Our Historical Virginia Vacation (Part 2) + A Video!

4.03.2016


Today I'm going to share pictures from our day in Lexington, Virginia, which is about an hour from Charlottesville. Jordan is reading a giant book on Stonewall Jackson and was excited to see his grave and visit his house. Also, at the end of this post there is a short (less than 2 minutes) video I put together of our Virginia trip!

R slept through the entire tour of the Stonewall Jackson house, which I was a little bitter about because I wished she had done that the day before when we were at Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's house). I don't think I mentioned that she started talking in the second room and got both of us kicked out of the tour. Little troublemaker. Jordan stayed and finished the tour while R and I wandered around outside the house for an hour. It's a good story to tell her when she's older, I guess.
Before arriving in Lexington, we drove an extra twenty minutes to Natural Bridge, Virginia, because I wanted to visit Foamhenge, a quirky roadside attraction I'd read about on the internet. You may remember Carhenge in Nebraska? Well, Foamhenge is the same thing but made out of foam! It was truly one of the weirdest things ever, and Jordan gave me a hard time about going so far out of the way to see something so strange. 

There was literally no entrance or any way to drive up to it. We could barely see it from the road, so Jordan pulled to the side and I ran up a hill to take this picture. It felt like the way horror movies start. I told him we need to see what other fake Stonehenge replicas we can find in the US to visit, because clearly now that we've seen two we need to see them all.
We looked on Trip Advisor to get eating suggestions for lunch, and since it was a Monday almost all the places were closed, so we had basically one option. R was perfect while we were eating! She just sat in a high chair and played. Don't get me started about the fact that she's big enough to sit in a high chair. 


It was a really nice day, which was good because we walked around all afternoon. (Although it was a tad chilly, hence R's hat. That and the fact that she gets more smiles from strangers when she's wearing it.) After the Stonewall Jackson house, we went over to the campus of the Virginia Military Institute (pictured below), where Stonewall Jackson taught. There is a statue of him there and a museum where they have his coat and some other things.
R did great for the most part. She slept her way through the entire tour of the Jackson home. She did have two poop explosions while we were in Lexington, the last one in the museum. We had one onesie left but no pants, so I covered her legs with my jacket while we walked back to the car. 

She started getting fussy when we went into another museum, so I sat outside with her on the grass while she played. And by played I mean that I ripped grass out of the ground and she watched it blow away in the wind when I threw a handful into the air. Seriously, why do we spend money buying babies toys? We are all such marketing suckers.
After the final poop explosion of the day, we drove back to Charlottesville, got hangry on the way, and had a fun little adventure trying to find somewhere to eat while getting lost multiple times in the downtown area. At one point the GPS had us trapped in an alleyway, and Jordan shook his fist in the air and said, "Curse you, Virginia!" I'm not making that up.

His phone was running on 3% battery, and since AT&T hates Virginia, my phone was useless. I couldn't have even texted for help. It was a close call, but we finally picked up dinner and made it back to our cabin just in time to feed R and put her to bed (and plug in Jordan's phone). The next day we visited Montpelier and went to the airport, where we sat around all day before finding out our plane was delayed and we would have to stay one more night in Virginia. It's a good thing I went into this vacation determined to be flexible if it killed me.

I have been inspired by a few blog friends (Charlotte and Miriam being two of them!) to take short videos and put them together into a video recap. I wish I would have taken more clips, but I had R strapped to me for most of the time, so it was harder to take pictures and videos than I anticipated. Nevertheless, I love looking back on this and seeing some of our vacation in this format! I hope you enjoy!

*I am working on a post about traveling/flying with a baby, so if you have any specific questions you want me to address, just let me know! Leave a comment or shoot me an email or find me on Facebook

Laura Morgan said...

I love the video!!!!! And all the pics. I love love love that region. So gorgeous and you can just feeeeeeel the history. Swoon. My first college was on an old plantation and I've always wanted to write a short ghost story set there.

Michelle said...

I love the video! I wish I had done something like that for our California trip. I seriously can't believe they kicked you out of the tour because R was talking. I'm annoyed for you. If she was screaming her head off, that's one thing, but just talking? Rude.

The Girl who Loved to Write said...

