East Coast Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we visited Josh's brother and his family in Virginia. We hadn't been to visit since they moved to VA several years ago and they have had two kids in that time. We were excited to meet our nephews and Eli was excited to meet his cousins. We were also looking forward to doing some East Coast sightseeing.

Our first adventure was to an old mill near their home. The water wheel and gears were incredible, the movement was almost hypnotic.

At the Burwell-Morgan Mill

Our next adventure took us into Washington D.C. for the day. One day was definitely not enough time to see everything we wanted to see, but we really enjoyed our time there. To get to D.C. we drove about an hour to a Metro station and took that the rest of the way. Eli and cousin Benjamin both seemed to really enjoy the ride on the train. We enjoyed it too, other than when Eli decided to lick the handrail. That may be the most disgusting thing he has ever done. 

Once in D.C. we headed to the Air and Space Smithsonian. After that we went to the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. Then we made the long trek to the other end of the National Mall to see the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. 

Chillin' on the Metro, before he licked the handrail.

Josh and Eli enjoying the Air and Space museum

Checking out a video about what it would be like to land on an aircraft carrier. 

L to R: Josh, Eli, Benjamin, Jereme.

Washington Monument

My boy and I

Capitol 

National Archives

On our way to visit President Lincoln

Not every day you get a photo op with a former president.

Starting to get cold. 

The downside of going to D.C. in November is that it was pretty cold. Especially when the sun starts going down, which was at about 4:30pm.  

Sunset on the Washington Monument.

After our day in D.C. we went on a road trip to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. I hadn't heard of the Outer Banks but as we were planning our trip Josh mentioned that this was somewhere he really wanted to go. So we rented a house for a few days and spent Thanksgiving in Kill Devil Hills, N.C. Odd name, cool place. The house we stayed at was 3 blocks from the Atlantic coast to the east and about 10 blocks from Kitty Hawk Bay to the west. On Thanksgiving we spent some time in the morning at the beach and then rode bikes to the Bay in the evening to see the sunset. 

Neither of Jereme and Christy's cars fit all 7 of us, so we rented a van. It was supposed to be a mini-van but when we went to pick it up they didn't have any available. So we were "upgraded". Nothing says "party" quite like a 15 passenger van.

Benjamin enjoying the beach. 

When you are on vacation by the beach, you play in the water. Even if it is only 50 degrees outside. Although, we've gotten used to beaches here in WA, which seem to always have bad weather so this was just a regular day at the beach for us. 

Sunset over Kitty Hawk Bay on Thanksgiving Day

Enjoying the sunset

Cousins!

The sunset was incredible.

The day after Thanksgiving we checked out the Wright Brother's memorial.

"In commemoration of the conquest of the air by the brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright conceived by genius, achieved by dauntless resolution and unconquerable faith."

Enjoying the beach one last time.

Us

Our final adventure was to Harper's Ferry in West Virginia. It's an incredible little town nestled between the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers. The history of the town and it's involvement in the Civil War was really interesting. 

National Armory Fire Engine House. Also known as John Brown's fort.

The Appalachian Trail runs through Harper's Ferry so we got a quick family picture on the A.T.

We had such a great time visiting Jereme and Christy and their boys. They were gracious hosts and tour guides and we are really hoping to be able to go visit them again.