Montreal Trip - Day 15

Left Frederick at around 1000 and drove down into West Virginia - Nicky asked why.  I told her it was a secret but eventually revealed that this detour took us into Harpers Ferry, a place I wanted to show the kids.  We arrived at around lunch time - it was a nice day, breeze down the Potomac. We took part in a National Park Service tour and participated in family skit pretending to be people who lived here in the 1850s. We found white blazes for the Appalachian Trail and followed them to a metal bridge that was attached to a railroad trestle that crossed the Potomac River.  We made our way across and then hiked along the north bank of the river.  We saw some rafters lazily entering the Potomac from the Shenandoah River side - it looked like fun!  After we'd had fun for a while, we returned to the car - it was getting hot and I needed to be headed back to work.  Reluctantly, we got on the road again. We took the scenic route through the Shenandoah Valley and parts of the Piedmont. As we approached Richmond, I took the kids by the Pocahontas State Park.  They had lots of bike trails and it looked like it might be a nice place to try some camping someday. We continued south of Richmond and drove along the James River, where we passed lots of plantations just before sunset. These beautiful homes aren't far from home, so it might be worth a revisit. Got back to Virginia Beach by around 2000. Great trip!