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We made our way to the Oregon Inlet campground in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It was freaking hot and humid! We had to change campground spots every night for three days because it was such a full campground and so in order to get a reservation, we had to just get the reservation for one night and then book another camp spot if it became available. We end up staying in three nights and four days.

We had so much fun! This is where the beach really came alive for Ephraim. The water was so warm and the beaches were sandy. We went and tried to hunt for shells. We were able to tour the Bodie lighthouse. And to Cape Hatteras. We saw several wrecked antique ships in the water. This is an area all connected by bridges, so the drive in and out was incredible! The views of the water were breathtaking taking.

We loved this part of our trip! When I think of this part of our our trip, I think of beaches, shells, and lighthouses! This was also a part of the trip themed sunburn! The kids offered not use sunscreen at Dollywood/Park, and it didn’t bode well afterwards. It took several days for Lillian’s blisters to heal. She said it took a week and a half.

We went to church on Sunday and Lillian stole him book! She accidentally carried it out with some paper she had been writing on. We had to go back on our way out of the area and return it. We then made our way up to Kitty Hawk, where the, Wright Brother’s Memorial is. We spent some time there being able to see for the first successful flight was.

Daniel’s favorite part of was going up into the lighthouse and the Wright Brother’s Memorial.

Janell’s favorite part of this was the beach and camper air conditioning-the $7 for electricity with it!

Lillian’s favorite post of this was the beach and the lighthouse.

Ephraim favorite part of this was the beach!

Outer Banks to Williamsburg

After leaving the Wright brothers memorial, we drove to Williamsburg, Virginia. We stayed at one of our favorite campgrounds called Chickahominy campground. It’s named after the river that it’s on. They had a swimming pool that the campers can use for free. Ephraim swam a ton.

We went to, the live museum in Williamsburg. It was so interesting to go on the tour of the different places. We saw the governors mansion and the house of the Senate. We were able to learn a lot about democracy and its birth. We learned a lot about what led up to the revolutionary war.

Historically, this was such a fascinating part of the trip. In the governors mansion, there was an arsenal of knives, swords, and guns that on display which demonstrated the power and wealth of the aristocratic ruling party. The museum has people who are dressed in the colonial era time. We even got to see a canon yet lit with blanks. That was kind of fun.

Daniel and my favorite part of this was definitely learning about the history of the British ruling and the conflict between the colonial Americans. We had a fascinating lecturer who took us through the capital and explained how at that time liberty wasn’t afforded . It was at the pleasure of the government whether a person could speak in opposition to policies or whether people were judged by the laws of the land rather than the ruling class. This is what spurned some of the rights written about in the constitution.

Lillian’s favorite part of this was the governor’s mansion and learning how the slavers assisted as spys for the Americans.

Ephraim’s favorite part of this was the cannon.

WASHINGTON DC

From Williamsburg, we drove to our campsite in Washington DC. We stayed at a KOA North of DC and we used the metro rail system to get into DC. It took about an hour to get into DC total, but it was worth not having to fight the traffic in that area.

The first day in DC we went to the spy museum! That museum is so much fun. We highly recommend it. There’s so much engaging activities for kids and adults. They give you a spy card and identity so that as you go throughout the museum, you get to have a character as a spy. After the spy museum, we walked the mall and went through the Smithsonian area.

Then we decided on a whim to try to get into the library the national archives! We had watched national treasure with the kids so they were familiar with the national archives. We were able to get into the national archives so fast! We didn’t even have to wait in line. We saw the bill of rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the constitution. After that, we rode the train back to camp.

On day two we had downtime in the morning parentheses this is when in the trip I finally figured out we needed alone we’re downtime otherwise we were all gonna die because I was making a go so far every day, parentheses we left at about three and rode the train in. We went to the Pentagon 911 Memorial, and then we walked the mall and saw all of the monuments lit up. We saw the White House, Washington Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, and the World War II, Memorial. Our feet were killing is!!!

At about 10:05 while we were at the Lincoln Memorial, we all had to use the restroom. But all of the restrooms closed at 10:00. We talked with a very nice national park Ranger, who gave us directions to where to use the bathroom. After he saw the desperation on our faces, he quietly said, follow me.

We walked over to a kiosk where the national Park Rangers usually answer questions, and he let us in to the kiosk, and the kids did the junior ranger program, and all of us also use the bass! He was our angel that night! We had to walk back to the subway. We were a little desperate at this point because all of us were pretty exhausted, and we were in a rush to get back to the subway because we had to catch the train before the last one left. Right as we were crossing over the mall, officials closed the mall because they were getting all the fencing up for the July 4 fireworks.

