~Chesapeake Bay, Virginia~

We are now in Virginia - State # 21.  It is lovely here - lots of trees, some still dropping their leaves and quaint country roads.   We are staying in a nice park here in Chesapeake Bay.   The weather is cooler and we have had jackets on many times!

We had such a lovely day yesterday.   We went into Historic Yorktown - the site of the last major battle of the Revolutionary War.

We enjoyed driving though the cute town with all the 18th century homes, specialty shops, museums and buildings.

The drive was beautiful along the "Colonial Parkway" between Yorktown, Jamestown and Williamsburg.

Next stop - Historic Jamestown - America's Birthplace. .

While standing on the shore of the York river we were able to watch a replica ship from the Jamestown Settlement come into the dock.  They were shooting canons from it and re-creating historic scenes.   This ship would have brought the colonists to Jamestown in 1607.  All very interesting.

One of the first attempts at industrialization and manufacturing in America by the English was glassblowing.  We were able to see modern artisans (in reproductive clothing) produce glass objects just like they would have done 400 yrs ago.  Very cool - actually "hot" !! 

Then we went to Colonial National Historic Park in Jamestown.  This is the site of the first permanent English settlement in New World.  We watched a 20 minute film which told the story of this English settlement and then we walked through the museum and finally went to see all the ruins. This is the Tercentenary Monument which commemorates Jamestown's 300th anniversary.

Captain John Smith 

And......Pocahontas - who the legend says is most famous for saving the life of Captain John Smith.

Archeologists at work

Remains of the town

Then off to Colonial Williamsburg where we enjoyed walking through the historic area.  This town has original buildings, homes and shops reconstructed on 300 acres.  Very neat!

The boys have had such a great time at this campsite as they have met and played with Jesse and Jaiden from New Hampshire.  They have spent hours doing lego and playing "mini sticks".   SO nice to have met you boys.....and your mom too!

This is what we woke up to yesterday morning - FROST !    Y I K E S  !!!!

We have enjoyed our time in Virginia.

~Washington, DC~

After we left Ohio we headed to Maryland - State # 20.  We had a good drive there and stayed at a great park with incredible trees with beautiful fall colours, and close to downtown (Thx Goldens!) The park advised us to be careful of the chiggers and ticks!!!  This freaked us all out and we walked everywhere with our hoodies up and were careful not to step in the millions of leaves!!!!!  We didn't have any "issues", however we did speak with a man while we were there and he definitely had "chiggers itch" and couldn't stop scratching his head !! Shame!!!  

We drove into WA DC for the day and easily found a parking on the National Mall.  It was very cold but at least it wasn't raining.   WA DC has SO much history - they have many monuments from across the centuries that tell of the ideals that gave birth to their government "of the people, by the people, for the people..."

We started at the George Washington Monument - incredible.

This is the World War 2 Memorial.

This is looking down the Reflection Pool towards the Lincoln Memorial.

Everything is so HUGE in DC.  We are standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Many of the buildings have these large, beautiful columns.

Abraham Lincoln - this is also a HUGE statue of him.

The White House - we tried our hardest to try and get a glimpse of the President - no luck!

We walked all along the National Mall and ended up at the US Capitol.

Afterwards we stopped in at the US Botanic Gardens - just beautiful.

They had statues of all the important DC landmarks among the plants and flowers. Very cool.

Along the Mall are many government buildings and  beautiful museums.  The museums are all FREE to visit.

We chose to visit the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.  Once again it was very large and had LOTS of incredible things to see.

This is the Thomas Jefferson Memorial overlooking the Tidal Basin.

This is the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.

While walking through the lovely Constitution Gardens we saw the "Signers of the Declaration of Independence Memorial".

These are some of the statues at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial.

WOW - what a great day - but I must admit .......our brains are on overload. After having learned so much Canadian history while visiting eastern Canada we are now getting a bit overwhelmed by all of this American history!!!

~Ohio~

After Niagara Falls we were supposed to go to Washington DC, however with "Hurricane Sandy" hitting the coast we decided to go west a bit to try and stay out of the storm

So....we are now back in Ohio - the northeastern part near the PA border.   We have had non-stop rain and wind for days, but nothing too bad.   Last night was the worst with heavy rains and high gusty winds which rocked our trailer.  We stocked up on food, water, propane etc.... and are safe and warm.  Praise the Lord. We will head east as soon as we are able.

YAY - back in Amish country !!!

Since we are in a very small town and the weather is bad , we are very fortunate to have a wonderful heated pool which we have enjoyed every afternoon.

~Niagara Falls, Niagara on the lake....and more!~

While we were still in Niagara Falls we stopped off at Rossi Glass and watched them doing glass blowing.   It was very interesting.  What an amazing talent these guys have.

While we were watching,  the guys made this bowl with fluted edges that would sell for $98.

Three kms below the falls, an aerocar travels on a 549 m long cable over the Niagara Gorge -y i k e s ........no thank you!!!!!

This is the floral clock.

This is the 200th year of the War of 1812.  Military commander Sir Isaac Brock - a legendary figure -  is remembered here.  At Queenston Heights, Brock routed American forces, but died in battle.

Laura Secord is the famous Canadian Heroine whose famous 30km walk from Queenston to Beaver Dam in 1813 saved the British from American attack.

Beautiful views en route to Niagara on the Lake.   The houses were incredible and there were many vineyards.

Niagara on the Lake was originally known as Newark, and was Upper Canada's first capital.  This is the famous Prince of Wales Hotel.