The Beauty Around Us

Our Outer Banks Vacation – Warren PA to Fredericksburg VA

By Linda G. on September 23, 2017

Last night we made plans to go out for breakfast, before beginning our two-day drive to the Outer Banks.  When everyone awakened this morning, I asked if it would be OK if we ate breakfast at home instead of going out.   Everyone was amenable, so I made breakfast for the four of us. Making breakfast saved money and made for a leisure start to the day. Breakfast included scrambled eggs, bacon, coffee/tea and fruit cocktail.

We were on our way out of Warren by 7:30 am, en route Fredricksburg, VA. We will overnight in Fredricksburg and continue on to Corolla, NC in the morning. Bob and I were in the lead; Jim and Sandy followed behind. Jim’s Walkie Talkies provided  great communication between the two cars.   Our day started out foggy.  We drove in and out of fog for about an hour. The rest of the day we enjoyed blue skies and plenty of sunshine.

Our first stop was about an hour later in Brookville, PA at Sheetz. We filled the fuel tanks and took advantage of the bathroom facilities

Our second stop was at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, PA.  This was Bob and my third visit to the memorial. It was Jim and Sandy’s first visit. We arrived at the memorial shortly before 11:00 am. We visited the Visitor Center Complex (new to us) first. We walked the Flight Path Walkway and Overlook.

A National Park Service volunteer spoke with us for 25-30 minutes, providing information regarding Flight 93.

The volunteer’s talk was riveting and emotional.

Inside the Visitor Center were several informative exhibits regarding Flight 93, as well as the three other flights that crashed the morning of September 11, 2001.  The following three photographs are displays showing some of the thousands of artifacts that have been left at the memorial.  There were several other informative exhibits in addition to the ones displayed below.

Some of the thousands of artifacts left at the memorial

From the Visitor Center we drove to the Memorial Plaza.  We followed the pathway to the Wall of Names.

A wooden gate is located at the end of the Wall of Names.  My back is to this wooden gate in the photo displayed above.

This was not the first time that we had seen the Flight 93 Memorial. We visited the Flight 93 Memorial for the first time in April 2008. It was a temporary memorial at that time.

The temporary memorial included a 40-foot (to commemorate the 40 passengers and crew) chain-link fence on which visitors left flowers, flags, hats, rosaries, and other items

The Wall of Names now stands where this temporary chain-link fence stood.

We also visited the memorial in September 2012.

We departed the Flight 93 National Memorial at 12:15 pm and continued driving east on U.S. Route 30.

We ate lunch at McDonald’s in Everett, PA.  We were back on the road at 1:24 pm.

We continued our drive on U.S. Route 30 to Breezewood, where we picked up Interstate 70. Soon after entering Maryland we exited onto U.S. Route 522 to Berkeley Springs, WV.  From Berkeley Springs we continued on U.S. Route 522 through Winchester, VA to U.S. Route 17 South.  Traffic was light driving through both Berkeley Springs and Winchester.

We arrived at the Best Western Fredericksburg around 4:45 pm. We checked into our respective rooms. We are on the second floor, with one room separating us.  After a hearty dinner at Shoney’s Restaurant, which is located on the hotel grounds, we spent rest of the evening relaxing in our hotel rooms.  Part of our relaxing was done together in Jim and Sandy’s room.  Jim opened a bottle of Eagle Rare.  Bob and Jim shared a glass of bourbon, while Jim began work on his blog and conversed with us at the same time.  Sandy caught up on Facebook, and I edited pictures taken today.

Bob and I returned to our room maybe an hour later.  I worked on the narrative portion of my blog.  Tiredness overcame me (and Bob too).  We were both in bed by 9:00 pm.

Please click here for Jim’s blog post on today’s activities.