Right - because we've been rubbish so far we'll come back to the rest of New York, Philadelphia, Anapolis and D.C!

Instead we'll tell you about where we are now and what we did yesterday. We set off from Front Royal in the morning. It's the northern most point of the 105 mile Skyline Drive across the Blue Ridge Mountains

Our first stop was at the Skyline Caverns - it's a bit like Wookey Hole at Cheddar Gorge (only smaller!!!!). Apparently in the Fall (sorry, autumn) they have about 30 people on the guided tour. We had 4.

As an aside, I have to say that I'm really getting into the "Have a nice day" attitude to customer service here. Turning up and being given free coffee while you wait for your tour, or automatically giving you tap water when you sit down in a restaurant are things the UK should adopt - that and the fact nothing's too difficult for them to help with

Anyway, our tour guide Josh (what other name could he have?) seemed at times to be reading the tour off the back of his eyes but was very informative and quite chatty when not giving the official spiel.

We shared the tour with a 90 year WWII veteran and his daughter who were lovely. Aside from being quite entertaining they gave us a voucher which saved us four dollars off the entrance fee!

The tour was very interesting - apparently this one of only 3 places in the world you'll find Anthodites - a strange mineral formation

After the tour we set off on the Skyline Drive. It really is beautiful and quiet up there. Imagine the Lake District, but sunny!

Unfortunately, it was quite hazy which made photography difficult but the views across Virginia were stunning. We stopped for a short walk to a waterfall and on the way back we saw 3 wild bears!!!

After that excitement we headed off to Lexington. A pretty little town which houses a lot of Civil War memorabilia which we may look at today (if it stops raining!)

Last night we ended up staying at a travel lodgy type place - however, the woman at reception was brilliant. She dropped the price from $100 to $70, upgraded us to a room with a whirlpool bath in it - the hotel has a pool, gym (which we've used!) and included breakfast, result!

That's all for now - speak to you soon!