We left the hotel around 8:00 for our last walk of this trip around DC.  We saw the Vietnam, Lincoln and Korean War Memorials.  It was the first time we’ve seen the Korean War Memorial, and it was impressive.  We got back to the hotel around 9:30 and had walked about 3 1/2 miles in an hour and a half.  We left the hotel about 10:30 and encountered the first heavy traffic since Chicago.  The streets that led to the bridges across the Potomac were all blocked off (we think because of a big bike race) so we had to go out of our way.  It took 45 minutes just to get out of DC.  We went past Georgetown University and the French Embassy.  It’s good to be in the car and sitting again.  We left the car in the garage for the three nights we were here and walked a lot of miles.  You could spend weeks in DC and not see everything, but we saw a lot in a few days, revisiting places we’ve been before and seeing some new sights as well.  Our capitol is a beautiful place.  Our first stop in Virginia was the battlefield at Manassas.  This was the first battle of the Civil War and began on July 21, 1861.  The Confederacy prevailed, and this was where “Stonewall” Jackson got his nickname.  Our drive from Manassas, where the war began, to the village of Appomattox Court House, where the war ended, was long and slow.  It was mostly two-lane highways where the speed limit was generally 55,  with many areas of 35 and 45 mph.  We’re glad we subscribed to Stephanie Miller’s podcast last week--it’s hard to find AM stations and now we can listen to her anytime we want.  We arrived in Appomattox National Historic Park around 4:30, just 1/2 hour before it closed.  We went into the reconstructed McLean House where Lee surrendered to Grant in the parlor of this home on April 9, 1865.  We drove on to Petersburg (the site of another Civil War battle and longest siege of the war) and arrived at our hotel a little before 7:00.  Our hotel to hotel distance today was 300 miles.  We went to a nearby Olive Garden and had the Zuppa Toscana,  salad and wine for dinner.