It's Fun 4 Me!: Road Trip To Virginia

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Road Trip To Virginia

This past summer my brother and his family moved to Virginia - near Virginia Beach. Last summer I blogged about our trip to visit his family in Boston. I think I was more excited about this trip! Why? My family LOVES Monster Jam!! Did you know that Dennis Anderson (founder of Grave Digger) and his family have a store in North Carolina called Digger Dungeon? We have been trying to find an excuse to make our way to that area of the country. Well, my brother and his family happened to be moving just a few minutes away! Plus, it's always great to get some quality family time ;-)

Here's our experience:

We did stop for one night so we could see some sites the 2nd day.

I was happy to see that there was a national park along the way! I make it a mission to visit as many national parks as we can to help my kiddos learn more about their grandfather that they never met. My dad worked most of his life at a variety of national parks until he passed away at the young age of 48.

Front Royal (North Entrance Station). Note: There is an entrance fee per vehicle.

Shenandoah National Park is breath taking! There are a few entrances to the park. We entered through the one closes to our route (see picture above). We had planned to travel the length of the park but there were two things. First, it's a long winding road! My daughter has motion sickness issues so it was miserable for her - which made it miserable for the rest of us. Second, It may look like this adventure wouldn't take long. However, it would take an entire day to drive through the park and that doesn't include stopping to explore now and then. With all this to consider, we took one of the first exit opportunities. We did still manage see a lot of the park - just not all of it.

The Dickey Ridge Visitors Center (near North entrance) is a fun place to visit.
There is a small museum, gift store, restrooms and a great view!

The rest of Virginia:

Loved these trees!!! Not sure what the are called but they were pretty and all over the state.

Chesapeake Bay Bridge - Tunnel: A fun experience! But, we were stuck in a traffic jam for hours on the way to the bridge/tunnel. We had no idea what was going on until we got there. No accidents - just too many cars trying to go from 4 lanes into 2 (each direction). It wasn't worth the wait! But, now we can say we did it. Also, we took it on the way home (tried to avoid it but we were not familiar enough with the area) and the traffic wasn't bad.

There are a lot of HUGE beautiful houses and the weather is great year round!

The best part - visiting with family!!! Even if it is over a game of Minecraft - LOL!

I am so glad these cousins get along so great - even though the only see each other about once a year!

Sphecius Speciosus - These things were HUGE and took over my brothers back yard! They built nests in the ground and seemed to be more bothered with each other than us. But, we didn't want to take any chances so we avoided any back yard activities until the yard was sprayed.