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Still catching you up on our trip; this entry is about Day 7, but expect a more rapid pace of information in the next post.
We broke our “no chain restaurants” rule Sunday morning with a quick stop at McDonald’s. We wanted to make sure we could get from Winchester through Washington, DC to the end of the road—Ocean City, Maryland—and back to DC by the end of the day. Winchester was a treat to get out of; US-50 is not at all clearly marked in that town!
Virginia
Eventually we made it out and headed through Virginia. This Confederate state was aesthetically a marked improvement over its Union counterpart, West Virginia, with bucolic scenery interrupted by nicely laid out towns. Despite our eagerness to reach Ocean City, we couldn’t resist taking a detour to the Civil War battlefield of Manassas, also known as Bull Run. Manassas saw action in two key battles, cleverly known as The First Battle of Bull Run and the Second Battle of Bull Run. Both resulted in Confederate victories.
After leaving Manassas, we called Zahid's cousin Sadiq for directions to his place. Sadiq is a law professor at New York Law School but is doing a guest stint at American University this term, so he has an apartment in Washington which he offered to lend us. The apartment is in Arlington, VA, just west of DC, ridiculously close to highway 50, so it was ideally situated for us.
The End of Highway 50
We dropped off our stuff at Sadiq’s apartment, then got back into the car and drove toward our final destination. En route, we made our first pass through Washington. We were really excited about that, but we knew we’d have all week to explore the city. Since we were also excited about nearing the end of the first leg of our trip, we didn’t dawdle—we pushed through DC into Maryland.
Maryland was quite nice, a perception that was probably colored by how giddy we were to be near our destination. When we finally reached Ocean City, we took some quick pictures of the “Sacramento” sign, just to prove we’d made it there … then we headed off to dinner, as we were starving. Of course, given where we were, there was no other option than to eat crab cakes, which we did in our usual ravenous style.
Lessons We Learned During Week 1
When we returned to Sadiq’s apartment (which, by the way, has a fabulous view of Washington), we took stock of where we were with the trip and how we might adjust the return itinerary. It had taken us seven days to make a trip we’d originally planned for five.
The two-day delay was pretty disheartening because, despite the extra time, we didn’t feel that we’d spent a whole lot of time seeing the towns we passed through—basically, all our stops were for food and not for sightseeing. In particular, we identified several things we would have liked to devote time to, such as the St Louis Arch, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, the Million Dollar Road, Zion National Park, and Bryce Canyon.
We started talking about making adjustments to the timeline and/or route for our return trip. We talked about a variety of approaches, but didn’t make any decisions.
Before you start thinking we were bummed about the trip, I should mention that we also took time to talk about our favorite parts so far. For Sandy, reaching the east coast having traveled the length of Highway 50 was the high point. Zahid was most happy about the lovely scenery, particularly the mountains in Utah and Colorado. And both of us were excited to be in Washington, and were ready to see the sights.
Anyway, here are the pictures from Day 7. Stay tuned for Day 8 and later!
Photos
Farm house near Upperville, VA
The main drag in Aldie, VA
Stone House at Manassas (AKA Bull Run) battlefield
This stone bridge played a key strategic role in both battles at Manassas. In the 1861 battle, Union soldiers feinted an attach over the bridge but sent most of their troops to flank the defenders. In the 1862 battle, this was the route of the Union troops' retreat
Blue bells in bloom at Manassas
Still don't know what they are, but man, are they pretty!
Stonewall Jackson statue
Confederate and Union artillery
Affordable!
Some of our first views of a DC monument
The skyline of ... Arlington? Fairfax? Not sure which suburb yet, but we'll be experts by week's end
Those crazy Easterners seem to think that "Bay Bridge" refers to a bridge over the Chesapeake!
Nearing our destination in the late afternoon
We're there! This sign, at the eastern end of US-50, marks the end of the first long leg of our journey. We can now say we've traveled every mile of this highway. Please don't ask why.
There's only one thing left to do ... celebrate with crab cakes
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