Weekend in Virginia

In February when Margie and my dad picked August 12 for their wedding, we planned to drive down sometime on August 11 and return on August 13. Originally I had plans for all three kids to attend Good News Camp from 9-3 August 7-11. Last year I had registered Nadia and Ian for that camp, but they didn't end up going because we went to Ohio with my family instead. My dad had told us early on that there would be a family gathering at Ruthie's house the evening of the 11th. Ruthie is Margie's niece who is one year younger than me. I wasn't sure at first if we would be attending that or not. I thought it the kids attended the full day of camp we wouldn't, but if we took the kids out a few hours early then we could attend, as it's a 6 hour drive (without stops) between our house and Lynchburg, Virginia. This morning I did some research on what museums are covered in Virginia by our ASTC membership, and I was pleased to discover that the children's museum in Lynchburg joined ASTC in the last couple of months. When I had checked previously, they weren't on the

list. We will definitely plan on that one. I saw that on that Saturday night anyone can get in for $3 each (compared to $9 normally) so I imagine maybe the cousins might also enjoy doing that on Saturday evening.

Then I thought I'd see if there were any museums that we could stop at on our way there or back to break up the drive. At first I saw one in Roanoke (a city I've been many times as a child as my mom's sister lived there when I was growing up), but that is an hour out of the way so we'll skip that science museum. I found three science museums that were not far from our route - one in Maryland and two in Virginia. From the beginning I had been thinking of stopping at Luray Caverns on the way home. Of all the caverns I've ever been to, my favorites were Carlsbad and Luray. Paul was at Luray in 1997 with his friend, Scott. I can't remember when I was there last, but it's been more than 20 years for me. When I saw that the one museum was near Monticello, I knew we should include that in our itinerary. Paul has wanted to go

there for years but has never been. Weddings are something Paul doesn't get excited about (I think that's true for most men). He would have been thrilled if I had opted to elope rather than have a wedding ceremony when we got married. I am glad I could add one thing to our plans for that trip that will excite him. Three museums plus Monticello plus Luray Caverns is too much for two days. I scratched the Virginia Discovery Museum from the list.

So my thought now is that the kids will skip the fifth day of Good News Camp so that we can leave around 7AM. That day also happens to be our 16th anniversary. Our first stop will be the Discovery Station in Hagerstown, Maryland. Then after spending up to two hours there, we'll drive to the Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum. After spending up to two hours there, we'll finish our drive to Lynchburg for the family gathering at Margie's niece's house. Stopping at those two museums only adds about 10 minutes to our total drive, which should be about 6 1/4 hours altogether.

On Saturday the wedding is at 11:00 with a reception following in the church's fellowship hall.  That evening we'll probably go to Amazement Square, which is a children's museum in Lynchburg. On Sunday we will visit Monticello and do a tour of the house geared for families as well as two other guided tours. Then we'll drive 90 minutes to Luray Caverns, spend about two hours there, and then finish our drive home. These two excursions will add a little less than an hour to our total drive home, which should be about 7 hours total. Although the three museums will be free, we will have two nights of lodging plus admission to Luray and Monticello. This two night/three day trip will cost more than our eight day/ seven night trip to Chicago/Ohio did, but it will be a special trip. In addition to seeing these sights, the kids will enjoy seeing all their cousins. I am not sure exactly which relatives will be coming to my dad's wedding, but two of my cousins on my dad's side whom I haven't seen in ten years plan to be there.