This makes me so excited to take Jack on a family trip one day!

Kayla MKOY said...

This video was awesome. At the end of that, he cracked me up! Caleb is always looking at me like "seriously...another picture/video?" ;) too funny.

I've loved making videos the past year. I made a quick one for both Thanksgiving and family Christmas and then one for the girls that I went to Nashville with. They thought I was crazy to make a video of our trip but now they are so happy I did! :)

Caroline @ In Due Time said...

LOVE the video! Love this smile at the end, ha! Looks like such a fun trip (minus getting kicked out). I love that you adventuring with baby R in tow! :)

Emily said...

Cheers to making sweet videos that you will treasure forever! Also that video has the best ending ever. #husbands, am I right?! ;)

I am terrified of flying with babies. And I have no babies. So an even bigger cheers to you flying with a baby!

Laura Darling said...

Such a cute video! And foamhenge sounds so crazy!!

Andrea H. said...

Love the video! Such a great idea!! Yay for fun family memories...even if they do involve getting kicked out of tours :)

Kristen @ See You In A Porridge said...

oh my gosh that hat really is adorable :) and Foamhenge is hilarious. that video was awesome as well, i'd love to do things like that for my trips, but no idea how haha.

Erin LFF said...

Beautiful pictures, friend! :) And I love your video too. I've been trying to remember to take some video clips here and there but so far haven't done much with it! I felt stressed for you thinking on no cell phone/service/hangry/alleyways-- glad you survived that one ;)

Ashley Lillis said...

It always amazes me to visit somewhere historical and walk where some people from history have walked before. That must have been so cool for your husband since he was reading the book about Stonewall Jackson!

Susannah said...

Oh my goodness, there's a fake Stonehenge in Washington (kinda) near us! You should TOTALLY COME VISIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rhonda said...

Haha I loved that you went to a fake Stonehenge- that there is even one makes me laugh. I love odd, quirky travel attractions. I love your video recap. How did you make this? Is it an app or program? I'd really like to know about how you navigate car seats and travel.

Beka @ Sunshine to the Square Inch said...

This is so fun!!!!

I cracked up in the video when you filmed Jordan reading a sign. That is the story of my life on vacation with Dave. One time we road tripped in Oklahoma just to read the signs. I'm not lying!

The video is super fun and that is a great way to remember your trip. What do you use to edit videos? I have ivdeo but it is soooo slooooooow an annoying.

Charlotte said...

Who knew there were so many something-henges in the world? :) You could visit them all (and come and see the real one, I'll invite you guys for tea!).

Loving the video! x

Rachel said...

I love that you found another stonehenge place. that's so cool. I love ultra-weird things like that.
And it will be a great story to tell later on in life about how the little one got you kicked out of Thomas Jefferson's house. That's what being a parent is for, right? The hilarious stories?

Unknown said...

Love it and I super duper extra love the seeing all sorts of Stonehenges idea!!!

Allison said...

So much fun! Love that you visited so many historic sites. And your video is just adorable. What'd you use to make it? And i'll be watching for your flying tips post. Even though Aiden isn't technically a baby anymore. We are going to SC in May and I think it could be even harder to fly with an on the go toddler than it was to fly with him as a 9 month old, but we shall see...

The Lady Okie said...

I use the iMovie on my Mac. I think it's pretty easy to use!

Rach said...

There's "BamaHenge" (a stone henge replica) in Alabama! We went and saw it last year. It was pretty cool!

Hooray for video footage! I've tried to be better over the past couple of years about taking video as well as photos when we travel and I've loved looking back on our videos as much if not more than the photos! :) So fun getting to travel along with you guys via this video. R is such a cutie! And Jordan's smile at the end is perfect! :)

Brittany said...

That video is perfect! "Give me a smile." "I don't want to." Amazing. I can't believe Foamhenge exists. I'm also one of those people who would go out of their way to see it. Sigh.

Julie @ Just the Joy's said...

hahah! Too funny about R talking and getting you kicked out of the tour! And the poop explosions.. ha! Never a dull moment! ;) I absolutely love the video! That's a great idea! How did you do it if you don't mind me asking!? I'm a tech dummy.. :)

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