However, another little miracle happened! The man who was responsible drove by us, and he stopped his vehicle and told the park Ranger tell him James said that you’re the last ones to be able to go through. We were able to cut through the mall so that we were able to catch the train on time! We caught the very last train back to camp! We got back to our camper at 12:30 at night, and we logged around 15 miles that night

On day three we left pretty early in the morning to get to DC. We had tickets to do a tour of the US capital. Because we had backpacks, I stayed behind while the family went in for the tour. I had done the tour before. They really enjoyed the US capital.

I met another angel while I waited for everyone. I had to use the bathroom again! And I asked for directions from the US capital security, and they pointed me to an ambiguous direction. When I went the direction they pointed there was nothing there. Then the sweet little angelic woman walked by me as I was admiring a flower. We both talked about how beautiful the flower was, and then I asked her if she knew where a restroom was. She sweetly replied that I was standing in front of the building that she used to work at and that there were lots of restrooms in there and that she would go in there with me and make sure that I got past security so could use the restroom. And she did exactly that. It was awesome! She was so funny to talk to you.

I’m meandered back to the Supreme Court building, and listened to the protesters monologues that they used to manipulate people (that might be a little opinionated)! Well, they also used emotions to manipulate people (OK with that also might be a little bit harsh. Well, that’s about what it was). It was decision making for the Supreme Court, so there were reporters lined up in front of the building, along with protesters. I was able to watch several decisions, come out that morning, and the reporters report on them and the protesters here at the unfairness of the constitution. It made me really appreciate what the lecturer had talked about in regards to our country being ruled by law rather than class.

We met up as a family and walked over to the Library of Congress because that was on Lillian‘s bucket list. After the library of Congress, we went to the airspace Museum. We spent some time there and then left to go and explore Arlington cemetery. The kids were able to watch the changing of the guard, after this, we headed back to our camp!

On day four, we went to the Smithsonian zoo. This was one of the coolest zoos ever! Because there’s no charge to get in, it’s set up almost like a park. There are different entry points and you just come and go as you please. We saw some meatanimals throughout the zoo.

We went to the Washington DC temple. The children were amazed at the size of it!

We went back to camp, and Ephraim met his girlfriend! And he also found a frog in the pool, which he thought was pretty cool. It really wasn’t his girlfriend, but she thought that she was! She decided he was going to. She was going to marry him. we had some s’mores that night. Ephraim just really like catching the frog in the pool filter.

On day five, we went to church in Baltimore. And then we were able to see the Baltimore naval area, and we also went to the bay to the beach. Ephraim was able to test out his boogie board, but the waves weren’t that great because of the beach set up.

This was our last day in camp and so we went back home and did laundry and got ready to go for the next morning. I was walking around camp , and a woman stopped her car and looked at me and I was wondering why she was staring at me and then all the sudden she yelled, “Janell!”

Jewelene Carter, one of my college roommates, and one of my best friends over the last 25 years, was there with her family in the KOA! She and her husband, Jarod, had just sold their home in Arizona, and bought a home within 3 miles of our campground and they were having some work done on the house before they moved in. We were able to spend some time, talking with each other that evening! It was really fun to catch up. Of all the people in the world to see on this trip would be Jewels that I would see!

We logged about sixty miles of walking over the four days!

Daniel’s favorite party of this was Lincoln Memorial, National Archives, and Arlington.

Janell’s favorite party of this was seeing Jewel’s and the Supreme Court. Seeing democracy in action, was awesome!

Lillian’s favorite party of this was ALL OF IT!

Ephraim’s favorite party of this was the temple.

What we wish we would have known!

Our campsite was less than ten minutes from a commuter, but it wasn’t part of the metro system. We ended up driving to a different commuter because it was part of the metro system which allowed is to use the three day unlimited metro cards we used. otherwise, it would have cost us about eight dollars a day to get into the city.

HUMIDITY-Holy Hannah! You can see it in the pictures. We were drenched with sweat! I bought two dresses after this stop.

This is the part of the trip that I realized ten weeks on the trail is very different from a one week vacation, especially for kids! I really had to shift my mindset here and plan shorter days with a little downtime. Ephraim got a lot of pool time. We got more work done. Lillian read more. Everyone was a little more relaxed knowing that usually we either spent the morning or the afternoon at camp.