here about an hour because a lightning storm was coming in and the beach and grounds had to be evacuated. You can see in the photo how dark it was in the distance.

Day 7 (part 1): New Jersey

On day seven we went to see Lucy the Elephant, a National Historic Landmark. Lucy is actually a building and was cheesier than the singing cow ride at Hershey's Chocolate World. You might be able to see us standing on the top platform in the photo. We also drove on some of the streets named in the board game Monopoly.

Day 6 (part 3): Philadelphia

Philadelphia was so much different from the rest of our vacation because it is by far the most urban of our stops. We walked from our hotel to see Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, Benjamin Franklin's grave, and the Visitors Center. It was fascinating how the historic and modern Philadelphia have merged into one city but still kept their uniqueness. Photo shows us at the Liberty Bell and sitting on the front steps of Independence Hall waiting for our tour.

Day 6 (part 2): Pennsylvania

First just a note that the next few posts will be brief because we have had poor wireless connections at the last couple hotels. We have many things to tell you about but little time as I am also doing laundry tonight. Alli is the main author of our blogs. - Mark

Photo shows us in front of the National Memorial Arch and Dad imitating a stone face within the arch. Valley Forge was interesting because there were many memorials and statues to see. The house where George Washington HQ'd and stayed was pretty cool, a bit better than the barracks where the soldiers lived. There were people reenacting different jobs around the grounds such as cooking, washing, and life in general.