I drove down yesterday – not the most direct route but very pretty. I came over the Chesepeake Bay Bridge (see here also) and to avoid Washington I drove down US Route 301. Passing through St Charles MD and crossing over into Virginia via the Governer Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge.
I drove down towards Richmond and then turned off on Interstate 64 towards Charlottesville and Staunton. I had hoped to have time to travel the Blue Ridge Parkway, but it was foggy in the mountains and I was running some what later than I expected. Hopefully on the way back I’ll take the Parkway. Be more fun, I thought, to enjoy it when fresh rather than when tired and in a hurry.
I’m visiting Virginia Tech for a meeting.
Lab Cat 
If you visit Virginia again, contemplate that the Chesapeake seems to be a remnant of a meteor impact. Also, around Strasburg, VA, in the northern part of the Shenandoah Valley about 80 miles west of D.C., there are rock exposures containing small but extraordinarily beautiful silicified trilobite sclerites and other fossils from the Upper Ordovician that easily can be liberated from their limestone matrix with HCl or other acids of choice except, of course, HF. Some people use formic acid to avoid excessive effervescence that could damage the finest trilobite larval sclerites, but HCl is cheap and abundant at big box stores, and I use it at about a 95% dilution with water off original concentration to keep the bubbling at a minimum. I realize when I mention this that your eyes may glaze over, so I shall leave off with the proviso that I can furnish you more information upon request if you find the matter intriguing.
I am interested in the geology but not necessary in collecting trilobites. I certainly hope to visit VA again as it was very beautiful, but it won’t be soon.
Can you recommend any books about the geology and how Chesapeake was determined to be caused by a meteor impact? This must affect southern DE geology too.
I don’t have a specific recommendation for a book but suggest you go to the William & Mary Geology Dept’s web site, where you will find discussion relating to the coastal plain, piedmont, Blue Ridge, and Ridge and Valley provinces. I used to hang around with the geology faculty while I was there in law school and got to go on some of their field trips as time permitted. Re the Chesapeake Bay impact, Google “chesapeake bay meteor” and look at the USGS information. The impact occurred in the early Oligocene. Hmmm . . . isn’t that about the time the Earth most recently moved into icehouse conditions?