Before I relate today's adventures, I wanted to catch up with the pics from our previous days' fun.
At Sweetwater, TN KOA we found this jumping pillow, which we thought was full of water but is really just a big pillow-shaped trampoline. Apparently it is a thing at KOA campgrounds because there is one here in Williamsburg, too. The kids loved it.
When we arrived in the Creeper Trail Campground, we just had to make room for our camper wherever we could. So here we are wedged in between a pop-up and a vintage tin can trailer. I'm sure they loved us.
Here is my mom's Airstream parked in her choice sweet spot. She ran extension cords and a long hose across the road for power and water. Cuz that's what us mountain folk do.
Wasn't it so pretty?
The view from our ridge line was pretty great, which made all the other stuff worthwhile.
NK doesn't have the market cornered on silly faces.
Our dinner spot had a nice view.
Because everyone rides bikes in cowboy boots.
The next day on the Virginia Creeper Trail, there were just too many scenes to take in. It was all so beautiful.
I'm sure I was offering encouraging words to Glenn who had stopped in front of me.
Six miles from the end we found this little restaurant for people on the trail. We didn't eat there but they had a nice bathroom. The trail was so crowded that the line was pretty long.
After Shelby and I fell off the bike and the tagalong, we had to have some more pep talks and talk her down from the ledge. It all turned out ok in the end.
We did manage to get a nice family picture before it was all over. Wish I had taken more of the trail!
Mom had a great time, too.
After spending last night in Charlottesville, we woke up this morning and got Mom's tires fixed (she actually had two that needed repair). Then we made our way to Monticello. Lots of debate about how to pronounce it. Like "cello" the instrument. Put "monti" in front of it. "Mont-i-CHello." I was really excited about seeing it since the last time I had visited I was in the 8th grade and I don't remember anything at all. I love history and Thomas Jefferson in particular. I was excited about taking the kids because we are doing the American History cycle in CC this year and I wanted to give them a frame of reference when we talk about the Declaration of Independence, etc. This is the only Presidential home that is recognized as a world heritage site. It's pretty awesome.
Here we are in front of the home. Jefferson copied neoclassical architecture from his five years he spent in Europe as the French ambassador. He brought back a lot of the ideas he learned there to implement in the building of his home.
He chose this spot on top of a mountain for the views. He said the only things that would have made this view more perfect would have been a body of water and an active volcano. It wasn't very common to choose to build a house on top of a mountain because it was far away from the river and it was hard to get building materials up there but he was not to be deterred.
We waited for the tour to start (they give you a time slot when you buy your tickets). It was extremely hot today, so we stayed in the shade as much as possible.
I wish I could have taken pictures inside but picture taking wasn't allowed, so I just listened instead like a good girl. :-) We all found the house tour extremely interesting, especially the thought that went into every single detail of the its design and construction, including the clock that measure hours, minutes, seconds, and even the days of the week, but which had to utilize a hole cut into the floor in order to do so. Not many grandfather clocks have pendulums that extend through the floor to the basement. My favorite room was probably his bedroom and office, which were connected by an alcove bed. He could swing off either side of the bed when he woke up, depending on what he felt like doing. I guess he never really got away from his work.
The entrance hall included many artifacts that had been brought to him by Lewis and Clark. I loved looking at the authentic replicas the museum had had created by descendants of the Indians whom Lewis and Clark had met on their travels. I loved reading the journals of Lewis and Clark, so it was really neat to see where they had brought all their specimens when they returned. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall to hear the conversations they had with Jefferson after their two year journey.
I was so pleased that Shelby especially loved listening to the tour guides. She specifically asked to go on the slavery tour, which discussed the slave quarters and jobs on the plantation. I don't know that we've ever actually talked about slavery but she seemed to know what it was and didn't ask too many questions. She's probably read a book about it. I'll have to read her journal entry about our visit today to see what she took away from our visit.
The tour guide did an excellent job relating stories about the life of a slave on the Jefferson plantation. He even addressed the controversy about the illegitimate children by the slave Sally Hemmings. The Jefferson descendants have voted against allowing descendants of the Hemmings family to be buried on the property. It seems a little crazy to me that they are still fighting about this 200 years later. But really interesting nevertheless.
I will definitely be reading a biography of Jefferson soon.
After Monticello, we drove the two hours to Williamsburg and checked in to our KOA campground. As Glenn tried to move the RV to level it, he jumped into his truck to pull the RV forward, only to find his truck wouldn't crank. We had driven for two hours and stopped for gas and the truck decided to break down at our campsite??!! We could not have been more fortunate. Not only were we already camped, but we have another vehicle (my mom's truck) to drive tomorrow so that when the tow truck takes the broken one to the dealership to have it fixed, we can still go to Colonial Williamsburg as planned. Maybe we can even leave town tomorrow and make it to the Outer Banks on time. Who knows? We are thinking it's just the starter, so maybe it will not take long.
Fortunately, our KOA has a nice pool, which is deserted because our kids are the only ones at the entire campground. Thank you, homeschooling.
This place even has a splash pad?? When I was a kid, we were lucky to play in the hose.
God has really watched over us on this trip. We could not be more grateful.
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