Sorry blog viewers, it has again been a while since our last post. But we're back now! Hey! So we left off in Pennsylvania. There, things went from bad to worse. The good news is we had amazing family there who helped us through it all (Jay, Brenda, Janice and Josh, thanks for everything!).
Ace went into the body shop the day after we arrived in PA, and we were told they would be able to get a new seatbelt installed in a day or two, which would make him at least a little bit safer to drive. In the meantime our awesome hosts showed us around Amish farm country, the local farmers' market, and America's first pretzel bakery! Pennsylvania turned out to be a good place to be stuck! After no word from the body shop the next day, we decided to go to Hershey Park.
The 1-2 days quickly turned into 4 days, and at that point we were told that the seatbelt was a rare part and that the chances of actually finding one was almost zero. Our parents weren't too keen on the idea of us driving for another 3 weeks without a seatbelt, so we decided to move towards looking for a used car. We did some quick research and found a good deal on a Pontiac G6 in nearby Lancaster, PA the next day. We had to make the difficult decision to leave Ace in Pennsylvania, since to repair his seatbelt and airbag would've been both difficult and more expensive than the car is worth. We've had a lot of awesome memories in that car, and while we're happy and thankful for our new one, he really can't be replaced. Travel well, Ace.
We transferred all of our stuff to the new car and the next morning we were finally able to get back on the road to Washington, DC. We got to stay with another awesome family (thanks Chris, Becky, Emily, and Sarah!) and spent a couple days seeing the monuments and museums in our Nation's Capital.
From DC we traveled west into the Appalachian mountains to Shenandoah National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway. After dealing with cities and crowds for so long it was great to be back in the mountains. We hiked to Humpback Rocks for some great views!
 |
| Ace right after the accident. Photo by Andrew Seidlitz |
| |
 |
| Penny the Pontiac. Photo by Bowen Childs. |
 |
| Outside Julius Sturgis Pretzel Factory. Photo by Josh Bullock. |
 |
| Our Pretzels and our official Pretzel Twister Training Certification. Photo by Bowen Childs. |
 |
| Photo by Andrew Seidlitz |
 |
| National Art Gallery, Washington, DC. Photo by Bowen Childs. |
 |
| USDA Headquarters, Washington DC. Photo by Bowen Childs. |
 |
| Washington Monument. Photo by Bowen Childs |
 |
| Jefferson Memorial. Photo by Bowen Childs. |
 |
| Smithsonian Hirshorn Museum. Photo by Noah Childs. |
 |
| Humpback Rocks, Appalachian Mountains, Virginia. Photo by Bowen Childs. |
 |
| Humpback Rocks, Photo by Noah Childs. |
Love the positive spin on your delay! Also the pictures are terrific, as always. I especially like Bowen's picture of Humpback Mtn. and the Appalachians. Nice to meet Penny, too :).
ReplyDelete