We headed out on our vacation a week ago this past Thursday – July 3. Lindee & I both worked until about the middle of the afternoon, & then she & the girls got here to pick me up, & we got on the road around 4. Jeff took this picture of us heading out.
Unfortunately, we ran into even more than the regular rush hour traffic in Charlotte – it took us two hours to get across town, and we still were hardly moving. We got off the interstate, & rode back roads for a while, & then by the time we got back on I-85 traffic was moving. It did put us arriving at the Virginia Welcome Center later than anticipated, and the girls were SO excited to see a playground there so they could use up some energy. Lindee & I even got on it to work out some of our kinks from sitting so long. We got to Springfield, VA, maybe around midnight, & checked into the Hampton Inn. Springfield is as far out as the Metro runs to take us in Washington the next day, & that turned out to be a great plan. Here are Lindee & Mal on the playground. These should be required at every welcome center!