John, Susan & Tyler: March 2009

Hello wonderful family!

Here are some pictures from our trip this week. It was wonderful and very memorable.

We love you all and wish you had been with us. But we know we'll get to be with you in July and are looking soooo forward to that!

Our trip back East included driving through Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland (Washington, D.C.). So we got to see alot of BEAUTIFUL country. America truly is awesome!

Some more fun pictures

These are just some pictures we snapped along the way during our travels. The huge valley Tyler's holding his arms out in front of is called Lover's Leap.

Mabry Mill

This is the beautiful Mabry Mill in Virginia. You might recognize it from pictures in magazines. It's been used in alot of ads. Anyway, it's gorgeous!

Some meaningful sites

We visited the little cemetery in Woolwine, Virginia where Tyler's Grandpa and Grandma Epperson are buried. (Their names were Jack and Annie Epperson.) And some beautiful sites in the area. Tyler learned where his Epperson roots began.

Some Civil War Sites

We visited the old Dunkard Church at Antietam where many young American lives were lost on both sides. The church was turned into a field hospital. We also visited Burnside's bridge. Both of these areas were significant center points of battle on Sept. 17th, 1862, the worst single day of combat in American history. Approximately 5,000 lives were lost on that one day.

Our day at Harper's Ferry

Harper's Ferry is an old, but quaint little town built at the junction of the the Potomac and the Shenandoah Rivers. It was built beginning in the late 1700's and was an important place, particularly in the Civil War Period.

Our day at Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's Home)

Our day at Monticello was one of my favorites! The weather was cool and crisp and the air was so clear. We could see forever from Jefferson's mountain home. Touring this beautiful structure inside and out made me truly appreciate and admire this great founding father. I wish you could have all been there with us. This is located just above Charlottesville, Virginia where we also visited the University of Virginia which Jefferson founded.