A week on the East Coast

Virginia is the place to be! Or is it Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, West Virgina or Pennsylvania? I hit them all last week. Actually, we visited them all in one day!

My sweetie had a conference to go to in Baltimore. We spent 3 days together touring around. We visited Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's plantation. It is very beautiful. I was excited to have my picture taken on the steps of the same building on our nickle!

We drove the Skyline drive, and admired the Shenandoah Valley from several high vantage points. The fall colors were just beginning. It was truly beautiful. We had wonderful 80 degree weather the entire trip.

We toured Gettysburg. I thought the are a was very beautiful but the history was very sad. How hard it must have been to love our country so much and have families torn apart by the Civil war.

I spent three days with Jenny in Virginia. She picked me up in Baltimore on Tuesday evening. On the way home she said, "Ahh, there it is". I looked up and there was the Washington DC Temple rising above the tree line. It was a breath-taking sight!

We toured southern mansions together on our first day. We started with Mount Vernon which belonged to George Washington. Jenny was excited to get to visit the mansions with someone else who was also excited. I guess there is less enthusiasm for such things with her crew. It pays to have a sister come visit!

Day two, we spend in Harpers Ferry. We had ice cream for lunch and then hiked the Appalachian trail (Yea!). I always want to walk along the Appalachian trail whenever I am even remotely close to it. I was not disappointed! We found old trenches from the Civil War, beautiful fall leaves, fun ferns and lots of interesting lichens. Jenny showed us were a poison ivy vine was winding around a tree. The vine had put out lots of little roots. It reminded me of a giant centipede. I picked up lots of beautiful leaves for Caylee's school project. My friend Liz joined us that day. It was good to spend some time with her again.

Day three, Jenny and I loaded her bikes in her red truck and head for the monuments in DC. Rides bikes was a fabulous way to see all the monuments without wearing ourselves out. We ran into a Smithsonian building to see a sample of a giant squid and into an art museum to see one of Monet's paintings. I had my picture taken in front of the Lincoln monument. So now I have a penny picture and a nickle picture. I was a little dissappointed that Lincoln was marble. Somehow I had always pictured him in copper! We ended the day in Arlington Cemetery. I loved touring the Lee Mansion. We saw the Kennedy graves, the Pentagon (from a distance) the war memorials and the changing of the guards at the tomb of the unknown soldier.

We were able to visit with all of Jenny's family. It was a fun, fabulous trip!