~North Carolina~

 WOW - what a beautiful area!  We have just finished visiting North Carolina.   There were SO many lovely cotton fields - just like you see on TV.   I even made Scott pull over so I could pick some up!!

 This is how they harvest the cotton into large "bales"  Just SO cool - we were all fascinated!

 We found this incredible campground in Newport, NC.  Our site was right on Goose Creek - an intercoastal waterway.  People go in and out from here to go fishing in the area.  We were able to see the fishermen come in each evening and watch them clean their fish. Folks were also crabbing right off the dock.

 It was lovely and hot so we were able to eat our meals outside, do school at the picnic table and even wash and dry our towels, sheets, pillowcases etc.... in the warm wind.

 From our park it was just a short drive to the little strip of land called "Emerald Isle" which contained Indian Beach and Atlantic Beach.   Basically you are surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean - just amazing.  At times while driving you can see the water on both sides of you!

 The sand was SO soft, white and "squeaky" on the island.   The kids had SO much fun!   Also....so many shells to collect.   There were MANY people fishing from the shore that we enjoyed watching.

 This is the Bogue Pier - talk about a lot of people of all sorts.  They were catching SO many fish and we had such a great time visiting with the friendly North Carolina people and learning about the way they fish, what types of fish they catch and what they use for bait.

 These are blow fish or "puffer fish".   They at not all that large when you pull them in, but once they are put into the bucket of water they balloon up with air and water to look bigger and protect themselves.

 Look at those teeth - just nasty looking!  Hilarious!

 While down on the shore people were digging for sand fleas to use for bait.  WOW - these things were like mini crabs - our sand fleas back home are more like little flies.

 More "surf fishing".

 The following day we went into Morehead City for the annual Veteran's Day Parade.  It was lovely and sunny and there were tons of people lining the street.

 The parade was mostly veterans of all sorts from many different wars.   Also, lots of prominent people in fancy cars etc....

 One thing that was different in the USA was that they still throw candy to the kids!   The kids were more than happy to join in with this activity and everyone around us had MORE than enough!

 This is how much candy we got!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It filled up the entire dining room table in our trailer!!  Needless to say....we are limiting our stash with just a few each a day.

 The next day we went to the North Carolina Aquarium.  It was so great and we enjoyed all the interpretive centres and displays.

 Alligators are very prominent in this area so they had a big display on them - yikes!

Travis was a bit "crabby" today !!

 We had a great aquarium interpreter that explained all about alligators and crocodlies.  He even had a "real" one which he brought out and let us all touch!!!  "Just don't feel it near his head", he said :)

 Then back to the beach for some skimboarding, beach volleyball, football, collecting of shells, going for walks and just relaxing in the sun - lovely!

 Every evening when we arrived "home" we were able to enjoy these beautiful sunsets from our site.

What a lovely time in North Carolina !

~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!!!