We were on the road again… the boys had off the Thursday and Fridaybefore Veteran’s day, so I decided to take off those two days too. And,once I did, we sat down and planned our next road trip.
R said to me, it is Veteran’s day and Pop-Pop was in the Korean war so let’sdo something to honor him. I thought that was a great idea.
My father was a corporal in the Korean war, he served in Korea on the frontlines from 1950-1953. He was a humble man and didn’t talk about the warmuch. In fact, it wasn’t until after he died four years ago that I foundout he was a corporal. I asked him once what his rank was, and he said,”a private, everyone there was a private.” I remember the soldiers at his funeral saluting him and presenting my mother with his flag. He would have been so proud. He was very patriotic.
When I was married, we bought a home. We moved in on September 4th,and my dad brought a flag with him to give to me to hang outside my house. I gladly let it fly from the pole holder he placed on my front porch. That night he left our home around 7:30 pm. At 8:15 pm my doorbell rang. I opened the door and there stood my dad. As I opened the door he said, “either put your light on outside to illuminate the flag or take it in. I knew you wouldn’t think to do that and came back to tell you. You can’t fly a flag at night unless it has a light shining on it.” The light went on and everyone slept well that night.
In honor of my dad, we decided to go to Virginia and Washington D.C. to seethe Arlington National Cemetery and the Korean War Memorial. Once this was decided I was off and running to find deals that could get us thereon a Budget.
This is the direction of our trip. We headed from NJ on Wednesdayafter work and headed to Arlington, Va., and stayed at the Crown Royal for two nights (I will write about this later in another blog, but for now, I donot recommend this hotel). I got a deal on the hotel through myworkingadvantage.com membership for $100.00 per night for a room with two queen size beds and a view of the Potomac River (typically the room is $245.00).Thursday, we went to tour Arlington National Cemetery and watch the “changing of the guard” at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The cemetery was beautiful, and the changing of the guard is something everyone should experience. It was so moving my youngest son T walked away saying, I want to join the Army and serve our country. I received a groupon for the entry of Arlington Cemetery and our tickets were a total of $20.00.
We left the cemetery and headed over to Washington D.C. to see the KoreanWar Memorial. It was so moving. I read online that you should experiencethis memorial both day and night. So, we did. We hung around D.C.saw the other monuments, had lunch and then later had dinner. We walked around downtown D.C. which was like a much cleaner NYC. The lunch and dinner cost a total of $70.00 for the three of us, and the sightseeing was free.
Afterwards, we drove back stopping at the White House, we witnessed an active protest, which was a great lesson for the boys. We took some great pictures and we also drove to the Capitol and R was happy that he was able to take some awesome pictures there too… and then back to the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorial. Later we walked to the WWII memorial which is beautiful and then it was 9 pm and we walked back to the Korean War Memorial. It truly is a different place at night than it is during the day. It is ghostly.
The memorial is a group of statues dressed as soldiers marching through the terrain. At night you can imagine what it must have been like during the time of war. These brave men marching through rough terrain and unknown territory, not knowing what was ahead of them, to the side or following behind.
One of the highlights of our trip was the fact that we took pictures atdifferent times of different things, and yet each one of us has pictures from the Korean War Memorial with an emerald green orb showing in them. R and I had both said a prayer that my dad would give us a sign that he was there, and at one-point R asked me if I thought he was, and I said, “he is here I can feel him.” I was always told spirits show as orbs in pics. Here I was with my two boys we each had different pictures from different angles all with this glowing emerald green orb. I knew that was my dad. Not only did he wear green for the Army, my dad was a very proud Irishman. No further proof was needed, he was with us.
The next day we got up and it was raining so we re-routed our way toCharlottesville, Va. we were going to go through the Shenandoah Valley, butdecided to save that for Sunday when the weather would be better. We instead headed for a long ride to check out the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel. The boys loved seeing how the bridge appeared to just break off into the Chesapeake Bay and re-appear in the far distance. We drove down the south side, turned around and drove back on the North side. The best part of this drive was the surprise we had as we crossed, the bay was loaded with dolphin this day. they were swimming and jumping and giving us a beautiful show. All of this was $6.00 for the toll.
Of course, no road trip is complete for R without a trip to the outlets andon our way back we were passing by the outlets, so we stopped and the boys both got a new pair of Nikes. Lunch at the food court was great… free samples filled up the boys and we bought hotdogs from vendor… $6.00
Once shopping was done, we made our way to the hotel in Charlottesville,Va. I got a great deal on booking.com and we stayed in the Homewood InnSuites. Oh my God, I want to live in this place. We walked in the peoplewere so nice. I had made a mistake in my reservation and booked a King Size Suite which was $279.00, but Crown Royal comped my room for the two nights due to our experience, so I was doing okay at this point. Here at the Homewood Suites Breakfast is included and it was delicious.
We got up in the morning and we ate breakfast, went to Monticello andHighland which was James Madison and James Monroe’s homes, the entry was free for Veteren’s day weekend. We then went to the University of Virginia toured the campus and made our way to the Cavaliers v Liberty football game. I scored great seats for the college senior appreciation game for $10.00 each. we sat 5 rows back on the 40-yard line. We were happy, and the Cavaliers won… it was a great day!
We left and headed to Waynesboro, VA and stayed at the Best Western. Iused booking.com again and scored a 2-queen room for $60.00 with breakfast. The next morning, we left early and headed up through the Shenandoah Valley on Skyline Drive. The normal rate is $30.00 per car BUT it was Veteran’s day so surprise…. it was free! YIPPEE!!! We enjoyed the beautiful scenery … stopped to take pictures along the way, took a short hike and just truly enjoyed our time.
All in all, at the end of our trip tolls, gas and food incl. my cost for a 5-dayvacation was $589.23 (approx. $40.00 pp per day) and a life time of memories.Thanks Dad!
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2019 The Multifaceted Mom
