Part 3 of 3: After Virginia, our family adventure continued in central Pennsylvania and Washington, DC! Journal excerpts, edited for coherency and interspersed with pictures:
Sunday, June 21, 2026
We left BV after sacrament meeting (plus 20 minutes of talking), and headed towards Pennsylvania. We stopped for food at Buc-ee's for the cultural experience and barely made it out alive. The massive gas station was packed with people! The food was mediocre, but the bathrooms were clean and nice. Jay was happy to finally experience Buc-ee's. Jeff summed it up: "this is everything that's wrong with our country." HAH. We had to go across the street to McDonald's for some nuggets for Jeff because all the Buc-ee's foods were imbued with nightshades. This drive ended up taking over six hours with all of our stops and detours.
Our first detour was to drive through Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. It was pretty and quaint and tiny. Jeff told us all about John Brown the abolitionist while we circled the tiny town. I did not get any pictures of Harper's Ferry because we stayed in the car and it was so small and quick, but it was cute! From there, we drove to Gettysburg and briefly walked and drove around the battlegrounds. We had dinner an hour or two later a Sheetz gas station.
Finally, at 7pm, we arrived at our Airbnb in State College, PA. Our bed is king sized and soft, and the floors are flat so the bed is flat! It's the little things that make a big difference. There are two bedrooms, and the AC doesn't smell like mildew. Pure luxury. We are all very happy to be in this comfortable place. The Airbnb host stopped by to give us a "tour" of the place, and he stayed and chatted for close to 20 minutes. He was a very frail stooped old man, and he meticulously showed us which light switches turned on each light, where to find extra towels, and how to turn on a night light in the bathroom. Then he gave a lengthy speech about which restaurants were good, and who used to own each of the 3 waffle places in town. I just wanted to lay down flat on the bed after our long drive! My lower back, hips, and butt were aching! When he finally left, he RODE A RAZOR SCOOTER to his house down the street. I immediately forgave him for his 20 minute history lesson on the local waffle shops. Life goals: still be able to ride a kick scooter at age 85.
Happy Father's Day!
Buc-ee's. Gag. A place that claims to have "world famous bathrooms" has to be a little ridiculous, right?
Gettysburg:
We tried taking a serious picture since we were on a sobering battlefield, but we kept laughing.
There were informational plaques about how the geology of Gettysburg influenced the outcome of the battle. Amber liked that part.
Monday, June 22, 2026
Whew, it rained and rained and rained all day here in central PA! The report said it was .46 of an inch of rain! Almost half an inch of rain fell today! It poured steadily during most of my run this morning. My run was in a beautiful wet green gloom along the Bellefonte Rail Trail nearby.
It rained constantly while we made the curvy scenic bucolic 80 minute drive from State College to Lewiston for an official campus tour of Bucknell University. The tour lasted 90 minutes, and it was way more talking than actual looking around. I was a bit bored, honestly. There isn't even a church institute program or YSA ward at Bucknell, and the student tour guide kept using the same phrases over and over. After the tour, Jeff showed the kids the window of his freshman dorm room. We also took a look at the indoor track and ended up chatting with the head track coach for a while. He knows Jeff's high school cross country coach, so he remembered Jeff. He even took a picture of our family to send to Jeff's HS coach! The rain let up during the second half of the tour, but picked up again on the drive home.
Once we were done at Bucknell, we drove all the way back to State College and stopped to say hi to Jeff's uncle Hubie (Jeff's dad Dan's older brother, who is 80 years old and lives in the house his dad--Grandpa White-- built 50+ years ago). His dogs smelled so wet, I struggled even though we were outside. From there, we got Raising Cane's fried chicken for dinner and brought it back to our Airbnb. Right before Jeff ate his, I realized that we hadn't even looked up the ingredients to the chicken breading. Jeff quickly looked it up and there was paprika (a nightshade) in it, so he had to give his chicken up! I walked to a nearby Wendy's with Jeff so he could grab a burger instead.
We watched the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie on Jeff's iPad after dinner, since there's no TV in our Airbnb. I have always thought that endless graphic novel book series was pretty lame, but the movie was actually kind of funny.
Tomorrow is our last full day here in PA! We'll drive to DC on Wednesday and fly home on Thursday.
