Friday, June 5, 2009

Well we had a bit of an issue in Washington at the White house. I told Ray that we shouldn't bring Tryone!! He got off his leash and slipped through the fence and loved running on the green, green grass. This picture is courtesy of Homeland Security.

OK - So we are joking but this does really look like Tryone on the White House grounds. This leads us to our question right off the start - which US President(s) had English Springer Spaniels?

We have spent the last 2 days exploring all the great things in the US Capital. We ended up staying at a National Forest just outside of the city area and then took the subway in.

Washington is home to many world renowned Smithsonian Museums (and there is no admission for most of them). We took in a few like the Natural History Museum and American History Museums. We saw many sites including a display of ball gowns of all the past First Ladies,the Hope Diamond and the big excitement was seeing "Night in the Museum 2" on IMAX which was filmed right in the various Smithsonian Museums!

Walking is a given when visiting here, we spent lots of time walking (in the pouring rain) to see the Lincoln Memorial, US Capital Building, Vietnam, Washington and WW2 Memorials, Reflecting Pool and of course the White House. Lots to see and do that is for sure.

We are now in southern Pennsylvania and are hoping to explore Gettysburg, Lancaster and Hersey in the next while.

About the last question - the photo from Jamestown Virginia, there were lots of good guesses but the correct answer and the Mytton family knew, was Princess Pocahontas. We certainly learned that the Disney story is very different from reality. Go figure. Click here to read more on her

Bye for now.

— Posted by The Pilkington Family

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

In Old, Old Virginia

Greetings from Virginia,

Since our last post, we have arrived in Virginia, spending some time in the scenic Shenandoah National Park. Here is a picture of an exhausted Tyrone after our hike in the forest.

We then got to the Williamsburg area - talk about history! We visited Jamestown Stettlement where we learned about the 400 year history of the English settlers, natives and african americans. There was lots of interactive activities and things to learn about - everything from building a canoe, musket shooting, ships and Emma's physics lesson (she knows all about currents, compasses, compass roses and knots per hour thanks to Dennis the sailer). It was a great day and certainly gave us an appreciation as to how hard life was for these people.

We also went to Colonial Williamsburg and saw the old colonial town. The girls learned how to use a quill pen and had a bit of a hang up at the stalks.

We stayed at a great state park across the James River (we have to take a ferry to Williamsburg). By far this state park had the nicest campground and even an Olympic size swimming pool with diving boards. It's been very hot here (around 93 degrees with humidity) - so good thing for the pool. On Sunday, the campground had a Historic Gas and Steam Engine Show which we caught the last hour of - there were some snappy bands - but no bib overalls.

The park also has big, beautiful trees which Emma and Leah love to swing on!

Here we come Washington DC in the morning!

Question Time - Here is a picture of a famous woman that we learned more about at Jamestown - any guesses?? HINT- This actual photo is much different than the image we know.

— Posted by The Pilkington Family