Memorial Day Weekend of 2010 (May30, 31 and June 1st), we took off towards Virginia Luray Caverns, after celebrating Akilan's birthday on 29th May.
On a nice sunny day, we started at 7.20am from home and it was a long drive of about 5 and half hours, and we had not been on such long drive before. We had packed all stuff for food, stay etc and everyone at home were commenting am probably carrying half the things from home, but with a kid and elders, just wanted to be careful in advance.
We had some snacks on the way while driving and halted once to fill gas before leaving New Jersey, and then only in Virginia. We crossed Baltimore, Maryland, DC, and entered into Virginia looking for the Skyline Drive which i was excited about instead of the normal route. Then we found the entrance, purchased the $15 entrance for the car, which is valid for 7 days :)?, and then started driving our way, it was somewhat similar to a Kodaikanal route on a day in summer. There were a number of overlooks and we stopped at few of them to catch a glimpse.
We stopped at one of the resting areas in the drive, had our lunch there, and headed again. We reached Luray Caverns entrance at about 2.30, where a long queue awaited us. Quickly i got down and stood in the queue while Chidam went to park the car. But then realized should get the ticket in another building and then come and stand in the queue. Was wondering how long the queue would be there and realized there was nothing like a queue, so got the tickets quickly (23 for the whole tour), and came and joined back in the queue, I was told one hour waiting in queue and one hour for the tour approx,... It was so hot and was relieved when Chidam came to help in standing in the queue while i went to wet my throat and to freshen up Akilan's diapers....
We then got into the caverns, wow.... was the word to start with, it was so chill.... the 98...% pure air and chill environ along with the beauty of the stalagmites of limestone enthralled us. My parents, Akilan also enjoyed along with us, we walked around to see the beauty of nature hidden in these caves.... These stalagmites grown 1 inch i 102 years?!, the still dripping water in some places which we realized has a mirror image and not a real stalagmite the other way also was an interesting surprise to us, even in the darkness we tried to capture the beauty in our handy-cam and camera.... We almost ran out of battery :)
On exiting after about more than one and half hour....we came out to do some memento shopping... and then went to the next section where lot of old caravans were displayed, interesting to see those cars....from Ford, to Benz....to....
Then got out to see the museum, a quick route, and then realized the botanical maze had another fee, also with the fear of getting dark before we reach our night stay, we headed with our tired legs, more than us, our parents our very tired, ....so got onto to the car, and took then normal route which was also beautiful , liked the ups and downs and reached Northern Virginia, Chester ville , Chantilly, to check in to Spring Field Suites of Marriott at around 8.30pm. Akilan was so execute that he all over the place, while we took turns to freshen up to start our dinner and then hit bed by 11 to have a good sleep and rest for a more interesting journey the next day....
Day 2 - Washington DC
After a good days rest on the night of Day 1, and a refreshing breakfast, we started from the hotel by 8.30 towards Washington DC. We were advised by one of our friends to park on 14thStreet - Constitution Avenue, and we found a place in fronts of Washington Memorial(the tall pillar), since the marking was not very clear if we could park there the whole day, also since we saw a lot of events for the Memorial day, i went to check with a mobile tourism center if it was fine to park, she directed me to a police office the road, before crossing i saw two other officers (looked like some army office by attire) and inquired if it was fine, they said they were not sure, so can ask the same traffic police across the street, i crossed the road and asked her and she said the general rule is on holidays and weekends can park there for no charge, but she was not sure!!?? and i could take a chance, and I can only confirm with MPD department.... I thanked ! her for the information and we decided to take the chance and parked the vehicle and went towards Washington memorial in memory of the first president of US , George Washington, which was a tall pillar, then the War memorial with a pillar and indication for each state and the armed forces like army navy, coast guard and there were some nice fountains there...., and the Lincoln memorial has a majestic statue of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president and very famous president . All these are in same line and also we could see the Capitol Building from there as a nice view.
We were already tired walking....and knew this is just the beginning.... We walked towards the white house wondering where it was :), and then located it and was very happy we saw it from the gates :) and took photos.... we thought this was already too much for the morning session and decided to have our lunch, and came back to see our car safe, thanks to Washington memorial which was a nice location landmark for us. We had the lunch which we had prepared and got from hotel :), in the Washington Memorial, with the remaining charge left in our cameras and us too ! :), we walked towards Capitol Building seeing the museums we should see on our way back.... We realized that some of them like the Arts museum was closed for Memorial Day ?!, and saw Air and Space open, and went into that, since food (baby food we were carrying), was not allowed, we had to take turns and see this, while one of us waits with Akilan and our emergency food baggage outside. After this we walked towards Capitol Building and saw a botanical garden, this was a very nice one we thought after seeing only buildings so far :), it was a indoor botanical garden. Finally we walked across to the next building which was the Capitol Building, This was a beauty which we had seen is so many movies and also TV Serials.... Took lots of photos and video shots, and my parents were already exhausted, we too!, and sat down to refresh Akilan with some snacks in the meanwhile. Came see another Sculpture museum, modern art type, in a open garden, walked in to see a big pool of water where people were resting their legs there, we also got excite to do that and all our legs were in there, including Akilan :) Then started walking to see what other museums are there, we entered into the museum of Natural History, It was nice, but too much walking while we were tired.... We decided now we cannot walk any more except to the car, and we felt a little lost there, so asked direction tips from an officer there, and headed to see the Washington Memorial which was hiding behind the buildings. Very happy to see that and walked towards it once we caught the glimpse. Once we reached the hotel after the half an hour drive, we all required that freshening shower and a quick dinner, and hit the bed for the next day to start....
Day 3 - National Aquarium, Baltimore
We got up a bit relaxed, got our things together after a good breakfast, checked out and headed out towards the aquarium which was about an hour and half journey in Baltimore. We were a little confused to find Parking, and found a Pier V Parking, which was very very expensive, but went ahead and parked to later realize that it was about $24 for four hours of parking!.
Got the tickets for the aquarium which was about $30 for one person, and went it to realize the beauty of sea water, so many varieties of fishes, Frogs!, Jelly fishes, what a beauty, Sharks, and so many more of the sea world.... Really a nice world of sea....Akilan also was enjoying tapping the glass partitions to try to catch the fishes:) The Dolphin show was good, but we probably expected a little more :), The 4D immersion theater was startling to my parents, and Akilan almost started crying by the noise of the crowd, we sat through the whole show though.... and once we finished by about 3.30 in the afternoon, and decided we should now head towards home so that we reach before it is too dark.... It was about 2 and half hour journey towards home, this looked long and tiring of all. Chidam was pulling himself and got us back like a beauty.
Overall this was a very nice trip, which we were looking forward so eagerly since we stepped into US, and was happy to see all of them and realize it was really a great trip and nice places to visit.
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