D.C. Part 3 and on to The Blue Ridge Parkway!
Saturday October 21st
Slept in a tad. We definitely earned it from all the walking we did yesterday. We walked over 5 miles total!
Rough outline of the route we took around the National Mall.
It was a relaxing morning having breakfast with Justine and Tim since it was the weekend for both of them (weekends are a total foreign concept to Emma and I now). After our coffee and bowl of cinnamon squares we got to work on house projects. Our plan this weekend was to help tile the kitchen floor. An ambitious goal, but our sights were set. Tim and I went to Home Depot for supplies while Justine and Emma painted walls and cabinets, and prepared the area where we would be tiling.
Spent a little longer than anticipated at Home Depot getting the supplies we needed. We didn't want to have to make any more trips that day. Here we are loading up the van. I thought it would be sitting low on the suspension with all the weight in the back, but it rode fine! Even the bed frame was super sturdy with all that backer board and thin set mix resting on it. We drove the materials back to the house and unloaded everything into the living room.
Unfortunately for Tim and Justine, Emma and I had a rooftop grill out with our other good friends in D.C. planned that evening we had to run off to (Sorryyy!!). We headed back downtown to meet up with Emma's childhood bestie Alie, and a great college friend of mine, Chloe! Alie hosted us on her apartment buildings rooftop hangout area that was equipped with two gas grills! We grilled burgers and dogs. Yumm! It was a unique opportunity for both of us to be able to catch up with old friends, and also introduce new friends at the same time.
Chloe, Alie, Emma!
Sunset on the Alie's Rooftop.
View of the Washington Monument. It felt like we were on the tallest building in town!
Sunday October 22nd .
All four of us worked the entire day on the kitchen tiling project, and it was great! Started the day off filling the void in the floor where a wall was taken out with precisely cut inchboard. Next was mixing the thinset for underneath the backer board. Then cutting and screwing down the backer board. Then mixing more thinset to go on top of the backer board. And lastly, laying the tile on the fresh top layer of thinset before it dries. Wow that was a lot of steps. We all learned a thing or two about tiling that day.
This was as far as we got on Sunday. We hit the road the next day. It would be up to Tim to finish the job of laying the rest of the full tiles, cutting tiles to fit in corners, and then grouting. Go Tim!
Fast forward a couple days and here is a photo of the almost finished project after we left. Can't wait to see it completed. Keep it up Tim and Icki (the cat)!
Monday October 23rd
Tim treated us to a breakfast at Bob and Edith's Diner this morning. It was a tasty farewell. Thanks Tim! We hit the road at a good time to arrive at the northern entrance of The Blue Ridge Parkway before dark. It took us about 5 hrs of driving through rural Virginia before arriving. When we got there, a dense fog had just settled on us around 6 pm. We got to drive about 5 miles of the parkway before we decided to pull over on a scenic overlook and camp for the night (not the most legit spot, but it was foggy and that made it ok). This was our first true night spent in Van Burgundy!
This spot looks good!
Cooking Dinner. Quick before it gets dark (and spooky)!!
Tuesday October 24th
So much happened on this day!
In the morning we woke up and the fog had cleared, revealing spectacular scenery. We spent the morning driving the Parkway soaking in the wonderful views.
Hagar showing of her mint 1980s VW bus, working stove and all! Emma was inspired by all her awesome decorations.
Emma looking out over the land <3
Me Driving. Nice shot by Emma.
After driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway all morning, we decided to pull off just before Roanoke, VA. We drove north to where some mountain biking trails were. Carvins Cove. The place was HUGE! We biked for over an hour and only managed to loop around a quarter of the park.
Map of the trails at Carvins Cove.
Managed a selfie of us biking. The trails were nice and smooth with the occasional root to watch out for. Thought we got lost after endless switchbacks, but luckily we were very close to the parking lot once we checked our location on our phone and cross referenced it with the picture I took of the map. Got back to the van and packed up for the next destination: Roanoke for a beer.
Had our own flights of beer at the Deschutes Brewery (Oregon based brewery that just opened an east coast location in Roanoke). Didn't spend too long here. The town had a big city kind of vibe even though it was kinda small. Booked a campsite in nearby Eggleston on our way out of town. "Wonder what the water will smell like there?" we asked ourselves.
Arrived at the camp site in the dark and payed the owner. Drove down the hill to our assigned spot and found out that we were the only people camping there tonight! Opened up the van and cooked our dinner under a small shelter with a picnic table in it. It was a unique spot with train tracks right across the river that enter a tunnel and then exit the tunnel around the riverbend. When a train went past, it would blow its horn several times before it entered the tunnel. Then it would exit the tunnel and swing around the other side of the campsite to cross a bridge. We were surrounded by train. This happened repeatedly through the night and into the morning, but it did not bother our rest one bit. We slept like rocks.
SnapMap screenshot of our location that night. You can kind of see the tracks and beginning of the tunnel to the left of Emma.
