We went away! Again! For the third time in something like five weeks? I don't know why we do this to ourselves. But we continue to. Over the summer I was chatting with a friend about small weekend getaways and she mentioned Harper's Ferry. Sure, I vaguely remember hearing about it in history class (re: it's mentioned in an Outlander book, I'm fairly certain). So I took to researching this cute little town (not a park, don't you dare call it a National Park) less than two hours to our southwest.
It actually is a National Park though. But it's a town. A town park. There is basically zero places to park except for the "park's" parking lot and that does in fact require payment. They have a shuttle running back and forth to the town. The Shenandoah and Potomac rivers meet riiiiight there. There's lots of history and it changed hands something like eight times during the Civil War but my history teaching brother I am not so I'll just leave it at that.
We left after Letty finished field hockey and made the easy drive, even remembering headphones so we wouldn't have to hear the kid's iPads! Why oh why are the speakers on the back of the iPads! Apple! Please fix! After driving around and realizing quickly that there were no spots and wow was this place crowded we did the whole park/shuttle bus routine. We really lucked out in getting a table for five in the Potomac Grille. As in a group before me was told twenty minutes and they went outside to eat and then a table left and poof! I got that table! Thankfully the food was really good because Matt was already not feeling it. The skinny sidewalks... The crowds... The lack of parking. Did him in.
Then we just started wandering around. We walked up the many many steps to check out the church and Jefferson Rock. We wandered back down into town and stopped at this candy shop people are all abuzz about if you search Harper's Ferry and kids on the google. We got a history about Sweet Tarts and how they are the modern Pixie Stix... riveting, I know. And then we headed down to The Point and then across the pedestrian bridge. There is an overlook on that side but frankly, Dom wouldn't have made it. Same with Matt. We got back to the car and then checked into the hotel for swimming! The highlight of the day for my kids! The hotel even had a restaurant in house so we didn't have to go anywhere for the remainder of the evening. And I had a second burger. Because I love a good burger.
