R and J in the USA

Virginia is for lovers, as they say. Us being lovers of many things, including each other, we figured it was as good a place as any to start.

The main reason we decided to begin our 50 States Tour in Virginia was so we could be at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford on June 6th, 2024, for the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

We began Virginia with a visit to Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home, then made our way to Manassas National Battlefield, where we took a wonderful ranger tour before heading over to Front Royal to take in the beautiful Skyline Drive. We stopped at Hogback Overlook to eat ham sandwiches (we’re looking at you, Virginia) while sitting atop our van taking in gorgeous views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. We made our way over to the jaw-dropping Luray Caverns before turning in for the night after our first full day in Virginia. 

Our Virginia travels would take us through Charlottesville and the campus of the University of Virginia on our way to Thomas Jefferson’s home at Monticello. We’d walk the streets of Colonial Williamsburg, feel our stomachs drop in the skies of Busch Gardens, and pick wedgies at Water Country Park USA. In Virginia’s capital city, we would run the Boxer Brief 5K in support of colorectal cancer awareness (check it out on our 5Ks in 50 States page) and cross the finish line to the whoops and cheers of our local Richmond family, the newly and happily wed Ali and Trey Blackston. We would drive the famed streets of Richmond, hit a multicultural festival we stumbled upon, and show up to the capitol building with not enough time to tour it, but enough time to run through it, snap a few pictures, and get a sense of how long we would want to make sure to leave available for future capitol visits.

We would sit with thousands of others for the solemn and inspiring ceremonies at the D-Day Memorial, where Julie would meet the new love of her life when she got to chat and get a picture with a World War II veteran that was definitely giving Ryan a run for his money in the charm department. And we would have an unexpected and wonderful, poignant, and moving conversation that brought more than one participant to tears when one of our overnight hosts near Bedford told stories of his childhood memories of World War II. (Check out more of the story in our People Along the Way section.)

In historic Yorktown, we saw the National Park site for the Battle of Yorktown and made our way to the American Revolutionary War Museum, where we both got to hold a musket. We also learned excruciating information about the state of diseases and medicine during 18th century warfare. Julie swam the waters of the York River and we met, wait for it, the REAL SANTA CLAUS! It turns out that in the off season he works the utilities and landscaping detail for the City of Yorktown. (To learn more about him, check out our People Along the Way section.) We watched the somewhat brutal ordeal of a young fisherman accidentally catching and not-too-gracefully releasing a STINGRAY.

We stumbled upon an Amish auction where Ryan had the best, most delicious looking, buttery soft pretzel of his life while Julie looked on and drooled in glutinous envy. We both partook of the best piece of chicken we have ever eaten, and Julie was the object of one after another innocent stare from Amish children (and a few Amish adults) as she walked through in a long, flowing, green spaghetti-strapped summer dress.

We traveled through bridge tunnels traversing bodies of water that would be uncrossable without such engineering marvels.

We stayed in Cracker Barrel parking lots, State Park campgrounds (Smith Lake State Park, Machicomoco State Park, and First Landing State Park) and Harvest Hosts wineries and driveways. (Harvest Hosts is an online collection of farms, wineries, golf courses, and regular people who are willing to have RVers park on their land or in their driveways for a night or two.)

We walked and biked Virginia Beach’s boardwalk and baked our skin in its sun and the bottom of our feet in its sand. We ate Virginia barbecue. Julie got the pork AND beef rib combo. 

We drove through the quaint village on Chincoteague Island and stopped for ice cream (a phrase you will hear many, many times throughout this trip).

We both fell a little bit in love with Virginia and found ourselves not all that anxious to leave, despite having only one state down and forty-nine more to go. As with everywhere we travel, we leave with a list of places we wish we could have visited or in which we could have stayed longer. We found ourselves deeply immersed in country air, potent history, and friendly folks. With all the love we felt for Virginia by the time we left, perhaps we reached a new understanding of what they meant all along. Virginia IS for lovers.