Captains BLOG
Monday, May 02, 2008
Odometer: 15632.8
I worked this morning and visited my Mother. Ron and I then finished loading the RV heading out around 3:30 pm. Since the weather forecast was dismal at best for the next three days we decided to skip our visit to NYC and head to warmer territory. Spent the night at the Molly Pitcher rest stop on the NJ Turnpike. We then decided we would “wing it” for the rest of the trip and not stick to a definitive plan like we usually do.
Captains BLOG
May 3 - 5, 2008
Odometer: 16065.9
Got a late start this morning so didn’t get into D.C. until around 4 P.M. We found a great campground called Greenbelt National Park.
Given that I am now a senior citizen I was able to get a senior National Parks pass for a one-time fee of $10.00. Good deal!!!! It only costs $8.00 to stay at a National campground. Of course there are no hook-ups so we boon-docked for the three nights we were there.
Went into D.C. on the 4th. First stop: NASA for a tour, however it is closed to the public on Mondays. So much for, “winging it”. Then it was off to the Postal Museum
for a very informative and entertaining two hours. We then walked the two miles to the News Museum but practicality and thriftiness kicked in and we decided that there were other things we wanted to see for free before we spent the $40.00 to get into the News Museum. So off we went to the JFK Performing Arts Center. http://www.kennedy-center.org/ It was very magnificent, however we were too late for the tour.
On the 5th we planned a trip into D.C. to tour the National Cathedral. http://www.cathedral.org/ On our way to the Cathedral we saw beautiful gold spires in the horizon so we decided we had to find where they were. The spires were those of the Temple of the Latter Day Saints.
What a beautiful, inspiring building – if it is possible for a building to inspire. We wanted to see the inside of the Temple but the young lady at the visitor center informed us that in order to see the inside of the Temple we would have to be invited by the prophet and that would take some serious religious commitment. She did try to encourage us to allow a missionary to come to our home and discuss the Mormon beliefs. We politely declined and were soon on our way to the National Cathedral. We knew we could get into the Cathedral without prerequisites.
On our way to the NC we detoured through some of the nicer neighborhoods of D.C. The homes are spectacular and huge, most made of brick or stone. The neighborhoods are older and meticulously manicured and don’t look real. There is obviously a lot of money here.
The National Cathedral is a must see and do when in the D.C. area. We have toured several Cathedrals and the NC is not the most spectacular but is certainly is awe-inspiring.
The Cathedral’s construction began in 1906 and was completed in 1990. It was built in stages and the workmanship is phenomenal. We were lucky to have been there for a demonstration by the organist. The organ in the main Cathedral is the sixth largest in the world and the largest in D.C. It has 100,000 pipes with one thousand of those pipes visible with the rest hidden in the structure of the building. The organist played three songs all as different as they were beautiful. After looking into every chapel and into the crypts of the Cathedral we toured the beautiful grounds. A great find in a beautiful city.
It was then off to Great Falls National Park
where we walked along the locks that are manually operated to this day. There is a boat that is pulled by mules but once again not open to the public yet. We are in the shoulder season so it is great 
because there are not many people around but not so great because some of the activities we would like to participate in have not started yet. We walked the boardwalk out to Great Falls. Since we love waterfalls and nature this was the highlight of our day. Then it was back to Greenbelt and time to make dinner.
Ron is having some problems trying to be spontaneous and gets stressed over not having every second planned. He is working on this and I know he will overcome. We are really trying to take this trip at a slower pace so we don’t run out of destinations and things by next week.
Captains BLOG
Monday, May 6, 2008
Odometer:
We left Greenbelt today and headed further South. The weather has been beautiful, sunny and warm. Today, I’m stressing because I haven’t mailed the Mother’s Day cards or Megan’s Birthday card. Ron assures me we will find a mailbox today. (I guess being at the Postal Museum
with lots of mailboxes didn’t ring a bell for me). The plan is to get into the Williamsburg/Jamestown area and tour the historic districts. I did get those cards mailed after passing two tiny post-offices we did run into one lone mailbox along our route.
