Shenandoah National Park

We made a return trip to Washington D.C. to visit aunt Tammy and uncle Gordie. I was also thrilled to be reunited with an old friend...Sasha the cat. We played a lot together. I probably spent the better part of our trip "meowing" instead of talking.

On our first day, we visited the National Zoo in Washington D.C. At the zoo I played on a giant foam pizza. I couldn't get enough of moving mushrooms around and sliding off cheese and tomatoes.

The zoo also featured a high wire act by the orangutans. The wires are suspended above the zoo by towers and the orangutans are free to use them as they please. There are no safety nets, but they evidently never fall. You can see uncle Gordie and aunt Tammy watching in the foreground.


The next day uncle Gordie showed us the Pentagon where he works. This is the only picture I have of the Pentagon since cameras are not allowed. The security is very tight, but uncle Gordie was able to take us to his office which is across the hallway from the Secretary of the Navy. Uncle Gordie is a Commander in the U.S. Navy and works primarily with the Deputy Secretary of the Navy.

On Monday, October 20th we temporarily left uncle Gordie and aunt Tammy for a couple days to visit Shenandoah National Park in northern Virginia.

We drove along the famous Skyline Drive. Skyline Drive runs 105 miles along the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Park. It has over 70 turnouts to take in the spectacular views.

To our surprise we virtually had the Park to ourselves. This was somewhat shocking considering we were only a couple hours from Washington D.C. and Baltimore and the Fall colors were at their peek. Do people not know the Park exists?

The only downside of our stay at Shenandoah National Park was when I "crashed" on a hike. I did a face plant when I tripped on a leaf concealed tree root. I was a bloody mess, but two Band-aids on my face, one each on my elbow and knee made me feel a lot better. Daddy suggested rubbing dirt on my scrapes and cuts, but mommy opted for Elmo Band-aids.


I quickly got right back on the trail. This time sporting a walking stick. The walking stick was my idea. Notice mommy carrying my leaf collection. I was looking for BIG leaves in every color I could find.
We finished off our trip by visiting the largest caves on the East coast. They are the Luray Caverns in the Shenandoah Valley. It is 1.5 miles of underground caves which I walked most of the way.

Here I'm listening to our tour guide talk about Stalagmites.