Road Trip 2011- Day 4- Washington, D.C.

I saw this old chemistry set in the National Museum of American History. All I could think about was how much fun something like this would have been as a kid. Although it would have probably been very dangerous, so it was most likely for the better that I didn't have one.

Look! It's two science nerds at the National Museum of Natural History.

Raaaawwwrrrr!!! T-Rex dominates the dinosaur exhibit!

Kyle got to see lots of insects at the insect exhibit and zoo of the Natural History Museum.

After the Natural History Museum, we headed out to the National Gallery of art. They had lots of cool sculptures, including this study for "The Thinker."

Here are Kyle and Savannah in front of the US Capitol. This is right after they got mistaken for DC locals and asked for directions by another tourist.

This was in an exhibit about bones, DNA, and forensics. It is a surgeon's kit from the 1700s.

Katy really enjoyed seeing the Ice Age exhibit at the Natural History Museum, including this Mastodon.

Our final stop of the day was to take pictures in front of the White House. Well, in front of the gate that guards the White House anyway.

The whole travel party got a picture in front of the gate. My head is pretty much blocking out the White House, but you can kind of see it.

Road Trip 2011- Day 3- Smith Mtn Lake, VA to Takoma Park, MD and Washington, D.C.

Tucker really needed his Starbucks as we headed off for day three of our adventure. We packed up our stuff and set out for Washington D.C.!

Tucker got to visit Maryland for the first time!

Savannah really liked the amount of greenery that we saw when we got into Maryland. There were actually quite a few cool old buildings and structures and ivy-like plants growing on them.

This was at the Children's Inn at the National Institutes of Health. Katy really liked this quilt and it was hanging in the lobby when we got there.

Here is the sign for the Children's Inn. It was really cool and it had random rooms with playhouses and toys for the children to play in. It also had kitchens to help feed the families there and the staff members were very nice.

Our first stop at the National Mall was the Washington Monument. Kyle said it didn't even look real because it was so big. At 555 feet tall, the Washington Monument actually held the title of world's tallest structure for one year in 1888 until the Eiffel Tower was built in 1889.

Here we are at the WWII memorial with the Washington Monument in the background. The WWII memorial looks great, but it looks even better at night.

Here are Kyle and Savannah at the Korean War Veterans Memorial. The Memorial depicts a troop of soldiers, a fountain pool, and a sculpted mirror-like wall, shown in the background here.

Tucker and Po visited the Lincoln Memorial at dusk and got their picture in front of the 44 foot tall columns that line the front of the building.

Here is the statue of Abraham Lincoln itself, which was actually completed in 1920, forty years before the building it is housed in was completed.

Here are Katy and I with the 16th President of the United States himself.

This is the view back across the reflecting pool (minus the water at the moment) from the Lincoln Memorial back towards the Washington Monument.

This is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial that depicts the names of all those killed in the war or MIA.

Our last stop was back at the Washington Monument to take a long lens photo of the White House. Later on we went and took the pictures from closer.

Road Trip 2011- Day 2- Crosseville, TN to Smith Mtn Lake, VA

Here is the sign when we came into Virginia. This was Tucker's first trip into Virginia and he really liked the woods and mountains because they reminded him of his natural habitat.

Virginia looked like a really nice place to live and Savannah was ready to take up residence and get a teaching job there.

Savannah is our resident movie buff and her favorite is Dirty Dancing. She wanted to visit the Mountain Lake Resort Hotel where much of the movie was filmed. We took a self guided tour around the grounds and got to see the places where many of the scenes were filmed.

Kyle and Savannah danced on the dance floor out at the activities barn. They seemed to be really enjoying themselves.

This was a view of an overlook as we were coming down the mountain from the Mountain Lake Hotel. Tucker and Po were having lots of fun out in the wilderness.

We camped at Smith Mountain Lake State Park. We managed to get another corner campsite next to the woods.

This is the log that Kyle and I split. We cut it from a downed tree, lumberjack style, brought it back up to the camp and split it into smaller pieces. It took a lot of work and we were really tired, but....

Kyle got his s'mores and it was all worth it. Mmmmmmm, s'mores!

Road Trip 2011 Day 1- Conway to Little Rock to Cumberland Mtn State Park, TN

The super cool trio was basking in the sun with their shades as we cross the country side. Featured in this gangster pose is Po, Chibit, and Tucker.

Po's riding seat was special created just for his viewing pleasure. His view included the beautiful country side as well as the two lovely young ladies Katy and Savannah.

Red Robin, Yummmmm!!! We stopped to have some great burgers in Memphis and actually got to enjoy the famous restaurant that we all see the commercials for.
These are the bestest friends ever. Posing in front of red robin Kyle is sporting blue jeans shorts and a brown tootsie roll shirt while Savannah is wearing a razorback shirt and blue jeans. Hmmmm true Arkansas style

Our first choice for camping was a bust after some heavy rain busted some trees and broke a power line. The fallen trees blocked half of the road and put a short damper the camping, but later we arrived at the enchanted forest that we called home for the night.

Here is a picture of the excited Tucker and Po on the sign of the place that we were going to stay, and then didn't. :(

The enchanted forest that we did camp at.

Here is Katy and Dean putting up their tent for the first time. Katy had that look like OMG Dean don't hurt your toe and Dean was like ARRRRR I am MAN, die stake die!