Another great vacation..

Camping at Shenandoah National Park was amazing.. After getting our rental car at Washington Dulles airport we drove 2 hours to our campsite. 
We stayed at Big Meadows where the deer were all around.
We did a full 2 days of hiking. We did see a momma bear and her cubs but I failed to get any pictures because of the low light in the woods.

The first hike I think was one of our best. This one was called bearfence trail and it's near the place that we actually saw the bear. It was near Lewis Mountain and this trail was unique because you had to climb the rocks to get through. It's was challenging but very cool.


Our second trail was near Skyland and was called Stony man trail.
The views were amazing....














The final trail of the day before a late lunch was in the same area and called White Oak Canyon trail and had a waterfall at the end of it.







It was very pretty but the waterfalls were very dry this time of year.


We had a bagged lunch and beer to celebrate surviving our first day.
















On our way back to the site for much needed showers we stopped at Crescent Overlook for a little peek.
Once we were showered and fed we stopped at the lodge for a game of cribbage and some entertainment at the pub. The beer was excellent!!

 Day 2 of hiking was even longer. We spend this final day doing all the trails near Big Meadow.
It was so foggy that we couldn't see 2 feet n front of us so we decided to have some coffee at the lodge.

Once it cleared our first trail was called the Lewis Falls Trail.

After this 3.3 mile hike we ate some lunch and went to the visitor center to view the meadow.
A short nap was had and then it was off to do the Dark Hollows Fall trail.









This was the best waterfall in the park.
The last trail was the Big Meadow trail which was the easiest.
 

























Day 3 we headed out to Herndon,VA to check into our hotel.
We relaxed the rest of the day to get ready for days of walking through the city.

















Day 4 was our museum day in DC..


















We spent the morning at the Holocaust Museum, the afternoon at the American History Museum and then the National Archives Building.



























On day 5 we took a morning White House tour.

The tour was of the East Wing. Our next stop was the Supreme Court Tour and lecture.
We had the best lunch there in the cafeteria...












We finally arrived at the Capitol and was able to sit in while the House was in session and the Supreme court where Al Franken was the president for the day.


Our last day in DC we spent the day at the memorials.














Washington Monument, World War II, World War I, Korean War, Lincoln and the Vietnam Memorial.










































Now I need a vacation from my vacation...