Skyline Drive

We started off our summer vacation with a mini-road trip.  Since we'll be spending the summer in North Carolina, we decided to take our time going down and take Skyline Drive through Northern Virginia, instead of rushing along on the interstate.  We really enjoyed the drive and are looking forward to doing it again in a few years, possibly camping along the way as well.  There was no camping this time, since trying that with a toddler and a ten-month-old, both of whom love to explore, would be extremely nerve-wracking, if not just plain stupid. But, we did drive the whole park, we stopped for a picnic lunch and wandered the visitor's center.  Most enjoyable was the drive itself: slow, scenic and generally relaxing.

However, both of our little ones hit a wall after their afternoon naps (about 3pm), after that driving was nothing but stressful for everyone.  No matter how enjoyable the morning had been, the horror of the afternoon erased it.   Two screaming, inconsolable children in the midst of rush hour traffic is enough to make us rethink our whole scheme.  This translates into an important lesson that we will use on our Great American Road trip: drive in the morning, arrive in the afternoon.