Wednesday October 25th
Woke up to another clear morning. Made a hearty breakfast. Emma was brave enough to take a shower with Eggleston water. I held out.
We packed up and had another full day of driving. We finally got out of Virginia (Halleluiah!) and entered North Carolina. We were on our way to Bakersville, NC to visit Emma's friends Heron and Cammie.
That's all for now, thanks for reading!
Slept in a tad. We definitely earned it from all the walking we did yesterday. We walked over 5 miles total!
It was a relaxing morning having breakfast with Justine and Tim since it was the weekend for both of them (weekends are a total foreign concept to Emma and I now). After our coffee and bowl of cinnamon squares we got to work on house projects. Our plan this weekend was to help tile the kitchen floor. An ambitious goal, but our sights were set. Tim and I went to Home Depot for supplies while Justine and Emma painted walls and cabinets, and prepared the area where we would be tiling.
Spent a little longer than anticipated at Home Depot getting the supplies we needed. We didn't want to have to make any more trips that day. Here we are loading up the van. I thought it would be sitting low on the suspension with all the weight in the back, but it rode fine! Even the bed frame was super sturdy with all that backer board and thin set mix resting on it. We drove the materials back to the house and unloaded everything into the living room.
Unfortunately for Tim and Justine, Emma and I had a rooftop grill out with our other good friends in D.C. planned that evening we had to run off to (Sorryyy!!). We headed back downtown to meet up with Emma's childhood bestie Alie, and a great college friend of mine, Chloe! Alie hosted us on her apartment buildings rooftop hangout area that was equipped with two gas grills! We grilled burgers and dogs. Yumm! It was a unique opportunity for both of us to be able to catch up with old friends, and also introduce new friends at the same time.
View of the Capitol Building.
A gift from Chloe: Presidential Chocolates from the White House with Obama's signature! Super cool gift. Thank you Chloe! I have already eaten them all. After a nice dinner and a good catching up, we said adieu and made our way back to Alexandria. When we arrived back home we found that Justine and Tim had been hard at work moving appliances and finishing the preparations needed to start tiling the floors.
All four of us worked the entire day on the kitchen tiling project, and it was great! Started the day off filling the void in the floor where a wall was taken out with precisely cut inchboard. Next was mixing the thinset for underneath the backer board. Then cutting and screwing down the backer board. Then mixing more thinset to go on top of the backer board. And lastly, laying the tile on the fresh top layer of thinset before it dries. Wow that was a lot of steps. We all learned a thing or two about tiling that day.
Backer board on thin set. Old floor still visible.
Everyone hard at work.
Monday October 23rd
Tim treated us to a breakfast at Bob and Edith's Diner this morning. It was a tasty farewell. Thanks Tim! We hit the road at a good time to arrive at the northern entrance of The Blue Ridge Parkway before dark. It took us about 5 hrs of driving through rural Virginia before arriving. When we got there, a dense fog had just settled on us around 6 pm. We got to drive about 5 miles of the parkway before we decided to pull over on a scenic overlook and camp for the night (not the most legit spot, but it was foggy and that made it ok). This was our first true night spent in Van Burgundy!
First overlook. What a view...
Tuesday October 24th
In the morning we woke up and the fog had cleared, revealing spectacular scenery. We spent the morning driving the Parkway soaking in the wonderful views.
Nice view of the mountains at the start of the parkway.
Emma was excited to drive first. Good job babe :)
Side Mirror Selfie.
On one of the scenic pullovers, an old VW Westfalia pulled up behind us. We met our first fellow van dweller! She introduced herself to us as Hagar and we swapped our stories. We are now following her on Instagram :)
After driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway all morning, we decided to pull off just before Roanoke, VA. We drove north to where some mountain biking trails were. Carvins Cove. The place was HUGE! We biked for over an hour and only managed to loop around a quarter of the park.
Had our own flights of beer at the Deschutes Brewery (Oregon based brewery that just opened an east coast location in Roanoke). Didn't spend too long here. The town had a big city kind of vibe even though it was kinda small. Booked a campsite in nearby Eggleston on our way out of town. "Wonder what the water will smell like there?" we asked ourselves.
Arrived at the camp site in the dark and payed the owner. Drove down the hill to our assigned spot and found out that we were the only people camping there tonight! Opened up the van and cooked our dinner under a small shelter with a picnic table in it. It was a unique spot with train tracks right across the river that enter a tunnel and then exit the tunnel around the riverbend. When a train went past, it would blow its horn several times before it entered the tunnel. Then it would exit the tunnel and swing around the other side of the campsite to cross a bridge. We were surrounded by train. This happened repeatedly through the night and into the morning, but it did not bother our rest one bit. We slept like rocks.
Wednesday October 25th
Woke up to another clear morning. Made a hearty breakfast. Emma was brave enough to take a shower with Eggleston water. I held out.
We packed up and had another full day of driving. We finally got out of Virginia (Halleluiah!) and entered North Carolina. We were on our way to Bakersville, NC to visit Emma's friends Heron and Cammie.
That's all for now, thanks for reading!