A sad end

Horseshoe Falls3
Originally uploaded by Olivia Linkel

Friday we got up and went back to Niagara Falls for some souvenirs and some more pictures. We finally made it across the border around 11 and drove into the heart of Buffalo to visit the Theodore Roosevelt Inauguration National Historic site. This is where Teddy took the oath of office after William McKinley was shot and killed. We had a nice lunch in a very tight parking lot and Krista and Liam napped while we got our park stamps.

Then we drove and drove and drove to reach Gettysburg around 10:30 Friday night. We stopped at a TGI Friday's in Williamsport and got dinner to go and ate in the camper because it was so crowded. The kids were all asleep.

We had intended to get an early start at Gettysburg on Saturday morning with hopes of reaching Newport News by 2 pm but the kids needed some down time and we made a great breakfast of bacon and eggs and crescents. We reached the park around 10 and the crowds were already hopping.

I have always had great experiences with National Park staff. However on this occasion, the gentleman was rude and short and entirely unhelpful. I intend to write a letter on that. I didn't do enough research about this park and did not realize that we had to pay to see the museum, $6 a pop and $10 to see both the movie and the museum. This was dissappointing. We just didn't have enough time to invest that kind of money. So we got the junior ranger books for Luke and Lorelei and headed to the battlefield. It was windy on the hill but we answered the history question and by 12:30 had left the park with 2 junior ranger badges. We stopped at McDonalds for lunch and then cruised through Maryland, DC and Virginia to Newport News. Liam and Krista were happy to be home to see Justin and after we unloaded their stuff we headed for home.

Once again, Scott's bad travel karma hit us and we stopped traffic on the tunnel into Suffolk because we missed the inspection station for RV's with propane tanks. We didn't have to stop on the way into Newport News the first time and we were a little confused. Once we passed inspection, we drove over to Suffolk and stopped for dinner. We were on the road for good by 7 pm. Other than seeing about 20 deer on the side of the road on the way home, we had an uneventful trip and arrived around 12:30 Sunday morning.

So the camper is washed and we took it back to the storage lot but not without a sad feeling. We loved having extra people to share a journey with and had the best time with some great people. We can't wait to go out again.