headed home, the long way around

after a slow morning invoving a bagel breakfast and a swim in the pool, we checked out of the hotel and headed home. But not in very much of a hurry.

First, we fought the traffic and lines and went to Great Falls Park on the Virginia side, where we met up with some friends. The girls loved the rock scrambling and the overlooks along the river and the falls. Chloe pointed out all the “holes” in the river.

Once we left the park, we headed west, stopping a a few bookstores trying to find Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on CD, but without much luck. We finally hit Skyline Drive around 4pm. I had remember that it closed at 5pm the last time we were there, so I asked the ranger. The shortened hours didn’t begin until the next evening, and if you are in when the gates close, you are in until they open again the next morning!

The drive along the ridge was breathtakingly beautiful! We stopped a number of times along the way, then stopped as the sun was going under the horizon. It was so beautiful! Of course, that was deer time, and we did see quite a number of deer near the road as we drove on south.

Because of of our slow start and circituitous route, we ended up getting home at 4am….