Spring Break: Harpers Ferry, Capitol Building, Zoo, Easter Egg Hunt and Snake

In the corner of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia lies a cute historic town known as Harper's Ferry, WV.  Mimi had never been to West Virginia and we hadn't been to Harper's Ferry in years so we thought that was a good destination to explore during spring break.

Harper's Ferry is located where the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers meet, and this exact spot marks the convergence of three US states: Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. The town itself is always at risk of flooding because of its location where the large rivers meet.  Flooding has destroyed the town multiple times over the years. 

The downtown district is managed by the National Park Service as a living history museum.  The town was originally established in 1763 and its location along the Potomac and Shenandoah gave rise to hydro-powered manufacturing and mills.  George Washington proposed an armory to be located there (and rifles were manufactured on site) and it was established in 1799.  Decades later, in 1859 the abolitionist John Brown led a raid on that same armory.  His aim was to arm the slaves and lead a revolt across the South.  The revolt never materialized, and after a couple days of John Brown and his men holing up in the firehouse, a militia under command of Robert E. Lee (future Civil War Confederate General) captured him.  The events of the raid may have been one of many catalysts for the Civil War that later raged across the area in Harpers Ferry (since it was essentially a border town between North and South) and across the country.

Much of the Park Service portion looks like this with buildings from the 1800s.

 

Harpers Ferry is also the headquarters of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and sits near the midpoint of the 2197.9 mile trail.  We hiked up a small section of the Appalachian Trail to reach Jefferson Rock where Thomas Jefferson stood in 1783 and admired the view.

 

 

This is St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church originally built in 1833 (though it was altered in 1896 to look how it does today).  It sits high on the hilltop overlooking the Potomac and is the only church from that time in Harpers Ferry that avoided destruction during the Civil War.

 

More from our quick walk along the Appalachian Trail.

 

 

 

We arranged for a tour of the Capitol and the Library of Congress in DC a different day during break.  Here we are in front of the Capitol.

 

  

 

Inside the Capitol, we learned about the building, its history, and the sometimes messy way we carry out democracy in the U.S.  The rotunda is where all the tour groups end up eventually and we can look up to the painting The Apotheosis of Washington on the inside of the Capitol dome (like I am in the background of this picture below).

There are two statues for every state scattered throughout the Capitol and lots of artwork to look at as well.  Lydia wanted a photo taken with this painting, The Landing of Columbus, because her teacher, Mrs. Butler, talked about it in social studies.  Karina remembered it too - the seventh grade geography classes all had an assignment to analyze the painting and determine reasons it could be a useful source as well as a not useful source for how Columbus's landing in the Americas really happened.

 

We then went through the tunnel to the Library of Congress.  Architecturally and artistically, it might be my favorite building in DC.

 

 

I love all the columns and the painted ceilings in the Library of Congress. 

 

Stepping back outside, we admired the beautiful flowering trees against the landmark buildings in DC.  It seemed the whole city was in bloom. 

  

 

We walked past the Supreme Court on our way back to the car. 

 

The tulips in front of the Supreme Court were pretty.

Our last DC excursion was to the Smithsonian Zoo.  We lucked out with timing at the tigers because the tiger was up and active. 

 

The Amazon house had lots of interesting animals.  And of course, we made sure to visit all the snakes in the Amazon and elsewhere throughout the zoo.

 

We wanted to go see the pandas, but by the time we got there, they had a line that went for an hour and a half.  We didn't feel like waiting that long (and they do have the Panda Cam that we can watch at our leisure).  So we went with the next best thing and took a few pictures at the panda statues.

 

 

 

Easter morning, we did an Easter egg hunt.  Before the hunt, Derek was pestering Tanja about whether he could find a snake in addition to the eggs.  Tanja, thinking it unlikely, promised him if he found a snake, she would give him a dollar.  Sure enough, Derek managed to find a DeKay's brown snake and was very excited to pick it up and show Tanja so he could collect.