Running in the rain on the Bellefonte Rail to Trail path. I wore my hiking sportsbra, which doesn't have a pocket in the back. I put my phone in a baggie and shoved my phone back there anyways, and it kept sliding all over my back for the whole run.
It got progressively sloppier the longer I ran.
My hat was sopping wet, along with the rest of my body.
The green gloaming was soothing with the sound of rainfall in the trees.
I drove to Walmart to get us lunch foods after Jeff drove in his wet wet running clothes, so I used my blow up travel cushion to protect myself from the gross wet seatbelt.
We found a memorial pillar to Jeff's beloved freshman Bucknell cross country coach! Art Gulden coached at Bucknell for 30+ years but passed away from cancer right before Jeff left on his mission. During the 2 years Jeff was gone, his scholarship to Bucknell evaporated without Coach Gulden to hold it for him. (Coach Gulden was a rare member of the church in central PA.) I am sad that happened to Jeff, but super glad he ended up at SVU!
Pointing out the freshman dorm room window.
We made a halfhearted attempt at taking a family selfie with the Bucknell Bison mascot statue, but the creature didn't really look like a bison from this angle. We were tired and damp, so we left.
Moody central PA skies over darling farmland, backed by the Alleghany Mountains.
Uncle Hubie's backyard in a light drizzle. This is the family homestead. It's been in the family for over 80 years! Nobody knows what will happen to it when Uncle Hubie is done with it.
Spring creek is legendary in the White family--it runs along the back border of the homestead property. It was very high when we visited.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
Everything hit me today. I am tired. Sleeping with unfamiliar sounds in an unfamiliar bed on unfamiliar pillow is challenging and makes my neck ache. Traveling in general is exhausting. Sitting in a car for hours every day makes my hips and lower back tight. I've been running a lot, so my ankle tendons are stiff and sore. Restaurant food is rich, even when we only eat out once a day. College tours and long car rides equal lots of time being "on." I am wiped out. Tomorrow is the last full day of our trip before we fly out on Thursday, but we will be driving 3.5 hours to DC tomorrow. Then we will need to explore DC as much as possible before we leave for the airport at noon on Thursday! Then we will stay up past midnight flying home. Whew. If I could just get a good night's sleep before all that...
This morning all 5 of us drove 25 minutes to Tyrone, PA for a run around Jeff's hometown. Rose and Amber stayed at the high school track while the boys and I ran farther. (Rose's knee is still bugging her.) I ran 5 miles and ended with a few laps around the Tyrone High School track, which is in a beautiful green setting, surrounded by trees. I like it a lot. We went "home" to use the bathroom and eat cereal, then drove 10 minutes to Mt. Nittany for a White family traditional hike to the top while we were still in our sweaty running clothes. We climbed Mt. Nittany on the White Trail, which Jeff's Grandpa White created well over 60 years ago. It was less than a mile to the top, but super steep and rocky. Amber struggled on the way up, begging me not to leave her, but cruised out of sight on the way down.
On our way back to the Airbnb, we got Dunkin Donuts. I tried a festive star-shaped apple pie filled donut and it was amazing! Also, it's scary how cheap Dunkin Donuts are: $13 per dozen!
Once the runners had showered and Jeff had napped for 30 minutes, we headed out again. This time, we drove 45 minutes to Juniata College in Huntington, PA. Jeff's mom used to work there. It was a very nice small school. Jay and Rose both liked it better than Bucknell, which surprised Jeff! I definitely liked the tour better than Bucknell. The campus was great. This was the only campus tour we went on that actually showed us inside a dorm room. They had us meet with an admissions counselor before we left. That was a bit more than we bargained for, but they were all very nice.
On our way back to State College, we stopped at Gardner's Candies in Tyrone for some obligatory traditional peanut butter meltaways. I found some made with white chocolate! When we finally got back to our Airbnb around 4:45pm, I thought we'd have about an hour before we left for dinner with Uncle Hubie. But Jeff called and told him we'd meet him at the restaurant in 15 minutes! I had just finished changing over our laundry to the dryer and had just removed my shoes and flopped onto the bed when Jeff said it was time to leave! I was not emotionally, socially, mentally, or physically ready to leave the peace and quiet of our lodgings. It was so hard to get up and go. I wasn't hungry for restaurant food and I wasn't in the mood to socialize. But we went.
