The joys of traveling!:)

Our trip to VA and DC was AMAZING!!!! We didn't get to our resort (Woodstone at Massanutten) until about 9 p.m. on the 13th because Nate got stuck in Dallas, due to maintenance problems with the plane he was on. He was delayed 2.5 hrs. so my mom and I just hung out at the airport and waited until he got in. We weren't able to do much that night because everything was closed in McGaheysville (pronounced McGakeeyzville, not sure why) so we unpacked out stuff and that was about it.

On Sunday I had the chance to meet up with a friend I met while interning in Mexico in the summer of 2007. She and her husband drove 3 hrs. to meet us for lunch and then we drove to a place called Skyline Drive to look at the beautiful view. It was great getting to catch up! After hanging out with Jessica and her husband, Nate and I decided to go swimming at the indoor pool that the resort had so we could jump off the diving board. I'm not going to lie...that was probably the most exciting part of the resort for me:) I love to dive and we had a blast!

Monday we took the chair lift up the mountain to where people usually ski. Nate and I talked about maybe going back sometime in the winter to ski because neither one of us ever has before.

We also hiked up a hill to the top of the mountain and the view was extraordinary!

There was also some little festival going on so we stopped by that and checked out the arts and crafts and local food places to visit. Since we had so much fun the day before, Nate and I went back to "Le Club" and jumped off of the board again. My mom videotaped some of it so we had fun watching it when we were done;) We also played ping-pong, racquetball and air hockey, which is always great with 2 highly competitive people! I won't tell you who won what;) Haha.

Tuesday we took a tour of the resort because they always try to sucker you into buying something, but we refused, of course.

We drove to DC that night and walked to the Pentagon Memorial that was just dedicated on Sept. 11, 2008. It was intense, just like all of the other memorials we saw while we were there.

After the Pentagon Memorial, we stopped by the Pentagon City Mall to have dinner. Usually mall food is terrible, but there was an incredible Japanese food restaurant in that mall and Nate and I loved our food!
Wednesday my mom and I took that morning to drive to Columbia, MD, to meet with a missionary I have been talking with for several months about working with her as an administrative assistant. She will be out of the country until mid-November, so we are going to focus on getting started with things in Jan. after Christmas.

We drove back to DC around lunchtime and stopped by the Air Force Memorial on the way to the metro. It was really cool because God allowed us to become friends with a couple who was visiting the memorial, as well. There names are Roger & Glorie Johnson and we talked with them for a while as we walked to the metro and rode to Arlington National Cemetary. Roger is actually going to El Salvador in Dec. and has been looking for an orphanage to partner with to take school supplies and various other things while he is there. I went to El Salvador last Dec. with my church and we worked with Orphan Helpers so I actually have someone Roger can get in touch with to take supplies to the 2 orphanages we went to last Dec. I am so excited that he is going to be able to meet the kids I met while I was there! No one can deny how God brought us together! We visited with them until we got to Arlington National Cemetary, then parted ways. We exchanged contact info. so I look forward to staying in touch with them!

My mom and I saw JFK's flame and also watched the Changing of the Guards at the tomb of the unknown soldier

Then that night we toured the Mall. I had no idea it was called that when we had 1st planned our trip so that was news to me. We saw the Capitol Building, White House, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, Korean War Memorial, World War II Memorial, and the Washington Monument.

On Thursday, my mom and I had the chance to have lunch with my friend Jade, who I played basketball and sang with in high school. It was wonderful seeing her!

After lunch, my mom and I went to visit the Holocaust Museum and there aren't really words to describe the feelings it elicits. The thing that I appreciated the most about the museum was that there was a section for the crisis going on in Darfur. The Holocaust was one of the most horrific events in history, so it is important to remember that genocide is still going on all over the world today.

After the Holocaust Museum, Mom, Nate & I went to the Archives to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I'm pretty sure that was Nate's favorite part of DC! He was so stoked to be there, and it was really cool. We also visited the Navy Memorial, a market, had dinner and left to go back to McGaheysville.

The rest of our trip was pretty low key. We went to the store & bought silly teeth for fun, to the swimming pool to dive off the board some more, played a little ping-pong, shot some baskets, ate dinner and packed.

We had to get up at 3:30 a.m. Sat. morning to get to the airport because Nate flew out at 8:55 a.m., and my mom and I flew out at 11:45 a.m because we had a wedding to go to at 5 p.m. on Sat. All in all, our trip was awesome and we can't wait to have another one soon!