Day 2: Manassas & Udvar-Hazy

We had an early morning wake-up today as we had another big day of driving plus things to see!  We departed the campground before 6:30 am and proceeded down some more winding, curvy roads (this is seeming to be a theme in southern Virginia!) before finally finding an interstate again (which made Michael VERY happy!!).

 

We made a quick stop for breakfast at a restaurant that 5/6's of us enjoy in moderation (the one who does not enjoy it chose to continue sleeping in the RV instead of eat... if that gives you any clue who it might be... teenagers need their sleep, you know!!). It seems that the "WH" may be our new theme restaurant of this trip-- although I'm fairly certain McDonald's will get more than its fair share of visits if previous trips are any indication!!

 

 

We saw some beautiful scenery along our way near the Shenandoah Valley. We are going to travel through the park on our way home in a few weeks and it will be interesting to see how the leaves have changed!

 

The first planned stop today was at the Manassas Battlefield Park. This was the site of the first battle of the Civil War. The girls and I had learned in American history that many people had come from Washington on the day of the battle with their picnic lunches thinking it was going to be the one and only battle of the war (and were sadly mistaken). We were able to watch a movie about the battle and we learned more details about a family who's home was right in the middle of the fighting. The numbers of soldiers killed here was just sobering and sad.

 

 

 After Manassas, we drove to the Udvar-Hazy**branch of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. This is a newer Air & Space museum that is right next door to Dulles Airport (and never fear-- we will ALSO be visiting the original on the Mall in DC!!). Michael was in airplane heaven!! They have so many planes and flying machines from all eras of flight-- from the hot air balloons of the 1700's through the modern space age. My two favorites were the Discovery Space Shuttle and the P-47 planes that my grandfather worked on when he was in WWII. I am not sure Michael could narrow down his favorites to just two, but I know he really enjoyed the full scale models of the planes he currently owns in their RC versions! They also have a simulated air traffic control tower where you can actually watch the planes landing at Dulles-- this was super cool. We finished up at the museum with ice cream at the McDonalds Cafe inside (shocker!!). Inside joke from today-- while we were at the McD's, Pawpaw (who is not thrilled about using a wheelchair AT ALL) all of a sudden sat up straight and asked, "Where is my chair??!" -- to which Grandma replied, "You are sitting in it!!" He then proceeded to look down to make sure she was right! We were ROLLING with laughter-- good thing he didn't mind too much :)

(** In case you are wondering what it takes to get a Smithsonian Museum named after you, the answer is just about 66 million dollars!!!)

Our campground for this evening was Bull Run Regional Park in Centreville, VA-- just about 13 miles from Udvar-Hazy.  We got to experience some of the DC traffic on our way to the campground and it pretty much lives up to the hype!  Bull Run is a Virginia State Park. State Parks are usually about my first choice for campgrounds because their prices are generally reasonable and their facilities are usually in very good condition. Bull Run has not disappointed. The bonus for tonight was a visit from a group of deer in the field behind our camping site. We made s'mores after dinner and stayed up enjoying our electricity, internet connection and fire (probably in that order I am sorry to say... just keeping it honest!!).