Spring Break Trip - Day 9

We got up at around 0630 and packed up for our last day (*tear*). It had snowed to the west of us last night! The temps were in the high 30s - we didn’t really want to spend a lot of time outside. After finding a road that would take us to the Blue Ridge Parkway, we drove east until reaching Meadows of Dan. We stopped for a breakfast of huge flapjacks at Janes Country Café (0815). After stuffing ourselves, we drove east on the Parkway, stopping at Mabry Mill and enjoying several amazing view points. We also took a look around at the Virginia Explore Park (near Roanoke). Almost none of the park facilities were open so we eventually got off the Parkway. Unfortunately, we did a lot of driving on windy country roads as part of this exploration and Mollie got very car sick. She ended up sleeping for most of the morning. I managed to get us to another National Park unit (Booker T. Washington Birthplace) without the GPS or help from my trusty navigator. We toured the site with very few other guests and learned more about the famous educator. He was born a slave on the farm there but had been freed by the end of the US Civil War to pursue his passion for learning and teaching. It had been about five years since I’d been there and not much had changed. Mollie enjoyed this tremendously because she got a last stamp and also spent a lot of time visiting with the farm animals (pigs, turkey, horses, sheep, chickens). We left the park and used the smoothest, straightest roads to get back on I-81. Mollie had been talking to Brenna throughout the morning and we coordinated a meet up with her at the campus. Erin said she was too busy to see us but I exchanged several texts with her during the day. Brenna, Mollie and I ate a late lunch (buffet) at D-Hall (1330), had a nice conversation. We also took pictures with a big purple “Dukes” sign and walked around campus. Brenna had to go study so we said goodbye to her and went to get gas (1515). We then departed Harrisonburg on I-81. There was some heavy traffic near Chantilly so we got off I-66 there and used the Fairfax County Parkway for the rest of the trip. We arrived back at my apartment by 1730 and immediately started unpacking; Mollie told me she wanted to stay at my house because Bear wasn’t home". I agreed, so she did laundry and ate food I cooked myself for dinner. She then Mollie studied in her room for a few hours. At 2100, she came out to show me that she had accessed HBO on her phone and was able to share the second episode of Season 8 of “Game of Thrones”. Mollie stayed with me until her mother stopped by to pick her up (2200). As she drove away, I felt a bit sad that the vacation had concluded - we had a great trip!