Washington D.C. Trip Day 3

Lovinston, VA

We all slept in past 9 am, which is a very strange phenomenon. Today it was partially by design, as the rest of the week is go, go, go. We drove to the hometown of Earl Hamner, the creator of the Waltons and spent a few hours a t the Walton's Mountain Museum. It was interesting, and fun.

We went out for lunch at a nice little restaurant by our Inn. I had an excellent Crab Cake sandwich. What we all dug about the place is that they had the kid's menus taped into children's books. What a cool idea!

After lunch we went back into the same mountains we drove through yesterday to get to Crabtree falls. It was a beautiful waterfall. Unfortunately, it started pouring rain as we got there. As a result, we didn't spend as much time there as we would have liked.

Click on this picture to see a video.

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We spent the rest of the day relaxing at the Inn.

It's about time to say good night John Boy. Tomorrow we head over to D.C. for the remainder of the trip.

Next Time: DC Trip Day 4

DC Trip Wordless Wednesday

For more Wordless Wednesday click here.

Next Time: DC Trip Day 3

Washington D.C. Trip Day 2

Ohio to Virginia

It's nice to wake up and not have a number of tasks you need to accomplish for the day.

Today it was simply: 1) get up. 2) Drive to Virginia

Amy scouted a Waffle House by our motel, so that was breakfast. I used to live in South Carolina and Amy knows I sometimes wax nostalgic for the Casa de Waffles. After breakfast we gassed up and headed out. The kids listened to play-a-ways (high tech books on tape) we checked out from the library. After a while, we played some mad libs. I blogged last year that we scream marshmallow when we cross from state to state. So far the Marshmallow update is 2 yesterday (Indiana and Ohio) and 2 today (West Virginia and Virginia. Also we were in one of Amy's favorite geographical localities: The tristate area. There we were, just miles away from Kentucky, hopping from Ohio to West Virginia.

As we got further and further unto West Virginia we discovered on the highway food signs a new world, Biscuit World. Biscuit world is a fast food place that seems to be the biscuit equivalent of the Waffle House. We ate at one when we got into Charleston. This was our third meal in a row where the restaurant had the name of the food served in the title (Kentucky Fried Chicken, Waffle House, and Biscuit World).

While in Charleston we visited the State Capitol which is based on the Capitol Dome in D.C.






As we drove out of Charleston, we quickly discovered why West Virginia is nicknamed the Mountain State. As we crossed into Virginia the mountains continued. The last 20 miles we drove at dusk going through a mountain pass averaging 20 miles and hour (sometimes 5, sometimes 40). For some reason they didn't put up any guard rails until we got to the bottom. It was majestic and frightening at the same time. We arrived safely and we were glad to buck the food in the title trend with a take out pizza and salad from the Italian eatery across the street from our inn.

Tomorrow it's the Walton's Museum and maybe back in those mountains to see a waterfall.

Next Time : DC Trip Wordless Wednesday

Jelly Belly Time

Jelly Bellies are awesome! Amy and I prefer Starburst jelly beans ourselves but when I had the opportunity to cross state lines last Friday and tour their facility on the Cheese side of the Illinois Wisconsin border we went for it.

It was one of those tours where you were not allowed to take pictures. What did they think we were going to report their latest accomplishments to Slugworth?

Oh well, the tour was free, the kids enjoyed themselves, and of course there was the two words every jelly bean lover lives for: free samples.


I was able to take these pics after the tour . . .

Here are a few tidbits learned on the tour.

• Jelly Bellies were very popular with former President and California Governor Ronald Reagan. In fact, the blueberry jelly belly was created for Reagan's Inaugural in 1980 so they could make a special red, white and blue assortment. Reagans's favorite flavor was licorice.
• Jelly Bellies take almost a week to make.
• The current most popular flavor is Very Cherry a distinction formerly held by butter popcorn flavor ,which, by the way, my daughter Emma does not much care for.

Next Time: Washinton DC Trip Day 2