Washington DC and a scenic drive to Nashville.

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After a 4 hour Megabus ride, we arrived in Washington DC. Our hostel was only a 25 minute walk away so we collected our luggage and walked to the hostel. The hostel, Washington DC HI hostel was very central and had good facilities, you always know what to expect with a HI hostel. We were on the 7th floor and the lift was unfortunately very slow, so it took us a while to get up to our room and dump our bags and then come back down. We were very hungry so headed out to find some food. We knew there was a Nandos in Washington and I thought I remembered the address but after half an hour of walking around we couldn’t find it, and in our hungered states we settled with McDonalds, and then of course found the Nandos on the way back. Washington DC at first impression was a very nice city, it was laid out well, had big empty pavements and not many skyscrapers which was a very welcome break after NYC. It was very clean and pretty, it reminded Aled & I of Ottawa. A capital city thing obviously! We spent the evening at the hostel which was hosting a comedy/music night with free snacks and drinks, which was good but a bit odd, with some weird acts, but amusing nonetheless.

The next morning we headed out to discover Washington. First, we walked to the White House which was awesome to see in real life and full of tourists trying to take photos through the iron bars. It was, of course, highly guarded by lots of police with lots of guns, which we were almost used to by now. We walked around and saw it from the front and the back and then headed down into the Mall and to the Washington monument. The views down the mall to the left with the Capitol building and then to the right with the Lincoln monument is rather amazing. The Washington monument had a barrier round it as no one was allowed to go up it because of the earthquake a few weeks back which I think cracked it a bit. We then headed towards the Lincoln monument. The World War II memorial and fountain is pretty impressive and very somber at the same time. We then walked up to the Lincoln monument, which would have been alongside the long reflecting pool, although it was dug up and full of mud as lots of builders were repairing a cracked tile! Nevertheless, the Lincoln monument was still very impressive. There was also a plaque for Martin Luther King, on the place where he stood and delivered his famous speech, and either side of the monument, Korean and Vietnam War memorials. All very awe-inspiring. We then walked the rather long but still do-able path to Arlington Cemetery, over the bridge into Virginia. I think Washington DC is the city we have walked the most in! The cemetery was vast and humbling, as expected. Then feeling a little monumented-out (not really a word), we headed back into downtown for a well deserved Nandos. We then checked out the International Spy Museum (sounded way too cool to miss) which was really interesting and had a lot of fascinating James Bond style artefacts. After a few hours wandering around the museum, we headed back to the hostel, stopping at a bar for a few cheap drinks on the way back (happy hour sign looked very inviting). Most of the evenings in Washington were spent literally doing nothing to soothe our aching feet!

The next day we headed to the much recommended Newseum. It was the number 1 rated thing to do in Washington DC on Trip Advisor (which Aled and I seem to live our life by, damn website). The Newseum is museum dedicated to news, journalism and the freedom of the press. It was definitely worth all the recommendations and had lots of interesting exhibitions and a very moving photography display featuring the Pullitzer prize winners from the past 30 years or so. We spent most of the day here, and managed to somehow have the world's most expensive salad for lunch. Never trust salad bars which charge you by the weight. That evening, we went on a "night monuments" tour organised by the hostel. All the monuments of Washington are lit up at night, and the sight is incredible.

The next day we set out for the Capitol building. For the first time in ages, it was actually raining! We got halfway there and were thoroughly drenched, but managed to get free plastic ponchos from the Newseum, so walked the rest of the way there looking like massive tourists. When we finally reached the nice dry warmth of the Capitol building and after the usual airport security we lined up for a free tour. The tour was really interesting and started with a 15 minute video of the history of the American government and was made in such a way that you left wanting to be a politician and change the world. The Americans really do know how to make a good, if over the top, thought-provoking little film. The rest of tour was also very good with interesting and funny audio narration and views inside the dome. After the tour, it was still raining very hard, so we donned the ponchos again and walked back to downtown to find some lunch. We decided to go to another museum for the afternoon since it was raining so we chose the Natural History museum (most of Washington’s museums are free) and wandered around for a few hours.

We spent the evening planning the next part of our trip – we found a cheap car rental to Nashville so decided to spend a few days driving there via the Shenandoah valley. As there were now 3 of us, renting a car is sometimes cheaper than a bus which is the outcome we like!

The next morning we checked out of the hostel and got a train then a bus to the airport to pick up our rental car. We managed to put James and Aled as drivers so they could share the driving. We had found out that there was a Super 8 (cheap and reliable American motel chain, always with free wifi and breakfast!) in Radford, Virginia so headed there on the scenic route. After a few hours we came to the Shenandoah Valley and took the skyline drive (scenic road through the valley). Luckily for us we didn’t have to pay the national park entrance fee as it happened to be “National Parks Day” or something like that. We stopped at the visitor centre and picked up a much needed map of Virginia so we could plan the rest of the day’s route. We spent about 4 hours driving through the valley, stopping at lots of lookout points where the views were spectacular of the rolling hills and valley below. A few hours into the skyline drive we turned a corner saw a car parked at the side of road and a woman outside the car with her camera, and then we suddenly saw why – a black bear! It was very exciting to finally see a bear. We stopped by the side of road, and sat in the car watching it for about 5 minutes in awe before it took off back into the forest. Typically my camera battery had ran out just before this happened! We carried on along the skyline drive finally joining up with the interstate and at about 7pm reached Radford, booked a room for the night and ordered some food and went to sleep.
We headed out early the next morning and drove down back into the valley and onto another very scenic road called the Blue Ridge Parkway where we crossed into North Carolina. It was very, very foggy for the first few hours, not ideal conditions for the twisty roads through forests and mountains! We stopped in a place called Sparta for some lunch (there are some very weird place names out here, before Sparta we passed through Galax). After the fog cleared up we headed for a few more hours onto a place called Blowing Rock which we had read about in the guide. The thermal wind currents of the rock make small light objects go upwards when you throw them off the rock. It also had stunning views of the valley below. James and Aled tried throwing small pieces of paper off the rock and sure enough they flew upwards and then back towards them. Naturally when I tried, they just fell straight down. We carried on for a few more hours and crossed into Tennessee. We stopped to get a map in a place called Johnson City where James accidentally drove down the wrong way done a one way street which was momentarily scary! We couldn’t understand why two cars had flashed us and then we suddenly realised. After James had recovered we carried on for a few more hours to Crossville, Tennessee (a few hours from Nashville), checked into another Super 8, found some dinner and crashed out. Even though we drove about 10 hours each day, the two guys were doing two hour shifts so didn’t feel too exhausted.

The next morning we drove the two hours to Nashville airport to drop the car off and headed into Nashville!

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