After 2 years of COVID and other exigencies mitigating against extended travel, it felt good to finally get on the road for a short vacation out east. Usually I try to leave early enough to get through Chicago before rush hour, but this time I left later and navigated Chicago at mid-day. Traffic wasn’t too bad.

This allowed time for a nice long visit with long time friends Lois and Ken at their home in Ohio.

But the ultimate goal was visiting daughter Sara and her husband Ryan at their home in Virginia.

That’s western Virginia, as in the Shenandoah River and the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Granddaughters Lana and Audrey are always ready for adventure.

So the next morning found us climbing a ranger tower in the George Washington National Forest.

The views were tremendous.

Both east and west.

They were impressed.

Next it was on to Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park, where there’s majestic scenery around every corner.

You can see for miles. Did you notice the butterfly?

The Ranger talk on bears was fascinating.

Didn’t see any bears this time, but we saw a buzzard.

We always try to take a short hike on the Appalachian Trail.

We headed home on US highway 11 and noticed yard sales stretching for miles. We made a few stops.

Game time that evening was great fun. I finally played Ticket to Ride.

On another day we did some sight-seeing around Winchester. Sara and Audrey got to play Patsy Cline’s piano at the Visitor’s Center.

On another day we headed to Washington DC and jumped on the metro.

Destination: The National Geographic building.

It was truly an immersive experience, as we entered the exhibit (walking like an Egyptian).

The images were as stunning as the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb itself, 100 years ago this year.

In the final room we were surrounded by moving images much like, it seemed to me, the current Van Gogh immersive experiences making the rounds.

The images told the story of what Egyptians believed about the transition from life on earth to life hereafter, based on Tut’s tomb and other Egyptian writing.

Can you picture yourself on the cover of National Geographic? We could.

Soon the visit was over and I was headed west towards home. Another mid-day transit through Chicago, thankfully avoiding several areas of major traffic delays.