Category: Maryland

Valleys and Battlefields

Valleys and Battlefields

Hey Guys! We spent two weeks in Winchester, VA and I have to admit…I really like this area of Virginia. We haven’t spent much time in Virginia…mainly along the coast…so I wasn’t sure what to expect. There’s so much to do and see in this area! SO much! We tried to see as much as we could, but sometimes…we don’t get nearly as much adventuring done as we’d like.

Our boys have been interested in the Civil War for a long time now…Charles even took an extra history class about the Civil War during his senior year. We’ve been to quite a few pivotal battlefields and locations for the Civil War over the years so, it was no surprise that they all wanted to spend a day at Antietam National Battlefield before we did anything else for this stop.

Antietam National Battlefield is thought to be one of the most well preserved Civil War battlefields. There’s an 8.5 mile driving/audio tour you can take that covers many of the key locations of the battle. It’s well worth the twenty or so dollars for the audio cd in the visitor center. Dunker Church and a few of the family farms that were used during the battle have been rebuilt or restored. The day we went, there were quite a few volunteers in period dress. It definitely added to the visit and was done in a way that wouldn’t take away from the experience if that kind thing isn’t for you.

The battle of Antietam started at dawn on September 17, 1862 and after twelve hours of savage combat, over 23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing. Thousands of soldiers were killed in those twelve hours with thousands more dying from their wounds or disease in the days following. This one day of the Civil War is considered to be the bloodiest day in American history and ultimately led Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.

The Civil War is the first documented attempt by soldiers to ensure their bodies could be identified if they were killed during battle. The soldiers started pinning tags like the ones in the picture above onto their uniforms before battle. Around forty-two percent of the soldiers killed in the Civil War were never identified.

One of the things we always look for at a battlefield is a tower we can use to get a good overview. This one was built by the War Department in 1896 as part of an open air classroom. You get a good look at what’s referred to as “Bloody Lane”. What once was an old sunken dirt farm road was the site of a four hour fierce standoff that resulted in over 5,000 soldiers being killed or wounded…and neither side gained anything. This sunken road is now known as Bloody Lane.

It’s always interesting to find a witness tree or building. A witness tree or building is one that was there during the event. At Burnside Bridge, you’ll find an old sycamore tree that stood witness to the battle of Antietam and was, in fact, in the middle of a three hour battle on that September day way back in 1862. The park has a fence up to keep people from trampling all over the tree, but I bet if you could get close enough, you’d see some old bullet wounds.

Within Antietam National Battlefield you’ll find the Antietam National Cemetery. We always visit those too. To remember what the cost of our freedom is. We always walk through some of the tombstones and I always read the names…someone remembers you…someone appreciates your sacrifice. I think it’s important to remind our kids that freedom isn’t free. Someone has to pay the price and they should be remembered for it.

In every battlefield you find stories of war and conflict…of terror and death. But, you’ll also find stories of bravery and survival…stories of freedom and new beginnings. It is my opinion that these types of National Park Units are some of the most important units. The history preserved in the many battlefields, forts, and military parks needs to be remembered so that we can remember how far we’ve come as a Nation and how far we still need to go.

While we were so close to it, we took a day to explore Shenandoah National Park. Unlike most of the National Parks in the west that were created to preserve some epic natural feature or wilderness area, Shenandoah was cobbled together from private property. It took Virginia years to quietly buy up property and convince… and in quiet a few instances, bully…people off of their family property. The land that was slated to become Shenandoah NP had long been used by farmers, mill owners, logging companies, trappers and miners. It was not only where they lived, but where they made their money…their livelihood. Entire communities relied on the resources provided by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Shenandoah Valley.

When Shenandoah National Park was dedicated on July 3, 1936 most of the land was unforested open land. Now, it’s close to 200,000 acres of mostly wilderness area. Skyline Drive is a National Scenic Byway and runs 105 miles down the length of Shenandoah NP and supplies around seventy pullovers for views. If you plan on driving Skyline Drive in your RV…make sure you’ll make it through Marys Rock Tunnel where the max height clearance is 12’8″.

