U.S. Naval Academy

On Thursday we had plans to visit Brandon in his new home (between D.C. and Baltimore).  He ended up having to take a conference call in the early afternoon, so we found ourselves with a few hours to kill before we could head to his house.  We didn't have enough time to fight the traffic of D.C., so Barb suggested that we go to Annapolis and tour the Naval Academy.  What struck me as we drove through Annapolis was how beautiful the city was.  We may need to go back one year and spend a little more time in the downtown area.  We reached the Naval Academy without incident.  Since this was a spur-of-the-moment trip, we did not have reservations for a guided tour and those were full.  We ended up doing a self-guided tour using the map given to us in the Visitor's Center.

 The first stop on the tour was the sports complex.  Olivia was impressed by the large pool.

Next up was Dahlgren Hall- a large space where various social event are held.

 We were not able to go into Bancroft Hall- the largest dormitory in the country, but we still took a picture of it.

 Our last stop was the chapel.  This was my favorite.  There were beautiful stained glass windows all around the chapel, and many depicted different scenes from the Bible.  What was neat was that all of the Bible scenes on the stained glass pertained to the sea (because this is the Naval Academy).  We saw windows of Noah, Moses parting the Red Sea, Jonah, Jesus walking on water, and so on.  I really never realized that there were that many "water" stories in the Bible- but there are.  I pointed out the trend to Olivia and she joined me in identifying the Bible story.  She did pretty good.  Her Sunday School teacher would be proud.  I for one enjoyed our little tour of the Naval Academy.  It is a beautiful campus.

Canopy Tour

 So, we decided to try a zip-line canopy tour while we were in West Virginia.  None of us had ever done this, and I was a little nervous that Olivia would chicken out- which would be bad because the payment was non-refundable and there would be no other non-participant present to "sit out" with her.  Before I booked the trip, I made both kids watch a video of exactly what we would be doing and I told them that if they said they were going to participate, then they HAD TO participate.  Both said that they were in, so we booked the tour and hoped for the best.  We arrived and learned that we were the only four participants on our particular tour- which was great.  The two guides harnessed us up and drove us out to the course- which consisted of 8 ziplines ranging from 200 to almost 800 feet in length.  The course also had several ladder climbs, two suspension bridges, and a 25 foot repel.  The guide asked who wanted to go first, Olivia volunteered and jumped off of the platform without hesitation.  Brian and I were a bit surprised that there was absolutely no fuss on her part.  Once she was off, Owen followed suit while Brian and I brought up the rear.  Some of the zips were higher than others, and some were faster than others.  Owen and Olivia had to go tandem on two of the longer ropes because their individual weight wouldn't carry them to the next platform.  We were out on the course for about two and a half hours.  We all agree that this was super fun and that we would go again in a heartbeat.

...And of course I took some video...

Harpers Ferry

We took a day trip to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia from Dover.  Harpers Ferry has an interesting history and it is located in an area where lots of outdoor activities are available.  We did not visit the battlefield, but we did go downtown and check out the historical sites- most of them relating to John Brown's raid. The buildings downtown are old and most of them are protected as national landmarks.

 We saw the spot where the National Armory used to stand, and we saw the old firehouse that John Brown used as his stronghold.

 The Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers meet up near the downtown area, so we were able to see the two rivers join together.

 There are several large hiking trails that pass through or near Harpers Ferry- including the Appalachian Trail.  We hiked a small portion of this trail.  The portion that we hiked crossed a footbridge and gave us nice views of the town.

Before leaving the downtown area we paid a visit to the John Brown Wax Museum.  This museum uses wax figures to educate visitors about John Brown's life.  It was informative and a little creepy.

Hanging with the Family

 We enjoyed spending time with our family while in Delaware.  We were there for a week, so we spent a lot of time with Poppy and Nana.  We were also able to visit with Uncle Brandon and meet Katy, his fiancee. In addition, we paid a visit to Uncle Mike and Aunt Connie (and took a little side trip to Byler's too =) ).  Family time is always the BEST part of the trip.

Killens Pond State Park

On our second full day in DE, we visited Killens Pond State Park.  This state park had a small-ish waterpark, so that was our first stop.  The water was pretty cold still, so the kids only stayed in it for about an hour.  The favorite activity of both Olivia and Owen was going over the floating bridge.

 Upon leaving the waterpark, we hiked a three mile trail around the pond.  The trail was relatively flat, so it made for an easy trip.  We saw some wildlife during our hike including frogs, a snake, and a turtle.  We had a pleasant day at this park.

Morey's Piers

Our first full day in Dover was a Sunday, and we decided to take a day trip to Wildwood, NJ.  We had visited Wildwood a few years ago and had seen all of the things that could be done around the boardwalk area, but our visit took place on a weekday and everything was closed because schools up north don't let our until mid-June, and "the season" doesn't begin until then.  This year I checked the operating calendars for the attractions in the area before we went and I saw that most things were open on the weekends.



We took the Cape May / Lewes Ferry over to New Jersey and we arrived in Wildwood around lunch time.  The whole beach atmosphere at Wildwood is so different than what we are used to with our local Florida beaches.  To start with, there is a two-mile boardwalk that runs along the coastline.  I say along the coastline, but the boardwalk is pretty far from the actual ocean.  Jutting out from the boardwalk is a series of three different piers.  These piers make up the Morey's Piers Amusement area.  The three piers are huge and are crammed full of amusement park rides and games.  There is even a water park area on two of the piers.  To illustrate what I'm talking about, here is a picture of the kids on the beach.  We are standing on the boardwalk taking the picture of them, so you can see how far away the beach is.  There is also on of the piers in the background to give an idea of how huge those things are.

 We spent all day on the boardwalk and did all of the "boardwalk" things like riding the tramcar and eating lunch at "The Original Hot Spot".  We had pre-purchased arm bands and those gave us unlimited access to most of the attractions on the piers. There were several roller coasters, and those were big hits with everyone.  After about seven and a half hours, we began our journey back home.  We were beyond exhausted when we finally made it back to the house.  This was a very long- but fun- day at the beach.