On the road again....

Sorry for the lack of posts the last few days--they've been quite busy. We are currently on the last leg of our cross-continent trip, back on the road and heading homeward to the west coast.

Here's a brief summary of what we've done. More details and pictures will follow when I get time to upload everything.

Because of the intense heat and humidity in the DC area last week, taking the Metro and walking around the National Mall all day long was not that appealing. Also, the National Museum of American History, one of the museums I really wanted to see, is currently closed for renovations and will not be re-opened until next summer....

So what we did instead was take a side trip (3 hours one-way) to Ocean City, Maryland and taking a dip in the Atlantic Ocean. We spent the rest of our time shopping at various outlet malls. I liked Potomac Mills the best because it was air conditioned and had a lot of shops. In fact, it was so big, we went again during the week. We also went to the Fashion Center in Pentagon City several times--two times to shop and one to take the Metro.

Taking the Metro from Fashion Center is really convenient. It's more expensive to park than at other park-and-rides but it's always easy to find close parking and cheaper than parking at the National Zoo. We spent our penultimate day doing the tourist routine again and lining up for tickets to tour the Capitol Building in the morning and visiting the National Air and Space Museum at the Mall in the afternoon.

It was supposed to have cooled down by Friday, but it didn't and by the time we walked from the Capitol Building to the air-conditioned comfort of the McDonald's located in the museum, I thought I was going to pass out!

We left the DC area late Sunday morning (Day 34) on the 12th of August. It took a while figuring out how to fit everything in the van because we definitely accumulated a lot more than what we started with. We stayed the night in Perrysburg, Ohio.

Yesterday (Day 35) we drove to Black River Falls, Wisconsin and stayed at the same Holiday Inn Express we did last time. It was a little out of our route, but they had a great kid-friendly pool there and we took advantage of it again. I got to experience another severe thunder storm that came through the area in the evening. If the pictures I took turn out, I'll post them up.

Today (Day 36) we drove to Oacoma, South Dakota and tomorrow will be a short driving day which will give us time to make some tourist stops along the way to Mount Rushmore.