Uncle Hubie is 80 years old and full of stories. The kids liked hearing his stories. He was super kind and bought us all dinner. He offered beer to all of us! We politely declined. Jeff told her Uncle Hubie was the first person to offer him beer too, but Jeff was only 3 years old the first time Uncle Hubie offered. Thanks for giving our kids a chance to learn how to say no early, Uncle Hubie!
We hugged Hubie, thanked him, and were back at our lodgings at 7pm, 2 hours after we left. I am so in need of good sleep, it's worrisome.
I trailed behind Jay and Jeff for the first mile of our run around Tyrone before they really took off and I was on my own.
Downtown Tyrone, PA.
Jeff's alma mater, Tyrone Area High School: home of the golden eagles, taken as I jogged past.
Tyrone HS has this sweet long bridge connecting playing fields to the track.
That distant red oval is the track.
A few track laps because I like this track.
Climbing up the hill on the other side of the track to get back to the parking lot was challenging.
Mt. Nittany: White Trail!
Up, up, up: 696 feet of elevation gain over 3/4 of a mile.
Jeff and Jay pulled away almost immediately, with their buns of steel.
Taking a break on the bench that's on a switchback halfway up.
White painted slashes for the White Trail.
The view from the top is really starting to get overgrown. We hiked this three years ago with the White family reunion and scattered Grandma and Grandpa White's ashes right here. We all said "hi, Grandpa, hi, Grandma!" when we got to the top.
I couldn't get enough of these delightful deciduous forests.
GREEN is such a restful, vibrant color.
Rose and Amber, watching cartoons on a cell phone in our Airbnb. I forgot to take any other pictures of our Airbnb. It was a duplex on a quiet residential street in State College, PA, about a mile from Penn State University.
More bucolic central PA scenery on our drive to Huntingdon.
Walking up to Juniata College.
The admissions office had a slideshow welcoming the students touring the college that day. We were the only ones from out of state.
More lovely scenery on the 45 minute drive back to State College.
Gardner's Candy in Tyrone, PA. It smelled so sweet.
We stopped at Jeff's childhood home for a picture. Jeff knows the family who currently own the house, but they didn't answer the door when he knocked.
Dinner at The Old New Yorke with Uncle Hubie!
Wednesday, June 24, 2026
Today was the first day of Steve's mission! Woah! He's my oldest nephew, so it's extra crazy to have the first go on a mission. He'll be in home MTC for two weeks before heading to Mexico City.
This morning, Jeff and Jay ran around Penn State campus. While they were gone, I took each of my daughters out on a run. Rose was taking a while to wake up, so I took Amber out first. We ran a cute little 2 mile trail loop at the Penn State Arboretum near our Airbnb in State College. When Amber and I got back from our run, Rose was finally ready to run. We started with a half mile walk and stretch to warm up her sore calf and knee. Then we did a 2 mile out and back run on the smooth flat Bellefonte Rail Trail path, and walked a half mile cooldown back to our Airbnb duplex. It was fun running with each of my daughters! Amber was not happy with the uphills, (I laughed when Amber roared "this hill is so lonnnngggg!") but she cruised the downhills and even finished strong up the last hill to our duplex. Rose was tentative at first, but the half mile walk helped warm her sore knee and ankle up enough so she could actually run. She was happy and even ran a faster second mile.
I was proud of myself for not being a selfish runner, so my daughters could have my attention on their runs. My legs were pretty tired from all of my other selfish solo runs from this trip, so it was also a needed break for me, but still. Pennsylvania and Virginia were so gorgeous and green, I loved running there!
Once we were all showered and packed up, we checked out of the Airbnb at 11am and went to the Waffle Shop nearby for a late breakfast/early lunch. It was our favorite restaurant of the whole trip, and my favorite breakfast restaurant ever! Yum! They piled strawberries high on my very delicious waffle, and Jeff's had a mountain of whipped cream on top too!
From the State College, PA Waffle Shop, we drove 3 hours to the Washington DC temple visitor center. We looked around the visitor center and took some pictures in front of the temple (which didn't open until 6:30pm that day), then continued on to our DC hotel. That part of the journey ended up taking way longer than the advertised half hour, thanks to traffic and wrong turns and the general impossible tangle of DC roads. Jeff was stressed, hangry, and tired of driving. When we finally squeezed into our parking spot in a very low weird parking garage, we were all ready to get out of that minivan! We have driven over 20 hours during the one week of this trip! Jeff did all the driving, minus my trips to the store.