We heard a lot about all of the bears and deers…and the amazing waterfalls. We were told by a Ranger that pretty much all of the waterfalls were dried up. So, we didn’t hike to any of them. The few hikes we were interested in were so crowded that we skipped them. And maybe that’s why this park for us was just…OK. We weren’t impressed with the views and we were even less impressed with the way the park was cobbled together and formed. I guess they can’t all be awesome.

Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park preserves a significant Civil War landscape and an antebellum plantation in the Shenandoah Valley. This battlefield is mostly on privately owned land, but the NPS has still put together a great driving tour that gives you the main story of what took place here. Established in 2002, this NPS unit is one of the newer Civil War battlefields brought into the NP and is actually a collaboration of several different partners to manage the park.

The Belle Grove Planation was used as a headquarters for General Sheridan during the battle of Cedar Creek. Built between 1794 to 1797, the manor house has had very few changes and is considered one of the best preserved 18th century homes in the country. It’s currently open to the public for tours for a fee. We opted not to do the tour but walked around the grounds and read all of the National Park info signs. Belle Grove is actually owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation but is included in the National Park.

We found this great little Civil War museum one afternoon while we were exploring Historic Downtown Winchester. It’s part of the NP system and has a cancelation stamp (if you collect those). It was filled to the brim with information and artifacts. Because Winchester is situated on such a strategic location, it changed hands close to 72 times during the Civil War…so as you can imagine…this area is overflowing with Civil War history.

Winchester is located along the Valley Pike (route 11) which was once known as The Great Wagon Road. People have been using this area since the Native Tribes of the area used it for travel to follow the migrating buffalo herds. People go to the area for the amazing amount of Civil War stuff…but Winchester has played a part in our Nation’s history for longer than the Civil War. George Washington spent his early adult life in Winchester where he worked as a surveyor when he was sixteen years old. He fell into a commanding role during the French and Indian War and used the building you see in the pic above as his headquarters. We were surprised to learn that Washington was actually elected to his very first public office as Frederick County’s (Winchester is in this county) representative to the House of Burgesses. He passed one legislative bill the entire (I think around twenty years) time he was in the House of Burgesses…it was for public health and made it illegal to let your pigs roam around the streets and streams. Basically, Virginia is where Washington learned the skills that would allow him to effectively lead an army during the Revolutionary War and then continue on to become the first President of our new and struggling Country.

This area of Virginia has so many farm markets and orchards! We only made it to one…that’s all we had time for. We were there during peach season and boy-oh-boy…we found peach everything! We had peaches for weeks!

We found a fair amount of apple products too and couldn’t pass up visiting Winchester Ciderworks. Our oldest (Charles) just turned 21 back in July so we took him with us and he had his first flight. The three of us each got a flight where we got to try some hard cider made from apples grown, pressed and fermented right there in Winchester! If craft breweries, distilleries, cideries, or wineries are your thing…there’s an entire Shenandoah Spirits Trail for you to explore!

Lets talk foodies! Guys, every place we tried while in Winchester was top-notch. Seriously good. We were able to get some pizza delivered right to our home-on-wheels for the first time in a looonng time from Pizza 3.14. It was fantastic! We found some amazing bbq at Bonnie Blue Southern Market & Bakery…so good that we’re still talking about it.

It was summer (July) when we were in Winchester and the flowers were in full swing! Fields and fields of wildflowers in full bloom! Also…the chiggers were in action so I got SO many chigger bites while we were exploring the battlefields. I tried to stay on the paths…but…Guys…the pretties were taunting me. Beckoning me! Every single time I got off trial I’d get chiggers. Every. Single. Time. It’s been an itchy summer, but just look at those pretties.

That’s all we had time for while we were in Winchester, Virginia. We crammed as much as we could in, but didn’t scratch the surface of what’s available to do. We really wanted to make it to the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley and visit a few more farm markets or orchards. We’ve decided we will absolutely have to go back to Winchester during the fall to get some fresh apples and see the leaves as they change colors.

See Y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour

Washington DC

Washington DC

Hey Guys!! We spent one week in the DC area and it wasn’t nearly long enough. We had four very crazy, very full, very looonngggg days where we ventured into the DC area and we still didn’t get everything on our list done.

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We somehow managed to snag tickets for the White House tour. We heard we were one of only five Texas families since February 2016 that’s been approved.

