August - Mike's Graduation and Celebratory Road Trip Home

In early August, Mike fianlly graduated from JCAC.  Mom flew to Maryland to stay with the kids so I could fly to Florida and see him graduate.

We were so proud of his hard work and good grades!

 

Graduation day was rainy, but the next day dawned beautiful.  Mike scurried off early in the morning to take care of out-processing paperwork while I enjoyed a morning to myself.  Then, after lunch we lazed on the Pensacola beach for a few hours.

 The next day we loaded up Mike's VW with everything that had made his dorm room "home" for the last 7 months and started our road trip back to Maryland.  We stayed one night in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  Our hotel overlooked the beautiful Smokey Mountain National Park. 

On our walk into town we came across a square dancing convention.

We had a lovely Mexican food dinner on an upstairs terrace over looking the main drag. Followed by a fun time at two distillery tastings.

The next day we went on a quick hike in Smokey Mountain National Park.  We hiked to Grotto Falls and ran (literally) back down the trail to our car so we could squeeze in a trip to the Biltmore Mansion. 

 We loved the Biltmore Estate!

 We got into Roanoke, Virginia very late. We stayed at the historic Hotel Roanoke.

 We almost happened into seeing a historic train coming into town.  There were many train enthusiasts milling about waiting eagerly for the train's arrival.  BUT it was running behind schedule and while it would have been cool to see it, we weren't willing to spend an undetermined amount of time waiting for it.

So we headed up the hill to see the Roanoke Star and a nice view of the city.

Then, we headed north to meet Nana and the kids in Alexandria, Virginia.

First up, an historic Alexandria scavenger hunt.  We stopped for ice cream and eventually made our way to our dinner stop.

We took this picture in front of the most narrow house in America.

We ran in to DC for a few hours the next day.  Mike took the kids to the Air and Space Museum while Mom and I went on a tour of the beautiful Library of Congress.