The Final Day (Well Almost)

Wednesday and we decide to take a drive up to Smith Mountain Lake which is the second largest lake inVirginia. It's quite a hairy drive up there along narrow winding roads with shear drops to the side. Deb was hanging on for dear life although she generally does when i am driving anyway. The lake is over forty miles long and is quite stunning.

 

Smith Mountain Lake

In the afternoon we went to the Dixie Caverns in Salem. These caverns were discoered in 1932 by a dog called Dixie and have been open to the public for pretty mush as long. To be honest with you they were a little disappointing and we did the tour with an old couple from Florida who had seen and done it all before and were quite happy to tell us all about it (even though we were not in the slightest bit interested). All there is left of our holiday now is a three hour drive to the airport and the flight home.

 Dixie Caverns

In conclusion we have enjoyed the start and end of the holiday but wish we had not bothered with Atlantic City & Virginia Beach and spent a bit more time in the mountains and another day in Baltimore. The weather also has not been the greatest but it has improved over the last few days. 

Beautiful Bedford (Bet you never thought you'd hear those two word together)

Tuesday morning and we take a drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway through some stunning scenery, the sun is shining and we are in a good mood.

 

On The Blue Ridge Parkway

 

The Blue Ridge Mountains

We stopped off at a place called "The Peaks of Otter" and got a few shots.

 

The Peaks Of Otter

 The Peaks Of Otter

Virginia In The Fall

After that we went into a little town in the Blue Ridge Mountains called Bedford. A pretty little town full of very friendly people. We popped into a place for lunch and the people there were real nice and they were also the first people who have understood a word that Deb has said all holiday (It has been like Marjory Dawes on Little Britain with the Indian woman).

 

Main Street Bedford

Main Street Bedford

Tonight we are going to a restaurant called "Country Cookin" for dinner for some down home cooking. We are yet to find "Waltons Mountain" or any of the Waltons

The missing three days

We breezed into Atlantic City on Friday, had a look around and I decided it wasn't my cup of tea. Too built up and modern. The first night we were there I was awoken at 3.40 am by one of the neighbouring rooms having a Frat Party. Unfortunately I could not ring down to reception for 45 minutes as somebody who shall remain nameless had slept through it and when she finally woke up we got it stopped within 5 minutes.
The following day went down to Cape May which is an olde worlde town in Southern New Jersey. Unfortunately we couldn't find anywhere to park as it was saturday and heaving so we drove back and went shopping.

Perhaps one of my inlaws could explain!!

We booked into a place in Virginia Beach for sunday and monday so got up mega early on sunday morning for the epic journey (6 1/2 hours) and drove down through Delaware passing through Peggy Neck before entering Princess Anne (oooh err) and travelling on down to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel which is 17 miles of tunnels and bridge which goes over the sea. In one of the tunnels i had a complete idiot up my arse the whole distance beeping his horn and flashing his lights because i wasn't moving quick enough. Needless to say he got the finger when we got through the tunnel.

 

 On the Chesapeake Bay Bridge

So we get into Virginia Beach and the same one of us who shall remain nameless instantly hated the hotel and the room which was filthy and so consequently also hated Virginia Beach and we only stayed there one night. We have now booked into a place called Salem which was only a four hour drive, for the next three nights. Hopefully this will be better.

Intercourse, Dicks & Blue Moon

After leaving Rockville we head to Baltimore via Gettysburg PA. Deb was quite tickled with a place in Pennsylvania called Intercourse which i believe is an Amish town. We finally arrived in Baltimore in mid afternoon and we are staying in a hotel on the waterfront. It is a very posh hotel with some wonderful views. I have attached a picture but it does not really do it justice.

 

The view from our hotel room

 

Another view from the hotel

In the evening we went out to eat at a place called "Dick's Last Resort" which is a fantastic concept. Their motto is "Service with sarcasm" it is a truly funny place where the waiting staff give you attitude. They also make people wear paper hats with slogans that they have written on them to describe the person wearing them. For some reason or other they did not give either Deb or myself a hat. Thursday morning we got up and had a walk around the Fells Point district and had breakfast in our first "Guy Spot" the Blue Moon Cafe. we also went out and about on the Baltimore water taxi which runs all over the harbour and costs $10.00 per person for unlimited trips that day. Off to Atlantic City in the morning. See you all soon.

 

The Baltimore Skyline

Our Hotel

Messing around in museums

Tuesday takes back into DC and we decide to visit the museums. We visited the museum of American history which is a fantastic museum charting the life of Americans throughout their history. The problem was that lots of the exhibits we can remember as children so how can they be historic? After a while the day degenerated into sillyness as we were in fits of laughter posing with the exhibits. We did get a few dirty looks but hey what the hell we are on holiday. After leaving the museum we went up to the capitol building. The problem with a lot of these buildings is that we are not allowed in them being foreigners so we can only see the outside.

 "That's incredibly interesting"

 "Watch where you're poking that"

 "Is that a flask in your pocket?"

 "What you looking at?"

"And we all laughed!"

Tomorrow sees us heading off to our next destination (Baltimore) via Gettysburg and we are looking forward to a change of scenery.

 

The Capitol Building

A very secure sandwich

 So we arrive in DC today and decide to have a look at the monuments, DC is a very walkable town and all the monuments are within an easy reach of each other. It is surprising how many of these monuments you recognise from the tv. I think we must have walked about 4-5 miles today and our feet are very sore. The day started off overcast but it has warmed up and is currently sitting at 86f and sunny (i'm too tired to convert it into centigrade but i'm sure some smartass is going to tell me).

 

The Jefferson Memorial

 

Deb holding court with some fellas at the FDR memorial

So anyway after two and a half hours of walking we decide to get some lunch and all we see is some food carts and not a lot else and all we want is a decent sandwich. So i hit upon the idea of asking a local where is the best place to eat locally. We come across a rather rotund fellow sitting on a park bench reading a book so i asked him and he directed us to the Ronald Reagan world trade centre on 14th street to a deli called the 14th street deli. The strange thing about this place is that it is in a federal building so we had to show photo id and go through an airport style beeping machine just to get a sandwich. However it was our first introduction to the wonderful world of Reuben sandwiches and i have to say it was thoroughly worth it!!! and thanks to the big man whoever you are.

Barack's Crib

 

Old Abe himself

Just Button It

After a rather uneventful journey we arrived in Rockville MD. Rockville is a suburb of Washington DC and a rather pretty one at that, full of quaint clapboard houses. This years car is a Chevy Malibu we settled on this as they did not have any Dodge Chargers and they tried to palm us off with a Grand Marquis again. One thing we have found so far is that the people from the North are not as friendly as the people from the South (just like it is in Britain actually !!)

 

 Chevy Malibu

Sunday morning arrives and after a good nights sleep and a hearty breakfast we decide to drive to Harpers Ferry in West Virginia. It is a very historic town set in the Shenandoah Valley, there are a lot of historic buildings and there was also a battle fought there during the civil war which the confederate states won. We enjoyed walking round there so much that when we stopped for coffee Deb decided to button herself to her chair (don't ask). After leaving Harpers Ferry we went to Charles Town which is another historic town in WV. After that we hit the mall.

 

 Harpers Ferry

Shenandoah River

Getting Ready

Less than three weeks to go now until this years adventure