In 1999 we decided to take the boys and go down the eastern seaboard. We were living in Ottawa so we planned to cross at the 1000 Island Bridge – a great spot to cross over and so picturesque. Each of us chose to pick a spot along the way we really wanted to see.

Jason wanted to see the Smithsonian in Washington, and I had been there at age 7 so I was anxious to make that happen. Wendy had been reading a set of novels based in historical Savannah Georgia so we put that on the list. Philip wanted to see the Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral. I wanted to camp at the camground in Disney so that was easy to coordinate! We also wanted to stop in and do some camping at Myrtle Beach – and if we’re going to do another beach setting we decided on the way back to add in Virgina Beach.

We had been pulling our little tent trailer with a Chevy Cavalier and so we were happy to move up to the Chrysler Caravan which meant we had more room and enough horsepower to really pull the trailer. You can see just inside the door of the van our small cooler as we headed out early in the morning to get a good start on the day.

The campground the first night was just outside Washington DC and offered a shuttle into the city.

We were standing by the sidewalk when we heard sirens and a heavily armed set of vehicles went roaring by us with the Presidential flag flying!

It’s a bit hard to see everything you might in Washington in a week let alone in one day. We did lots of walking and it was a tiring but delightful day. I think one day Jason might like to return!

We were southbound the next day and of course when you’re headed this way you have to stop at South of The Border! This is one of the most tacky but interesting places on the way!

This place gets its name from being just over the border as you move from North Carolina to South Carolina.

I think Savannah Georgia might be a place we would like to revisit. It has a fascinating history and the waterfront area retains much of the look and feel of the early 1800s. One of the other fascinating places we visited was a colonial cemetery that predates the United States of America.

We swallowed hard when booking this campsite. At $55/night it was by far the most we had ever paid for a night but it did include quite a bit of access to amenities. It proved to be the cleanest, best organized campground we’ve ever been in. It was also the first time we had come across campground washrooms that were air-conditioned.

The sandy soil around us made for a great spot for the boys to play and one of the things that they enjoyed was playing with the green plastic soldiers. I think for the most part these were just troop movements and no soldier was lost.

Our day at the Kennedy Space Center and Leanne and Shaun met us there with nearly born Jacob! It was a great day and the size of the equipment is really hard to imagine until you stand next to it. We stood by the Apollo rocket, the various space capsules, the Space Shuttle and saw a variety of historical pieces including space suits worn on the moon.

Once we finished this part of trip it was time to turn the van towards the north again – we still had Myrtle Beach and Virginia Beach to check out!

Two things I remember – one was how Windy the campsite was in Myrtle Beach – tent trailers are not built for that setting and in Virginia Beach we were too close to one of the Air Force Bases who had military jets taking off every two or three minutes late into the night. It was incredibly loud!

It was a great holiday and I am so glad we did this for the next summer we were on our way to Alberta!

Hope you always enjoy your vacations.