We left our stuff in our hotel rooms (yes, that's plural--we got 2 rooms!) and walked a few blocks over to Popeye's Chicken for dinner. Then we agreed we were all done for the day. We were in our hotel rooms by 6:30pm. We plan to run around the National Mall tomorrow morning! Hopefully I can muster the energy for one more epic vacation run!
Running with Amber on the arboretum trail.
It was a lovely day!
Rose runs faster than Amber, so I had to work!
Waffle Shop! The waitress saw me trying to take a picture of our amazing food, and she offered to take a picture for us. You can't even see Jeff's waffle under the whipped cream! When I saw that mountain of cream and strawberries, I started regretting my choice to save my stomach by going dairy free!
One more long drive!
The model of the DC temple, with the real thing outside the window.
Jay really enjoyed standing on his toes slightly in front of everyone else in our pictures to make himself look way bigger than the rest of us. I was telling him to stand normally when I took this picture.
Jay still looks way bigger, even though I think he sank down onto his flat feet for this one. I felt kind of frustrated with my uncooperative family at the DC temple. I guess we will only have lame pictures of us there.
Jeff insisted on recreating a picture we took here 20 years ago...
October 3, 2007: ten months into our marriage.
Babies.
Jeff finally got the family in line for a picture, but we used the zoomed-out lens and it kind of gave the people in front a fishbowl belly effect. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.
View from our DC hotel.
Thursday, June 25, 2026
I didn't actually manage to write in my journal this day, so I will fill in the gaps retroactively. Jeff and Jay ran the perimeter of the National Mall on Thursday morning. I ran some of the Mall but enjoyed stopping at the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument so much that I didn't get all the way around it. I ran laps around the reflecting pool and was surprised to find that it is a one mile loop around the perimeter of the reflection pool! After my 7 mile run, I came back to the hotel to take Amber and Rose on a run to the National Mall, since we were starting to realize that running was really the only way we were going to see anything. Our hotel was a mile from the Mall with no parking closer to the Mall. There were high fences everywhere around the Mall, blocking the views and paths while the 250th anniversary celebration was set up. Furthermore, we barely had 2 hours after our run, shower, and breakfast before we had to leave for the airport. So we decided to see what we could see while running and call it good. Rose, Amber, and I ran to the Washington Monument and back to our hotel--a total of 3 miles. My feet and ankles were so achy after 10 miles of running in one day after my heaviest running week in years! We had a hearty hotel breakfast and then left for the airport.
Our hotel was 15 minutes from Reagan National Airport, but we took a whole hour to get there because we had to find a gas station to fill up our rental car before returning it. Thank goodness we didn't try to go back to the National Mall before heading to the airport--we needed our extra time to get gas! Even Google couldn't make sense of the DC roads, and we kept being directed to dead ends and instructed to take turns across large cement medians. We finally found a gas station on our side of the road and made it to the airport plenty early. Then the journey home grind of sitting and waiting, boarding and unloading began. We got home to our house at 1:00am on Friday, June 26th, totally exhausted!
White House selfie!
The Lincoln Memorial is my favorite. I kept my t-shirt on the whole run out of respect for our national monuments, but let me tell you, I was drenched and dragging in the humidity!
Selfie central!
World War II memorial
Gross contaminated water in the reflecting pool.
Touching the Washington Monument. I ran a few laps around the outside of it, just for fun. I think the armor-clad guard thought I was a bit weird.
Setup for the 250th anniversary of the USA, with the Lincoln Memorial far back to the left.
Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. I didn't run past many Smithsonians because the grass out from was completely blocked off and the sidewalks were crowded.
Tired girls at the Washington Monument!
This parking garage was a mess. They intentionally parked cars two deep and we had to ask the parking attendant to move the car that had blocked us in our tiny squinchy spot.
Amber's thick wavy hair really loved the humidity. She showered the morning we flew home, and after 5 hours on an airplane, her hair still looked this good. My hair hated the humidity, if you're wondering.
We were so tired when we got home, but very satisfied with our trip.
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