Blogs from Virginia, United States, North America - page 17

The first day of the road trip is now in the books! With stops at Greensboro College in North Carolina, Monticello and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, you wouldn't think my day was so long. But I did start in Athens, GA, this morning at about 7:20. Thirteen hours later, and I'm staying the night at the Open Arms Hostel in Luray, Virginia. I should preface this entry by saying that I chaperoned a youth trip to the lake yesterday, and now my body is paying for it. So many sore muscles, bruises that I didn't even know I had, and then a possible bruised rib or two (I won't say broken, I won't say broken, I won't say broken...). You would think that sitting in a car would be easy work, especially if ... read more

Day 16 - Virginia Beach We took advantage of staying in one place and slept in a bit. We caught the first shuttle from the campground to the beach and spent a few hours floating in the Atlantic Ocean. The sand was scorching but the water was cool enough to feel good. The slope was gradual enough and the waves mild enough that you could walk out pretty far. Michelle and Tony enjoyed body surfing on the waves while Anne mostly avoided them (the waves). Once we were waterlogged we had lunch at a restaurant on the boardwalk and then headed back to the campground. Atlantic Ave (the street which the Monopoly property is named after) is a long road with dozens of resort hotels (and some very cheap ones), a hundred little shops, many restaurants, ... read more

Blacksburg is located in the far southwestern part of Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. We were invited to attend the Bridal Shower for our daughter-in-law's sister that would take place in nearby Eggleston, Virginia. Blacksburg is the nearest sizable town in which to stay. So, Susan and I headed down the Valley on Interstate I-81 on Friday morning. After passing Harrisonburg and Roanoke, we exited at Christianburg to arrive at Blacksburg by the late afternoon. I had not visited Blacksburg before and had not been south of Harrisonburg for some time. Blacksburg is the home of Virginia Tech (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University). The university largely defines the town. It is by far its largest employer and the size of the student body nearly equals the town's population. It was summer, so Virginia Tech was not in ... read more

One day I will learn. I walked into my assistant principal's office today and said, "Sage advice. If you are leaving on a two week European vacation, even if you're leaving at 10:00 at night, DON'T GO TO WORK THAT DAY!" to which she replied, "I wondered what you were thinking..." Well I was thinking that I'd have time!! At the moment I am draining my phone battery by creating a personal hot spot so I can relearn how to use this blog site. So far so good. Of course this isn't actually ON the web yet. A word about what's to come--As I said in the introduction, we are traveling together as a family (minus Andrew, our son, Erika, our daughter-in-law, Nicholas the world's cutest grandbaby--Seriously. I have pictures. I can prove it--and John That, ... read more

Geo: 37.5605, -77.479... read more