We are staying at American Heritage RV Park for the next two nights. It is a beautiful place with concrete pads, full hook-ups, cable and WiFi – hence I am able to get our blog up to date. The rigs in here are incredible. There are at least 30 Prevost’s here ($800,000 and up rigs). All are pulling Acura’s, Mercedes or Cadillac’s. Always makes me wonder what these people do or did for a living.
Captains BLOG
Monday, May 7, 2008
Odometer: 16248.9
We spent today at the Jamestown Settlement http://www.nps.gov/grfa/the first European settlement in the new world. The museum was enormous and well presented. Jamestown celebrated its 400th anniversary last year. The museum is about 5 years old and covers acres of land. Outside is a mock-up of the Forts that was built on the James river and a replica of a Powhatan Indian Village.
Docked are replicas of the three ships (very small ships)
that crossed the Atlantic from Europe to Jamestown to settle here. When they first left England on 12/20/1706 they didn’t get any further then the English Channel because the winds were not blowing in the right direction. They sat in the channel being tossed around by storms and eating precious supplies for 3 weeks. They could neither move forward of go back to England. Everyone was sick but no one died on boars ship. It wasn’t until they got into the Caribbean that one man was lost from hyperthermia. It was described that his body fat melted in the heat and killed him. Five months later they arrived in Virginia and named the river James and the new settlement Jamestown.
Eighty percent of the settler’s died during the next few years either from starvation, disease or from battles with the Powhatan Indian tribe. The Powhatan tribe shrunk from 15-20,000 to only 2000 during those years. After developing a peaceful relationship with the English most Powhatan’s died from European diseases.
It was in Virginia that the first slave laws were implemented after pirates overtook a Spanish ship with African’s abducted from Angola and brought them to America.Those laws remained in effect for the next 200 years.
We then toured the original site that was developed and inhabited for over 70 years on Jamestown Island. There are foundations of the structures throughout the island. The original church is still standing and a new archeological museum has been built over the original city hall. There is an archeological dig going on a
nd we were witness to a find of an object that has been buried and not seen for 400 hundred years. The entire tour took us about 6 hours. This is a great place to bring the family for a history lesson.
Monday, May 02, 2008
Odometer: 15632.8
I worked this morning and visited my Mother. Ron and I then finished loading the RV heading out around 3:30 pm. Since the weather forecast was dismal at best for the next three days we decided to skip our visit to NYC and head to warmer territory. Spent the night at the Molly Pitcher rest stop on the NJ Turnpike. We then decided we would “wing it” for the rest of the trip and not stick to a definitive plan like we usually do.
Captains BLOG
May 3 - 5, 2008
Odometer: 16065.9
Got a late start this morning so didn’t get into D.C. until around 4 P.M. We found a great campground called Greenbelt National Park.
Given that I am now a senior citizen I was able to get a senior National Parks pass for a one-time fee of $10.00. Good deal!!!! It only costs $8.00 to stay at a National campground. Of course there are no hook-ups so we boon-docked for the three nights we were there.Went into D.C. on the 4th. First stop: NASA for a tour, however it is closed to the public on Mondays. So much for, “winging it”. Then it was off to the Postal Museum
for a very informative and entertaining two hours. We then walked the two miles to the News Museum but practicality and thriftiness kicked in and we decided that there were other things we wanted to see for free before we spent the $40.00 to get into the News Museum. So off we went to the JFK Performing Arts Center. http://www.kennedy-center.org/ It was very magnificent, however we were too late for the tour.On the 5th we planned a trip into D.C. to tour the National Cathedral. http://www.cathedral.org/ On our way to the Cathedral we saw beautiful gold spires in the horizon so we decided we had to find where they were. The spires were those of the Temple of the Latter Day Saints.
What a beautiful, inspiring building – if it is possible for a building to inspire. We wanted to see the inside of the Temple but the young lady at the visitor center informed us that in order to see the inside of the Temple we would have to be invited by the prophet and that would take some serious religious commitment. She did try to encourage us to allow a missionary to come to our home and discuss the Mormon beliefs. We politely declined and were soon on our way to the National Cathedral. We knew we could get into the Cathedral without prerequisites.On our way to the NC we detoured through some of the nicer neighborhoods of D.C. The homes are spectacular and huge, most made of brick or stone. The neighborhoods are older and meticulously manicured and don’t look real. There is obviously a lot of money here.
