167) Appomattox Court House National Historical Park

Visited: Wednesday, September 11, 2024

While I know there was a town of Appomattox Court House where the Civil War ended, and always assumed there was a court house there (and there is), I didn't realize that the treaty wasn't signed at the court house.  Instead, it was signed at the residence of Wilmer McLean, who along with his family were actually in the house during the event; they lent Grant and Lee their living room.  The site is very well preserved - in part because the McLean house was disassembled, taken to Washington DC, and later returned to Appomattox (never having been rebuilt in DC), and reassembled.  Nice site, and about the only Civil War site that isn't sad to visit.

166) Booker T. Washington National Monument

Visited: Wednesday, September 11, 2024

The visitor center was in a bit of disarray due to ongoing - apparently ongoing all summer - HVAC work, but that didn't detract from the story of Washington.  Nice movie, nice site with reproductions of the cooking house where he grew up with his mother and two siblings.  I appreciate the choice to simply leave the foundation of the plantation home in place, while recreating the buildings that played a role in Washington's early life.

165) Blue Ridge Parkway

Visited: Monday, September 9, 2024 - Tuesday, September 10, 2024

The is a challenge, following up something spectacular.  The Blue Ridge Parkway is a nice drive - but compared to Shenandoah, it's just not in the same ballpark.  The views are much rarer, and less spectacular.  The wildlife doesn't stand out more.  The constant cross-roads and nearby homes, farms, and other structures pull one out of the moment constantly - particularly compared to the two mid-drive exits of Shenandoah.

BUT - the Blue Ridge Music Center, the Southernmost stop on the Parkway in Virginia, is _very_ well worthwhile.  First, they have live bands play, which is great.  The museum is great, and covers how African American music played an impact on the musical styles of the region.

We only drove the Virginia portion of the parkway - that was our plan, once we realized that continuing to the Great Smoky Mountains was unrealistic - but now completing the full drive is no longer on our list of must-dos; instead, we'll try to hit a few key places in North Carolina.

Nothing to do with the NPS, but after deciding this we stopped down to Mount Airy, NC, and visited the Andy Griffith museum.  It's small, but fun.

164) Shenandoah National Park

Visited: Sunday, September 8, 2024 - Monday, September 9, 2024

Somehow, Shenandoah was not really on my radar.  Oh, we were going to visit, no question, but it was the Blue Ridge Parkway we were most excited about.

How silly of me.

Shenandoah is 105 miles of spectacular views.  There are 75 overlooks you can stop at, and honestly, you can just pick randomly, or stop at all of them, and be fine.

Honestly, the only thing stopping this from being among my favorites of the national parks is the shortage of wildlife.  There are bears in the park, but we mostly saw squirrels and birds.  A couple of raptors, but - a lot of turkey vultures.

163) Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park

Visited: Sunday, September 8, 2024

The less well known an NPS site is, the more interesting it's likely to be.  I had no knowledge of the battle of Cedar Creek going in to our visit, and through the efforts of the ranger there - our personal guide, since no one else visited while we were there - I have a good understanding of the battle and how it impacted the US (more than I would have thought).  The auto tour is interesting, even if I couldn't get the NPS app audio to work.  And we had to leave before Belle Grove opened - be sure to check the hours for Belle Grove to get the full experience.  Recommended even without Belle Grove, though.

162) Eisenhower National Historic Site

Visited: Saturday, September 7, 2024

Unlike Gettysburg - which this site is adjacent to - this site did not disappoint.  However, you really have to get the house tour, and there wasn't any listing of tour times at Gettysburg that I could find.  The Eisenhowers seemed like folks I would be happy to spend time with, not something that I can say of most US presidents.  Unpretentious.

89 Revisited) Gettysburg National Military Park

Visited: Saturday, September 7, 2024

My thought when we kind-of visited before was that it was too commercial.  My thought after actually visiting was - the same.  The movie is decent, the cyclorama is worthwhile, and the museum is OK (if re-using too much of the movie), but - it only took the next US Civil War NPS site before Gettysburg became not my favorite this trip.  Worth seeing once; not the one I'd go back to.