Washington DC and Dayton, Ohio

We arrived at the Andrews Air Force Base Family Campground on Thursday, July 25^th for a for a 3 night stay. The campground was right in the middle of the Andrews three beautiful 18-hole golf courses. The clerk at the campground office told me that President Obama had golfed there the previous Friday and came over to the campground to say hello to everyone.

On Friday we drove to the nearby Metro station and rode the train into DC. We decided to go see a few things we hadn’t seen before, so the first stop was the Ford Theater, which Julie had never visited.

 

 

 

After touring the Ford Theater and museum, we walked by the White House and along the Mall. We stopped by the World War II memorial to see it again. The Washington Monument is covered with scaffolding as they repair the earthquake damage from two years ago.

 

We walked to see the new Martin Luther King memorial and although it was dedicated in August 2011, they’re still finishing up its construction.

 

We walked a ways to the nearest Metro stop and then rode the train to Dupont Circle. We went to Hank’s Oyster Bar for drinks and dinner. We got a table outside to enjoy the nice weather day. We shared jumbo peel and eat shrimp for an appetizer. Julie had fried oysters and I had seared sea scallops for dinner and it was yummy. We’d recommend this place to anyone looking for outstanding, fresh seafood in DC.

We left Andrews on Sunday morning and the traffic was light as we’d hoped it would be. We drove north and connected to I-70 to turn and go west. We overnighted at Salt Fork State Park, near Lore City, Ohio. The park was very nice with large grass areas between campsites.

On Monday, July 29^th, we had a short drive to Dayton, Ohio where we had reservations for 3 nights at the Wright Patterson AFB Family Campground. We planned to spend a few days here so we could visit the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force (my idea of course). I had visited once several years ago, but couldn’t spend much time because I was on a business trip and the museum closed at 5PM.

We went to the museum yesterday and spent most of the day there. Julie and I were both surprised that it wasn’t just a bunch of old airplanes on display. It was a large (3 hangers), very well organized museum and its exhibits included a detailed history. We saw exhibits of all the airplanes that Julie’s Dad flew when he was in the Air Force, including the C-7A. The C-7A was a short take-off and landing cargo aircraft that he flew the year he spent in Vietnam.

 

Steve & Julie Cornelius

sandjcornelius@msn.com