New Life Chapter: DC, Arlington, VA, Western VA

Nov 1 - When I left PA, I headed towards VA. We stopped along the way for a hike at Susquehannock State Park in PA. I figure it is always good for Zoe (and me) to get a walk in the middle of a drive. I'm not sure how much she is liking traveling all the time, but hopefully the walks help to break up the boredom. We did the Rhododendron trail, which definitely had a lot of rhododendrons on it, but so do so many other trails everywhere! The trail was good for a while, but we went down a lot of steep stuff, then back up and then we got to a point in the trail where we were going to have to go down and back up again, so I decided we'd bushwhack to an easier trail. The trail was very rocky and covered with leaves, so I think it was a good decision.

After the hike, we headed to Mary's in Arlington, VA. It was still pretty cold while we were in VA, but not supposed to be below freezing at night (though there was frost on windshields in the AM). It was great to see Mary and Gypsy again and Zoe (and I) really enjoyed the fire that looked real, but isn't. Mary

cooked a Blue Apron meal, which was excellent! I've never had one of these types of meals before.

Mary is super close to DC, so Zoe and I went to the Mall and checked out the sites there. It was a beautiful day and we spent a good 2.5 hours walking around. I was tired, but this was super tiring for Zoe.

Sobering!

Korean War Veterans Memorial - Freedom is not free

Martin Luther King

Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that. - MLK

The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little. -FDR
I guess we haven't made much progress...

We have faith that future generations will know that here, in the middle of the 20th century, there came a time when men of good will found a way to unite, and produce, and fight to destroy the forces of ignorance, and intolerance, and slavery, and war. -FDR

Though I was tired after our day on the mall, I decided to go to Arlington Cemetery. I wanted to go and see my grandparents grave site as I haven't been since he was buried. It is a really beautiful cemetery, but difficult knowing all the soldiers who died in stupid wars.

I suspect this is my grandfather's brother and wife. I didn't know he had a brother... I would think I'd know this.

RGB RIP

Tomb of the unknown soldier

I decided to make my favorite breakfast in the van. This requires my new cute Wonder Oven (cost $195!!! but it's a very small footprint) and my induction cooktop. This doesn't feel like such a big deal in a house, but in the van it is. I'm not sure how much I will be doing this. I suppose if I were parked somewhere for a bit, I would do it, maybe even leave the appliances out. The breakfast is toast with avocado and melted goat cheese gouda (Trader Joe's) with an over easy egg on top.

😍

Looks like quite a production/mess!

I was going to head west on Friday, but Zoe got me up 2x in the night to poop, so I thought it might be a good idea to take it easy for a day. Mary wasn't working, but did have a bunch of errands to run, so we did our own thing and then had dinner together with her husband. We got takeout from Nando's Peri-peri (Spicy Afro Portuguese), which I guess is a chain and the food was sooo good! Unfortunately it looks like it's only in the DC area. 😞

11/4 - Leaving Arlington area, I apparently got charged over $45 for one single toll. Can that be real??? It's not even supposed to charge a toll on weekends on that road. Now to get this resolved...

We headed west and stopped at Jefferson's Monticello. It was a bit late and I had hoped to do a tour about the slaves, but I was given bad info and missed it.

We stayed at a Harvest Host spot in/near Lovington, VA called Woodridge Farm Brewery. I highly recommend it as a place to stop in. They have lots to do and the pizza was amazing.

They do weddings here

They used some seriously big logs. It was a chilly night, so the fire felt amazing!

morning view

Friendly mini horses and whatever king of goat(?) those big ones are. The little goats were pretty afraid of Zoe.

11/5 - Then onto Jeff's place in Dublin, VA with a stop at Jeanne and Kenny's new home that's in the process of being built in Roanoke area. Zoe thought it would be good to take a nap.