Sick as a dog.

Still just as crook in the morning but I had lost my voice too. We went to Hertz to pick up the hire car and Mary joked to the salesman that "this one can't talk and this one can't walk!" A cold snap had come through and the temperature has dropped to about 5 degrees. We all went out to the US Postal Museum where I went to sleep then we went off to Macy's department store where I bought a massive quilted coat for $40. Still feeling real crook so went back to bed at 5pm and slept through.

Fri 6th
Packed up and left DC about 10am. Mary and Jim have been incredibly hospitable, in fact they really "couldn't do enough for us", so a big thanks to them. Feeling better after good sleep, but still not up to running. Drove 30 miles west to Dulles to visit the "The Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center National Air and Space Museum". That's a gobful of a name but the museum is a gobful of a museum. Located under one specially built roof is the Enola Gay B29, a Concorde, a Blackbird, a Space Shuttle, a 707, intercontinental ballistic missiles, and just about every other type of aircraft or space ship ever built from hang gliders to fighter planes and kit planes. Well worth visiting and the admission...free.

The view above is of the Bombardiers seat in the Enola Gay.

We then travelled the short distance to the Battlefield of Manassas or Bull Run which was one of the first big battles of the Civil War. It was interesting because the fields that the battle were fought on are undisturbed and the museum has a very good display explaining what happened. The kids walked the 1.6km circuit of the battlefield without to much protest. The photo below sums up how they are getting along.

We then drove on down the picturesque Shenandoah Valley to the town of Harrisonburg where we checked into the Country Comfort. Quite reasonably priced at $80 for four including continental breakfast , this was one of about 10 identical motels are that nestled together. We ate at an Italian restaurant and got pretty good pasta and pizza. Its pretty chilly here and it started snowing when I went for a walk to the Wal Mart.

Felt well enough today to do some situps. Hope I will be able to run again tomorrow.