Down Below the Earth....

We stumbled upon a cave when we were headed to Shenandoah National Park.  Not in the sense that we discovered some natural wonder on our own while hiking and scavenging the Earth.  More in the sense that we saw a sign advertising a cave tour and we decided to partake.  

It is hard to believe these formations were discovered below our earth... they are amazingly beautiful! 

This cave, Skyline Caverns, was the first to discover a new type of cave formation - a needle like (spiky) formation.  It was the only cave to  have this known type of formation for quite some time, so the geologist that found it was allowed to name it.  He gave them the name ANTHODITES (meaning flower).  

They have since been discovered in only 7 other caves around the world. We learned that it takes approximately 7,000 years to grow one cubic inch, as opposed to 125 years for a common stalagmite to grow the same distance.  So they are slow growing and rare, which made it cool to see.

We were all pleasantly surprised by the tour and the cave and really enjoyed ourselves. 

More DC and Then Down the Road Again...

We experienced more great things in Washington DC.  By this picture, can you tell where we went?

In all of the times I have been to Washington DC, I have never visited Ford's Theater. I enjoyed the museum and tour of the theater to see the box where the assignation of Abraham Lincoln took place.  

Outside Ford's Theater...

After Lincoln was shot in the theater, he was still alive.  They carried him across the street to the Peterson house, where he later died several hours later.  We toured the house and saw the bed he died in...

Fun fact... He was so tall that they had to lie him diagonally in the bed with his feet hanging off.  

Later that afternoon, Quinn wanted to go to the National Gallery of Art one afternoon, so we all got to take in some art.

This painting is one of Ryan's late ancestors - Jasper Cropsey.  Pretty neat to see someone's artwork that you are related to in such a big, important art gallery.

The size of this piece was mammoth too.  The picture above doesn't quite depict that...

We also visited the Botanical Gardens, but no pictures were taken there.  It was a short trip and the heat and humidity were starting to cause crankiness in some of us (me included).  

Washington DC was filled with amazing things, but our time there ended and we headed down the road yet again.  This time we made it to a National Park...

The rain was coming in, and the weather was so hot that the park store was closed (no AC).  We didn't get to do a hike like we planned (which didn't upset some of us), but the drive through the park was absolutely beautiful.  

We also traveled down to road to Monticello and saw the home of Thomas Jefferson...

The house and grounds were neat to see, and had they not had record breaking heat that day, we likely would have spent more time on the grounds exploring and learning more.  

We all walked into their dining room and cringed at the sight of the color chosen...

Turns out that this yellow color was a sign of wealth, and to show others just how much money you had.  Apparently it was very expensive...who knew?!

The tour of the home was great and it was nice to hear about his life, his contributions to the country and to The University of Virginia, his time at Monticello, and his personal struggle with slavery (although not enough to not own slaves himself).  

Down the Road...

After our quick trip to Baltimore, we traveled down the road to one of our favorite places - Washington DC.  

The summer heat was sizzling so we tried our best to find indoor activities to limit our exposure to crankiness brought on by heat and humidity.  

We first toured the US Capitol, and what an amazing gorgeous building that is.  

It once, back in the day, held farmer's markets indoors.  It's hard to picture people selling their fruits and vegetables and animals in a place as gorgeous and remarkable as this, alongside the lawmakers doing their thing.  It's equally hard to understand and picture a group of rioters and protesters breeching this building and creating chaos and destruction inside. 

We sadly didn't get to see the senate and house chambers this time around, but the places we did see were beyond spectacular.  

We did a mini-monument tour because we wanted to see the Korean War Memorial.  It was under construction last time we were there.  We trudged by the Washington Monument on the way there...

The Korean War Memorial - both Q and Ryan claimed this as their favorite memorial in DC. 

Outside the Lincoln Monument with the Tidal Basin behind them.  It has been drained the last couple of times we were here, so it was nice to see it filled.  

The South Lawn of the White House (on our walk back to our hotel)...

The following day we headed to the Library of Congress...

The main purpose of going was so that a certain someone could get her Library Card...

You have to be at least 16 years old to get a card.  Last time we were in Washington DC, Quinn was about 2 weeks shy of being able to get one. So she was finally able to procure her official LoC card. 

While that was our main purpose, y'all, this is the MOST gorgeous building in all of Washington DC.  I thought the capital was gorgeous, and it is, but the Library of Congress has it beat.  

Thomas Jefferson's book collection inside the Library of Congress...

A truly beautiful building.  The pictures don't even do it justice.  

That afternoon, we visited The National Museum of African American History.  

Not many pictures taken inside, but a truly fascinating museum with so much history inside.  We, of course, lost Ryan within minutes of being inside.  He stopped to read EVERYTHING (almost literally) and we trudged ahead.  

There was a replica of a slave cabin inside the museum.  As we sat near the entrance, we saw lots of people go inside, ducking their heads as they paid attention to the "Low Clearance" sign outside.  After a bit, we took our turn going inside.  We learned who is low clearance themselves, as there was no ducking needed...

Apparently we produce low clearance children, because Quinn too needed no ducking...

So now Sullivan has dubbed herself "low clearance" - rather than short. 

We did lots more in DC and down the road from DC.  More to come on our final adventures...