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We got to look through some of the rooms that I’m pretty sure aren’t really used much anymore.

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Several of the rooms had a color theme. Can you guess the name of the room above?

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There were Secret Servicemen everywhere. Most of them were super nice and full of all kinds of info. We asked them all the questions we could think to ask. From how many colors of green were in the Green Room to how heavy the chandeliers are in the photo above.

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Caught this view out one of the White House windows. Not bad, right?

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I’m pretty sure they set this up as a photo opp…but it’s a good one.

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And check out this piano! Gorgeous!!!

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The very first thing we did in the area was visit the zoo. Littlest is panda crazy and has been looking forward to seeing a real, live panda in person all summer.

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He was in heaven. We met an old friend of ours and her family at the zoo. *waves at Kiki & family* We got to catch up while the kids all watched the animals.

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We stayed at an RV park not too far from DC. They have an orientation about how to get around the area. It was super helpful. We used these two maps the whole time. We never had to actually drive into the DC area. We always utilized the Metro system.

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One of the experiences we missed out on in NYC was the subway system. The boys were curious about it and wanting to ride it, but we just didn’t get to do it. So, while we were in DC we rode the Metro often. The first ride was pretty exciting for them.

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For those of you wondering what it looks like. Here’s one of the Metro stops.

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We found a few foodies… This is a Banana Fosters Shake. It was fantastic! So good!!

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And we found a great little hole-in-the-wall Salvadoran place. It too was just fantastic!!

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We hit all of the memorials that we could. This is the WWII Memorial.imgp6993

We had to snag a picture by the Texas post.

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Thomas Jefferson Memorial

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Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

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Lincoln Memorial. We actually got a decent picture of the boys here without tons of other people in the shot. I think there were roughly a thousand or so people there at the same time we were trying to get the Junior Ranger stuff done.

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Korean War Memorial

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The Washington Monument was closed while we were there. Something to do with the elevators. We still enjoyed seeing it.

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Vietnam War Memorial.

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Iwo Jima Memorial.

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We found the National Cathedral. It was gorgeous. I love all of the angles and spires around it.

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We made it to the Arlington National Cemetery.

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It’s a lovely place full of quiet reverence.

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We spent several hours here walking around.

imgp7056 We watched the changing of the guard before we left. It changed us all. You can’t watch something like that and not be changed. The boys still bring it up in conversation every so often.

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We made it to the Maryland State House!

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The dome was ok…

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It had some pretty stained glass.

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We found the reddest room in the world. If it’s not official it should be. The walls were red velvet.

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The Maryland State House is where George Washington resigned from the military.

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There was a neat little museum on the first floor. The area around the building was pretty neat too! We enjoyed this one.

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We even managed to get in a tour of the Nation’s Capitol Building! We wanted a complete set…

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Did you know that if you contact your State Rep that they will set up a private tour for you so you don’t have to wait in the long lines? And you get to go into the tunnels that connect the Capitol Complex. It was pretty cool.

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I want y’all to know I got in trouble taking this picture for y’all. Apparently, you’re not supposed to stop in the center and lay your phone down on the ground while you’re at the Nation’s Capitol. I thought for a minute I was going to get kicked out. I made sure to snap the picture before getting up though. I mean, I was already there…and in trouble…might as well get the shot.

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 Each state gets to have two statues in the building. So…there are statues sitting everywhere. It’s kind of weird.

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Our tour guide showed us the Whispering Spot where John Quincy Adams used to have his desk in the room in the photo above this one. We stood over this spot and our guide stood way over across the room and whispered. And we heard him! It was the coolest thing!

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This is the old Senate Chambers. It used to have wooden floors. Notice the spittoon. They were everywhere! According to our guide all of the Senators used to chew tobacco and instead of using the spittoons they would just spit on the floor. It became so gross that if you dropped anything at all you just left it. And instead of stopping or using the spittoons they would just rip out the wooden floor every so often and replace it. Talk about a waste of money. Sheesh. Can you even imagine the smell this room most have had??? Bleh!!!

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We found a few pretties…

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Not too many. It was late in the season.

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We walked a lot in the four days we were in DC. Sometimes it pays to be the Littlest.

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016