Scott tours the nation’s capitol while Michelle opts out
Friday, April 2 – Michelle refused to visit Washington, DC with the rest of us because she didn’t want to be in the same city as Bill Clinton. Lynne dropped Michelle and Salem, our cat, off with her parents. The rest of us loaded up the Aerostar and headed out via the cross county highway to I-71, I-270 around Columbus, and east on I-70. We stopped for lunch at a Subway in Zanesville and drove around downtown for a few minutes until we located the famous ‘Y’ bridge. From the bridge we made our way back to I-70 and continued through the tunnel in Wheeling, West Virginia, to Pennsylvania. There was still some snow at some of the higher elevations. We drove down the Pennsylvania Turnpike through the Allegheny Tunnel and spent the night at the Comfort Inn in Breezewood, Pennsylvania, eating dinner at the hotel’s restaurant.
Saturday, April 3 – After breakfast at the Comfort Inn, we continued east on the Pennsylvania Turnpike through the Tuscarora, Kittatinny and Blue Mountain tunnels. Near Harrisburg we caught US 15 and drove south to Gettysburg National Military Park. We saw the Cyclorama and the High Water Mark before grabbing lunch at McDonald’s. At the Cyclorama the guy selling tickets was getting aggravated with everyone for paying to see a painting of the battleground when they could walk outside and see it for free. After lunch we drove through the park stopping at Little Round Top, the Lutheran Seminary and Lee’s Headquarters. We left Gettysburg on 97 and 140 to I-795, taking I-695 and I-95 to Fort McHenry National Monument in Baltimore. We toured the fort and Scott climbed on a few cannons. He was impressed with the large ships in the harbor. We stayed that night in a lousy Comfort Inn on Security Blvd. off I-695 and ate dinner at a Chinese buffet restaurant. This was Scott’s first visit to Maryland.
Sunday, April 4 – Breakfast at the Comfort Inn. At least they had good donuts. It was Easter Sunday and Lynne had given up donuts for Lent, so she got to indulge. We drove to the Inner Harbor past Oriole Park at Camden Yards and the Baltimore Raven’s stadium. The submarine Torsk and lighthouse ship Chesapeake were tied up to the dock beside the National Aquarium. We went through the aquarium and enjoyed watching a scuba diver wearing bunny ears feed some rays in a large open tank. They had an exhibit of venomous animals and we enjoyed watching sea snakes swimming. Scott wasn’t too impressed with their coral reef but did like the shark tank. Their marine mammal exhibit had a mural which changed images as your viewing angle changed. We watched the dolphins performing from a window below the surface of their tank and had fun confusing an automated display which used sound waves to judge your height.
At Scott’s request we ate lunch at Baltimore’s Hard Rock Cafe and he got a Hard Rock shirt. From downtown we headed north via the Fort McHenry Tunnel on I-95 through Delaware into New Jersey. We took a picture of Scott there, did a U-turn, and headed back down I-95 to Maryland. We booked a room at the Best Western Maryland Inn in College Park and had dinner at a Pizza Hut. After dinner we drove down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway to Pennsylvania Avenue and drove around the Mall and past some of the monuments and memorials. Traffic was awful and the drivers were crazy, and we swore we would not drive downtown again. Back at the Best Western, we took advantage of their Fun Dome which featured an indoor pool, whirlpool, pool table, putting green and shuffleboard court. Scott’s first time in Delaware, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C.
Monday, April 5 – Lynne woke up with an awful headache. Scott and Jim drove to the College Park Metro station and took the green line to the red line to the orange line to Smithsonian station by the Castle. Since Jim had been there before but Scott hadn’t, Scott got to set the pace. As a result, they spent no more than 45 minutes at any given attraction. They toured the Air and Space Museum, walked to the Capitol, the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court, the National Archives, and the National Museum of Natural History. Brunch was a hot dog on the mall. Lynne was feeling a little better when they returned and we all ate dinner at El Mexicano.
Tuesday, April 6 – We ate breakfast at E.J.’s Landing, the restaurant in the Best Western. There were no parking spots at the College Park station so we drove out to Greenbelt and took the Metro to Archives and saw the Navy Memorial. The line waiting to get into the Archives was all the way down the steps and curving down the sidewalk, so we walked over to Ford’s Theater. There was a 40 minute wait for the next group of 200 to get in. We went back to the Metro station and rode to Foggy Bottom, Metro’s recommended stop for the Lincoln Memorial. The subway station was in George Washington University and we walked past the State Department to the Lincoln Memorial. There was scaffolding covering part of the interior but we were able to see the statue. North of the reflecting pool, the Washington Monument was covered with scaffolding and was closed for refurbishing. We went over to the Viet Nam Veterans Memorial, an experience which cannot be put into words. We continued northwest to the White House, then back to Smithsonian station and onto the Metro back to Greenbelt. We had a late lunch/early dinner from Burger King and did laundry.
Wednesday, April 7 – Skipped breakfast, drove down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway to see the Jefferson Memorial. Thanks to our cruddy National Geographic map, we got lost and toured some parts of Maryland where other tourists don’t normally venture. Finally made our way to the Jefferson Memorial which was partly closed for refurbishing. The cherry trees were all in blossom along the Tidal Basin. We drove across the Potomac to Arlington and saw the graves of John F. Kennedy and William Howard Taft. We turned the wrong way at the exit and had to turn around at Ronald Reagan Airport before catching I-66 west. After lunch at Fuddrucker’s in Fairfax, we continued on to Manassas National Battlefield Park. We saw some of the markers from the first battle of Bull Run but opted not to take the full driving tour for sights from the second battle. I-66 eastbound took us to I-495 around Washington and back into Maryland. We took US 50 past Annapolis to the Eastern Shore and headed south to Salisbury where we continued south on US 13 to Onley, Virginia. We stayed at the Comfort Inn and had dinner at the China Chefs restaurant.
Thursday, April 8 – The cry of seagulls on the roof woke us up. It was a hot and sunny day with clear blue skies so we hoped for good visibility from the Chesapeake Bridge Tunnel. What we got instead was a low-lying fog on the water. We stopped at the pier on the westernmost manmade island but couldn’t see very well because of the mist. No large ships crossed while we were there. In Norfolk we took I-64 through the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel toward Richmond. We tried to follow a sign for food along the way and accidentally ended up in part of Colonial Williamsburg. Unable to find a restaurant, we continued on I-64 and had to settle for a McDonald’s. We stopped at Monticello but a sign at the ticket window said the wait to see the house was 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 hours. We continued on I-64 to Covington, Virginia, and stayed at the Best Western Mountain View. Fifteen years earlier, Jim and Lynne had stayed at the same hotel when it was a Holiday Inn. We had dinner at the Brass Lantern Restaurant in the hotel.
Friday, April 9 – The air conditioner in our room made a horrible racket and had two settings, off and arctic, so we didn’t sleep well and woke up late. We turned to the Weather Channel to get the local weather and instead saw a story and footage of the devastation caused by tornadoes in Hamilton County. Although our neighborhood was not mentioned, we decided to make haste back. We took I-64 out of town to the West Virginia Turnpike and ate breakfast at Roy Rogers at a travel plaza. At exit 47 we took a two minute detour to take a picture of the sign at Cross Lanes honoring native daughter Kathy Mattea but the camera broke. We took US 35 to Jackson, Ohio, and took Ohio 32 to I-275 and home to find Michelle and Lynne’s parents were fine, and there was no storm damage in our part of the county.
Milestones on this trip: Scott went below sea level for the first time. Scott’s first visit to Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C.
States and provinces we visited: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky.
Capital cities we saw: Columbus, Annapolis, Washington and Richmond