The National Cathedral is a must see and do when in the D.C. area. We have toured several Cathedrals and the NC is not the most spectacular but is certainly is awe-inspiring.
The Cathedral’s construction began in 1906 and was completed in 1990. It was built in stages and the workmanship is phenomenal. We were lucky to have been there for a demonstration by the organist. The organ in the main Cathedral is the sixth largest in the world and the largest in D.C. It has 100,000 pipes with one thousand of those pipes visible with the rest hidden in the structure of the building. The organist played three songs all as different as they were beautiful. After looking into every chapel and into the crypts of the Cathedral we toured the beautiful grounds. A great find in a beautiful city.It was then off to Great Falls National Park
where we walked along the locks that are manually operated to this day. There is a boat that is pulled by mules but once again not open to the public yet. We are in the shoulder season so it is great because there are not many people around but not so great because some of the activities we would like to participate in have not started yet. We walked the boardwalk out to Great Falls. Since we love waterfalls and nature this was the highlight of our day. Then it was back to Greenbelt and time to make dinner.Ron is having some problems trying to be spontaneous and gets stressed over not having every second planned. He is working on this and I know he will overcome. We are really trying to take this trip at a slower pace so we don’t run out of destinations and things by next week.
Captains BLOG
Monday, May 6, 2008
Odometer:
We left Greenbelt today and headed further South. The weather has been beautiful, sunny and warm. Today, I’m stressing because I haven’t mailed the Mother’s Day cards or Megan’s Birthday card. Ron assures me we will find a mailbox today. (I guess being at the Postal Museum
with lots of mailboxes didn’t ring a bell for me). The plan is to get into the Williamsburg/Jamestown area and tour the historic districts. I did get those cards mailed after passing two tiny post-offices we did run into one lone mailbox along our route.We are staying at American Heritage RV Park for the next two nights. It is a beautiful place with concrete pads, full hook-ups, cable and WiFi – hence I am able to get our blog up to date. The rigs in here are incredible. There are at least 30 Prevost’s here ($800,000 and up rigs). All are pulling Acura’s, Mercedes or Cadillac’s. Always makes me wonder what these people do or did for a living.
Captains BLOG
Monday, May 7, 2008
Odometer: 16248.9
We spent today at the Jamestown Settlement http://www.nps.gov/grfa/the first European settlement in the new world. The museum was enormous and well presented. Jamestown celebrated its 400th anniversary last year. The museum is about 5 years old and covers acres of land. Outside is a mock-up of the Forts that was built on the James river and a replica of a Powhatan Indian Village.
Docked are replicas of the three ships (very small ships)
that crossed the Atlantic from Europe to Jamestown to settle here. When they first left England on 12/20/1706 they didn’t get any further then the English Channel because the winds were not blowing in the right direction. They sat in the channel being tossed around by storms and eating precious supplies for 3 weeks. They could neither move forward of go back to England. Everyone was sick but no one died on boars ship. It wasn’t until they got into the Caribbean that one man was lost from hyperthermia. It was described that his body fat melted in the heat and killed him. Five months later they arrived in Virginia and named the river James and the new settlement Jamestown.Eighty percent of the settler’s died during the next few years either from starvation, disease or from battles with the Powhatan Indian tribe. The Powhatan tribe shrunk from 15-20,000 to only 2000 during those years. After developing a peaceful relationship with the English most Powhatan’s died from European diseases.
It was in Virginia that the first slave laws were implemented after pirates overtook a Spanish ship with African’s abducted from Angola and brought them to America.Those laws remained in effect for the next 200 years.
We then toured the original site that was developed and inhabited for over 70 years on Jamestown Island. There are foundations of the structures throughout the island. The original church is still standing and a new archeological museum has been built over the original city hall. There is an archeological dig going on a
nd we were witness to a find of an object that has been buried and not seen for 400 hundred years. The entire tour took us about 6 hours. This is a great place to bring the family for a history lesson.
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