November 01, 2003

Road Trip - Day 28: Carmel Church, VA

Carmel what? Yup. It's Carmel Church (near Doswell). (Joel calls it "church on a stick." Isn't he cute?)

We left Arlington, VA this afternoon. Joel was headed for the Interstate when I reminded him we hadn't been to Arlington Cemetery yet. On the way to the cemetery we stumbled upon the Iwo Jima Monument. We had to stop there!

While we were there, an older gentleman walked up to us holding some pamphlets, maps etc. As it turned out, he was a volunteer at the park and he was actually at Iwo Jima when the flag was raised on the highest peak of the island! He served 12 years with the Marines and was part of the ground troops that invaded and captured the island. We talked to him for a while. He told us lots of interesting things about that time and about the raising of the flag there. It was really awesome hearing his stories. (I don't know that I've ever met a veteran of WWII before, and I was so proud I wanted to hug him!)

Arlington National Cemetery was just south of the monument, so he gave us a map and showed us where to find JFK's grave. We didn't realize how far it was going to be or I don't think we would've made the trek. The temperature this afternoon was a hot 80 degrees, and we walked probably close to a mile just to get to JFK's memorial--most of it uphill. I didn't know if poor Socrates was going to make it or not. His tongue was hanging out so far I thought he might trip on it! (Well, not really, but it was really hanging out there!)

The kids and I were complaining too. Joel was the only one who packed shorts for this trip, so he fared better than the rest of us!

Anyway, we finally reached JFK's memorial, took a photo or two, and started the long walk back to the car.

After we rehydrated ourselves and Socrates, we jumped on the Interstate and headed south toward Richmond. We stopped a little while later when we saw a sign for On The Border--Joel's favorite restaurant! We stuffed ourselves like we'd been stranded on a desert island! It was just so good to have a taste of home!

We had a hankerin' for ice cream after the spicey Mexican food, and there just happened to be a frozen custard place around the corner. We enjoyed our ice cream, then Joel walked to one end of the strip mall to a software place, and I went next door to PetSmart to pick up a new toy and some treats for Socrates. (Yes, he's incredibly spoiled! I felt he deserved a little something extra after the long hot walk earlier this afternoon...)

By this time it was 4 o'clock and we still had 50 miles or so to go before arriving at our next destination. We are planning to go to Kings Dominion (theme park) tomorrow, which is just a few miles down the road from Carmel Church.

Joel asked me this morning if I would be willing to give blood tomorrow in order to get in Kings Dominion free.... The Red Cross is doing a blood drive for the last day of the park's season tomorrow, so they're offering free tickets to those willing to donate a pint of blood. (I told Joel I would get some good mileage out of that on the blog....!) Of course he said he wouldn't make me give blood, but he asserted that it would save us $35 each.... (You do the math!)

We got settled in our 5th or 6th Red Roof Inn, Jenna read aloud to me, then a little while later we played the Scrambled States game again. The kids are really learning a lot about where the states are on the map, their capitals, and nicknames. (What a great way to learn geography!)

We'll only be here one night before moving on. Currently we're not sure if we will stick with the schedule and go to Lynchburg, or if we will try to shave some travel time off our return. We are really road-weary, hotel weary, etc. and ready to be home! Even Zach said today he is ready to go home.... This has been a great trip, but we are ready for a rest!

The funniest moment of the day was watching Socrates "Who's the boss?!" the kids. What a hoot!!!

The second funniest moment was when an older man at the park asked if we had dyed Socrates' head! What?