DAY 1

**First of all, I highly recommend the book we have used on this journey. It is called "Kids Love to Travel and we have the Virginia version. It is broken into states and down by areas of the state. It is then in alpha order. It has been a GREAT resource. It is written by a great homeschooling family that RV fulltime.**

We traveled in yesterday. We had great weather and made great time. Hubby was excited to find one of his favorite restaurants:



Backyard Burgers. He found this restaurant when we lived in Alabama and fell in love with it. We got in around 10 pm last night to our hotel. We are at a Holiday Inn Express.

We got up this morning and ate breakfast. Luke (9) is in LOVE with horses. This is a HUGE mecca of horsing around here. There is a horse statue in front of the hotel and horse pictures all over so he is loving it!



We left the hotel this morning and headed for downtown Lexington, VA. We were in awe at VMI and Washington Lee University (which are side by side). The Lee Museum was closed until 2 pm so we went to the Stonewall Jackson House.

(Virginia Military Institute Barracks with Stonewall Jackson and cannons in front)

( Washington Lee University)

(Washington Lee University)



(Front of the Stonewall Jackson House, Lexington, VA)


(Back of the Stonewall Jackson House, Lexington, VA)

Joshua (15) LOVES Stonewall. It is funny to watch the tour guides interact with homeschoolers. Quite funny actually. Especially when the really indepth questions are thrown at him, but he didn't flench. It was great, and of course we got some souviners.

(The first half is original and the second half is an addition.)

(Said Carriage)

There was a carriage (horse) in the stall that we were all impressed with, in particular my dh. The story was that he bought it for his mother in law, who couldn't walk. When he went off to war, he wrote his wife and told her that a man would come and buy it. That to let him have it for whatever price he offered and if he couldn't pay that to give it to him anyway, because he was doing the Lord's work. What a terrific man..A Godly and honorable man... We were complimented on our children and their behavior, got our souviners and left.

We then went to the VMI Museum. It was FREE. We were impressed with the campus. There was a statue of Stonewall in front of the Stonewall barracks with cannons and the remains of Little Sorrel, his horse (it was just the bones. I will talk of the hide later).

The VMI museum is underneath the chapel and adjacent to Washington Lee University. There is the stuffed hide of Little Sorrel (Stonewall's horse), Stonewall's uniform, his desk, a lock of his hair and even the overcoat he was wearing with the hole in it from the shot in his arm. It was AMAZING! There was other VMI memorabilia and lots of other great things that were great. Of course, we enjoyed the gift shop (again) and left.

(Stonewall's uniform and overcoat that he was wearing when he was shot in the arm)

(Overcoat Stonewall was wearing when he was shot. Notice the hole in the upper arm)

(Little Sorrel, Stonewall's horse)

(Little Sorrels and his bridle)

(Stonewall's Desk)

(Statue of Stonewall in front of the Barracks at VMI, which is adjacent to Washington Lee University)

(Grave of Little Sorrel's bones. It is placed between the 2nd and 3rd cannon in front of the barracks.)

From there, we had time to kill so we went to the Stonewall Jackson Cemetery. We saw most of Stonewall's family and descendants. There is a story out that he liked to eat lemons to cure ailments in his body, so there were lemons on his grave.




(Grave of Eleanor Junkin Jackson, Stonewall's first wife, who died in Childbirth)


(This is the child of Stonewall Jackson that died. He had a total of 3 wives, 2 of whom died in childbirth!)

(This is where Stonewall was first laid to rest. Then a monument was constructed in the center of the cemetery and he was relocated there)

(This is the Stonewall Monument. Stonewall, his last wife, his daughter, Son in law, Grandson Thomas Stonewall Jackson Jr.(killed in WWI) and great-grandson, Thomas Stonewall Jackson III (killed in WWII, body never found) are all buried under the monument).

From there, we proceeeded to the Lee Chapel and Museum. Our 9 yo was in heaven. Unfortunately for me, we were not allowed to take pictures inside (they sighted copyright issues) and I got scolded. I didn't see the sign when I walked in. There is a monument (recumbent) of Lee in the back of the Chapel and in the basement is the moseleum with 18 Lee descendents, including his parents, wife, children, grandchildren, etc. There were many artifacts from him and General Washington in the museum (most of it in the basement). This was also free, but they asked for donations. Right outside the door, was the remains of Traveller (Luke's highlight), which was Lee's horse, who died at 14 from stepping on a rusty old nail. He died the year after Lee (1871).

(These are all pictures from Lee Chapel and Museum)













We have so many suitcases from packing for the weather, so we went to Walmart to get a duffule bag to put our clothes in until we get to the condo (on Sunday).

Tomorrow, we are going to Bedford, VA, where the National D-Day Memorial is. We will then proceed to Appomattox, where the papers were signed to end the Civil War. While there, Aaron (my dh) is excited to go to a car museum, encompasing years of old and classic cars. From there we will go to the Richmond area, where we will spent a couple of days. I will update when I can.