Battlefields

After staying at Smith Mountain Lake for several days, we headed out to Northern Virginia.  We wanted to go to Shenandoah National Park straight after the lake, but we needed to stop in at REI, so we camped for a night at Prince William Forest again.  Turns out, we needn't have bothered.  

We had put J's shoes in the washing machine at Monica's and Ray's because J left them out in the pouring rain at OBX.  These are brand new shoes.  I've put shoes in washers and dryers before, never a problem.  REI wouldn't accept them back because you're not supposed to wash shoes.  I had never heard that.  I've put tons of shoes in the washer and dryer, never had them fall apart. So, after detouring to the NOVA area for naught, we bought some shoe goo at Wal Mart and headed out to Shenandoah.              

On our way, we stopped in Fredericksburg.  We needed to hit Lowe's, and then we went ahead and hit the battlefield since we saw the signs for it.  This statue is in honor of Sergeant Richard R. Kirkland.  He was a confederate, and he crossed into the line of fire to bring water to the Union soldiers who were crying out. Union soldiers ceased firing at him and cheered him on.                

The Jr. Ranger booklet had the kids looking for things all over the battlefield, including in the cemetary.  K was struck by how many graves there were, which led to the discussion on how many people were killed in the Civil War.  Many, many lives lost.                  

When we arrived in the park, we were greeted by the wildlife.  Not a bear, but I like seeing deer.  We're still looking for a bear.  We've gotten a lot of birds, squirrels, chipmunks, and deer, but no bear just yet.                    

The picture above is the campsite we stayed at for the majority of our tiime at Shenandoah NP.  But in the middle, we moved to a spot right on the edge of the campground, right off the Appalachian Trail.  A cool site that let us check out the thru hikers.  Plus, we've played on the Appalachian Trail.  NB wants a shirt that says he's hiked the AT.  I think it's more appropriate to say we've been ON the AT.              

 Our time in Shenandoah has been without internet, so I'm far behind.  I'll catch up at another time.  We're at Costco getting our tires replaced, and now I must shop!