Faith and I made a pit stop in Lexington, VA at Roadmap CoffeeWorks, a place rated by various sources as one of the better coffee roasters in the US. We weren’t disappointed by their selection or quality. Faith got an iced latte, and I got a drip coffee. Both were fantastic, and we thoroughly enjoyed them. I learned, by watching the barista, that the secret to making good cold coffee drinks is apparently to use a cocktail shaker to chill the drink, rather than pouring it over ice that will then dilute the coffee.

Dad and I drove down from our Airbnb to Moxie33, a local bakery and coffee shop right next to Kline’s Dairy Bar, where we visited last night. We got a few flavors of sweet rolls (one caramel pecan sticky bun, one peaches and cream, and two browned butter cinnamon rolls) and some coffee to bring back for breakfast. Mom and Dad got mochas, Faith got an Americano, and I got black coffee. Everything was very good, and gave us a much-needed jump start to get us moving; we were all very tired.

We woke up, ate some homemade “Egg McMuffins” for breakfast, and said our goodbyes to the Pinkertons. After loading up the car, we hit the road, headed south for the next leg of our trip.

We woke up fairly early and ate pancakes for breakfast, hopped in the car, and immediately began the drive to DC. It took us about an hour and a half to navigate the Baltimore tunnels and DC beltway, but we finally made it to the city. We parked in an underground deck near the NASA headquarters on the south side of the National Mall, emerged above ground, and began walking without a real destination in mind.

Many of the regulars said the action hadn’t quite picked up for the season, but it was still amazing to watch, and to hear. I’ll post a short video clip towards the end of this post. We saw and heard more bald eagles than we could possibly count, but most of them were perched on the power poles or in the trees on the hillside behind us.

After a pleasant hour and a half drive, we arrived in Annapolis, and secured street parking near King George St. with surprising ease. Faith and I walked over to the entrance of the US Naval Academy, and rendezvoused with the Pinkertons. William, a West Point graduate, made sure all the kids had “Go Army // Beat Navy” pins to wear for the duration of our visit…plus some sported Union infantry hats from our visit to Gettysburg. For good measure, I think one was even sporting a “Go Army // Beat Air Force” pin. We made a quick stop into the Armel-Leftwich Visitor Center to register and receive visitor passes, and then began our self-guided walking tour of campus.

We arrived at the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum & Visitor Center, checked in, purchased our tickets, and began our tour. We began by watching a short film that showed in the theater at the visitor center, and then headed upstairs to view The Battle of Gettysburg, a cyclorama painting by Frenchman Paul Dominique Philippoteaux. The painting, which depicts Pickett’s Charge, is 360° and stands 42′ high and 377′ in circumference. It’s quite an impressive work of art, and is supplemented by a light show, narration, and artifacts on the ground to “extend” the painting.

In the morning, we woke up, ate breakfast, and hung around the house until it was time for church. We visited William and Anna’s church for an excellent service. They were scheduled to teach children’s Sunday School afterwards, so Faith and I left, taking the scenic route back to their house to kill some time.

We woke up around 05:30 Saturday morning and began loading the car. I decided I’d spray our annual preventative bug treatment in/around the house before we left, so after we’d loaded the car I made the rounds with the sprayer. We finally left the house at exactly 06:30, and started our journey north.