Welcome to my first Beyond the Books post. This post was inspired by Lexxie @Unconventional Bookviews' Up Close and (Un)conventional, who was inspired by Cuddlebuggery. It's meant to be a way for y'all to get to know me better on a personal level - Beyond the Books. ;)
By the way, my daughter, Sky, designed my header. I think she did a great job in drawing me! :)
In my first post, I thought I'd share about my recent vacation. This particular family vacation was organized around touring colleges for my oldest. What?!? How am I old enough to have a kid getting ready for college? Well, she's a junior this year and driving and I can still hardly believe it. Yep, I'm that old. *ha* Anyway, there are a few colleges from the East that are courting her, so we took her to check them out, as well as to have some fun in locales we'd never visited.
We traveled Skyline Drive from the north entrance of Shenandoah National Park to the south entrance, where we ended up near Charlottesville, Virginia. It was a lovely day-long drive along the Blue Ridge Mountains. And in one of the visitor's centers, we learned a great deal about the creation of this national park.
We arrived in Charlottesville, VA, in order to attend a tour of the University of Virginia. Since we were in the area, we visited Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello too. But this photo is on the grounds of UVA.
We visited Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where the bloodiest battle of the Civil War was fought. Gettysburg College is located here as well. We toured the campus, and then visited the Gettysburg National Historic Site and Museum. (Sky is very interested in the Civil War) We also visited Swarthmore College while in Pennsylvania. We all really liked the campus. :)
We also visited Seaside Park, New Jersey, for FUN!!
Baltimore, Maryland, was a stop on our trip in order to visit/tour Johns Hopkins University.
And we also toured Washington D.C.
As you can tell, we spent a lot of time traveling, saw A LOT, and learned so much. We also had a great time! (And Sky will probably end up at a college in the Pacific Northwest! ;)
Great pictures, Brandee! I'm so happy you and your family had such a fantastic time :)
ReplyDeleteI love getting to know my favorite bloggers even better! And wow, your daughter must be quite a young lady to be touring these colleges. You must be extremely proud! My family visited the Shenandoah Valley area, and all the surrounding battle sites. I hope you went to Harper's Ferry! That place was gorgeous! Thank you so much for sharing your photos, Brandee. They were really lovely.
ReplyDeleteI love this trip! Real family bonding time, your kids will treasure this trip forever :D Good job Mom!
ReplyDeleteI love the pictures, Brandee!! What a wonderful trip! I've never been to Jersey. When you said Sky is interested in the Civil War I thought of Violet from The Incredibles (yes, the animated movie), actually the voice of Violet. She is mad obsessed with Lincoln and everything that revolves around. Will made me watch the extras on The Incredibles DVD until I finally hid it (I can't remember where).
ReplyDeleteI've been in that area before but still haven't visited a lot of the wonderful places you mentioned in this post! This feature is a nice idea :). It is really cool to get to know the blogger, behind the blog. I have a similar feature on monday's called Life's Snapshots. It is fun to share! And your header is def cute, Brandee!
ReplyDeleteGreat Pictures and you were in my neck of the wood! I am in Seaside every weekend :)
ReplyDeleteI love these posts that really get to know the person behind the blog, Its why I love the Sunday Post since I can talk about personal stuff more :)
I LOVE the header, your daughter did an amazing job!!
Great photos, Brandee. I don't even want to think about my kids going to Uni. / College. Fortunately, I've still got a few years before that milestone hits.
ReplyDeleteHow FUN. You visited several of my favorite places--my family used to vacation regularly in Williamsburg (which is admittedly quite a ways from Charlottesville, but I love VA in general, so I say it counts ;) ). I love DC and Baltimore too. Until very recently (like within the last couple of weeks), my brother-in-law, his wife, and our two nephews lived in Hagerstown, MD, so we would hit one or the other when visiting if we had the time. And TOO funny that after all of that you think Sky (who did a lovely job on the header) will end up on the other side of the country, LOL.
ReplyDeletePS: I've been away a lot too the past couple of weeks, so you aren't the only one trying to catch up ;)
Love this post & your daughter did an awesome job on the header. I love it!
ReplyDeleteHow exciting touring colleges! I didn't get to do that with my parents, but did it on my own when I went to grad school. Its so fun exploring and imagining your future in all these different places. I bet your hoping your daughter won't go too far! Looking forward to more of these :)
This looks like a whole pile of fun and family time. WOw you sure got around. That was a lovely insight into your family vacation/college tour. Thanks for sharing :D Oh yeah and the header is awesome!! Love seeing kids getting involved in their mums blogging activities :D
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had an awesome trip. Don't think of yourself as old, lol my mom says she finds it interesting that I keep getting older and she's staying the same age. That's awesome so many colleges are wanting your daughter. She must be ubber smart. Washington D.C. is so amazing. I loved all the museums and monuments. I have to say that the Abe Lincoln monument is a lot cooler than Mount Rushmore in my personal opinion. Glad you had such a great time!
ReplyDeleteWow, you guys had an awesome trip!! I'd love to take a trip like that, especially with the history. You are not old, lol! I turned 33 last month and feel old, but hey, the thirties are the new twenties. ;) Your daughter did a great job with the header! It's the first thing I noticed! :D
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