Phillips Family Heads Back East

We had a wonderful time seeing the sights of our Nations Capital. We took Grandma and Grandpa Barlow with us and I think we walked them so much they may not want to come with us again.
We Started our vacation is Williamsburg, VA. We toured Colonial Williamsburg and learned what it might have been like to live in the 1800's. We stayed in the condo there and had a great time learning about the Revolutionary War. We took one afternoon off from "learning" and went to the beach.
We decided to leave Williamsburg on Sun. and drive up to Richmond, VA to go to church. When we got there, we met another family coming in also on vacation. Come to find out, church was closed in Richmond. The doors were locked and lights were off, parking lot was gated shut. No one was around. So after deciding what to do, we landed in Fredricksburg for church. After church we found a place to eat and decided to go up into DC and see Arlington before we went to find our new condo.

Arlington is very peaceful, and makes me proud to be an American. There are so many graves, it is truely amazing. Freedom isn't free, someone died for us to have that freedom.

We watched to changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. We left Arlington and found our way up the road to Front Royal, VA. This would be our home away from home for the rest of the week. We got our groceries and found where the GPS took us; saying this was the place. It didn't look like what was in the book, it looked like a campground and we had no tent or trailer.
The office was closed with a note on the door saying back in 15 min. we waited 15 min. and no one came. We drove through the campground and only saw trailers and a speed limit sign saying 7 1/2 MPH.We drove to another spot we thought could be where we were to stay, but couldn't get into the building. Doors were locked and lights were out. We finally decided to send Kirk and Grandpa to ask someone. They did and we went to find the man. He was down visiting. He came back and checked us into a "Cabin".
It was small and crowded, the water came out of the sinks and tubs a brown color, but we had a bed and a roof over our heads. It was clean.
We drove to Getysburg on mon., met our friends (the Barringers) at Harper's Ferry, and enjoyed seeing and learning about the Civil War.
Tues, because we were staying 60 miles out of DC, we had to leave early (5:30 am) to be in Washington by 8:15 AM. It was only 60 miles, but with the traffic, it was 2 hours each way. We toured the White House, Washingtons Monument, the Capitol, the Supreme Court, Library of Congress, and the Musium of Natural History. It was a big day with lots of walking and still a long ride home.


Wed. we all slept in and checked out the things to do at the condo. Swimming pool... Closed, video games... Broken, Fishing pond... Bring your own pole, Volleyball.... pull the weeds first, They (the Boys and Krista) did find horse shoes, and a petting zoo. Ping Pong... Buy the balls.

We left around 12:30 and drove into DC again. This time we toured the Pentagon then drove out to the temple. The boys and Kirk did baptisms. Long drive home again.


Thurs. was wet and raining. We drove into DC and did a bus tour. It took us to all the monuments and we could get off for as long as we wanted and then back on. We saw the Lincoln Monument, WWII, and the other war monuments. We found a friend of Grandpa and Grandmas name on the wall of the soldiers. We also got into the printing and engraving where they make the money. Wet and cold but a fun day.



Fri. was our last day to see DC. We drove in and went to the Air and Space Musium, and sculpture gardens and the American History musium. While in the Air and Space Musium, we ran into our neighbor. What a small world.

Sat. we got up and drove back to Richmond to catch a flight home. What a week. It was so fun, but always good to be home to a good bed and water that doesn't come out brown.