Well it has certainly been a very busy trip. It's Day 11 of our big summer roller coaster tour. We've visited 5 different amusement parks, the National Zoo, lots of Chuck E Cheese restaurants, a few Lidls here and there, and lots more. It's time to head home. Last night we left Kings Dominion in Virginia and drove 5 hours to South Carolina. Enjoying a hearty breakfast at the hotel before hitting the road.
It's our final day of coasters on our big roller coaster tour. We're at Kings Dominion one last time before we start the long drive home to Florida.
Today we go to the last big amusement park on our Summer Coaster tour. It's Kings Dominion!
Now that I've written up our 2023 Washington DC visit, and how much the kids loved the pandas, it's time to continue the 2026 writeup of our summer roller coaster tour, with stops along the way at lots of other fun sites. Fun sites in this case like... the Smithsonian National Zoo and their pandas!
When we last left off, the pandas we'd seen in 2023 had been sent back to China. Over a year later, in late 2024, a new pair of pandas made their way back to Washington. It's been on our list of things to go see, and this provided the perfect opportunity!
I've seen some freeze dried candies and we've tasted a few freeze dried candies here, mostly Skittles and Starbursts, and they've typically been someone's homemade version of it. But recently manufacturers have started getting into it too, and the official freeze dried candy options have exploded!
Our friends Beth, Mike, Savannah, and Charlotte are visiting us today and I know a couple of them that love love love candy. This seemed like the perfect taste test to do with them!
It's our last day in Washington DC and we've had a lot of fun on this trip! Our flight out isn't until the afternoon, so we've still got a few hours to explore!
We're in DC and just finished a fun morning and afternoon at the Smithsonian National Zoo seeing the pandas. It's our last full day in DC, so before we go, there's a couple big sites we need to see.
Like the reflecting pool, Lincoln Memorial, and Washington Monument!
