I have been on a quest to see all 50 states in the Union. This trip would see us visit Virginia, DC, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

Day 1- Sept 30 Friday

The plan was to fly to Norfolk, Virginia, stay with Shell’s cousin in Virginia Beach, then travel the next day through Jamestown to Charlottesville. But Hurricane Ian prevented us from landing in Norfolk, and we were rerouted to Dulles in DC. There was a mix-up somewhere and my luggage was sent to Norfolk rather than DC, but I had packed some contingency clothes in my carryon for just such a thing, so I was OK….at least for a few days. Thankfully, we were able to get the car rental changed to pick up from Dulles rather than Norfolk, and the hotel we were planning on staying in was able to accommodate us for an extra day.

We ate dinner at the airport and drove in the pouring rain to the Hotel. Since we didn’t get out of the airport until after 10p, we did nothing that first day.

Here are a few pics of the flight from LAX to Charlotte.

Day 2- Oct 1 Saturday– DC and Charlottesville

The original plan was to see Jamestown, then drive to Charlottesville, gateway to the Shenandoah Valley, where we would see beautiful fall colors. (Note the picture below is what we were hoping to see, not what we saw…)

Since we were in Alexandria, we traveled across the bloated Potomac

…(yep, the bench is partly underwater. Presumably due to the storm surge) to the Jefferson Memorial.

(Saw the George Mason memorial too)

The quotes were inspiring and it’s surreal to stand in these places that I’ve seen in books for my entire life. After an hour, the cops kicked everyone out since it was beginning to rain harder.

We headed towards Charlottesville, and there were no fall colors anywhere to be seen, but there were sheets of rain falling the entire way there. We arrived earlier than we had planned so we went to see the central mall in Charlottesville,

then ate a good dinner at a place called Mockingbird. I was looking specifically for good regional food. I hadn’t really noted that Virginia is still a ‘southern’ state, so much of the regional specialties- shrimp and grits, biscuits, pot roast, fried chicken, fried okra, for example, are prominent in the south generally.

We stayed the night in Charlottesville so we could see Jefferson’s Monticello the next day.