We went to the new Smithsonian Air and Space Museum near the Dulles Airport. Quite fascinating. John was particularly interested in some of the planes/missiles that he was part of when he worked at Lockheed. I was most interested in the Emola Gay plane, since I saw the results of what that mission had done during World War II when visiting Hiroshima earlier this year. There were many planes from the World War I and II era, as well as more recent space shuttle items. We also went up into a model control-tower where you could see/hear controllers talking to some of the planes that we saw landing at Dulles.
View from control tower looking toward Dulles
The next morning, we picked up Linda Carroll, our friend from Santa Rosa who I travelled with in Japan, at Dulles. We made a brief stop in Arlington National Cemetery, then toured Mt. Vernon. Since it is privately-owned, it was open during the government shut-down, interestingly enough.
We spent the evening in downtown Richmond, Virginia. Linda and I walked around the historic area, but it was too late in the day to go into many of the buildings. We ate dinner at the historic Tobacco Co. Restaurant -- had wonderful prime-rib dinners in a 3-story old restaurant, but no tobacco!
The next day, after driving around in circles trying to get on the right road out of Richmond (we weren't happy travelers at that point!), we drove even further south in Virginia. A beautiful scenic drive.
We stopped at several Virginia plantations, some with working farms of cotton, soybeans, corn and livestock. There were informative descriptions of life during that time, especially noting the hard life of the slaves. At one place we read copies of notices about runaway slaves, and the rewards being offered.
We toured the Shirley Plantation, described on the internet:
Shirley Plantation is Virginia's first plantation. Founded in 1613, only six years after the first permanent English settlement at Jamestown. During its long history and under the leadership of one family, Shirley Plantation has survived Indian uprisings, Bacon's Rebellion, the American Revolution, the American Civil War, and the Great Depression. It is the oldest family-owned business in North America dating to Edward Hill I establishing a farm in 1638.
(12 generations of the Carter family have lived in the mansion, including the present family.)
We also went to a plantation where a friend of Linda's had family connections and used to visit there when she was a child. Unfortunately no one was home but it was a very lovely spot on the James River.
We made it to Williamsburg in time for a wonderful lunch on an outside patio, watching the costumed people and guests walk past. We loved walking around Williamsburg, where the costumed people interact with guests, speaking in character as though they were living in Williamsburg in the 1700's. It was interesting to talk with one of the archeologists in an area where they are digging to discover more artifacts and/or buildings. We drove past the Bed and Breakfast Inn where John and I stayed during our round-the-country trip in 2007 -- it had been a gift from Christ Church upon my retirement. I love the Williamsburg area, and it was a wonderful day to be walking through the village.
On our last day in Virginia we went to the Madison area where Linda has ancestral history. We did some research in a library, found the Hebron Lutheran Church and cemetery where her family had worshiped and were buried. It was built in 1730 and is the longest operating Lutheran Church in the States.
We left Linda for her to explore more of the area on her own, and John and I drove into the Shenandoah Mountains for our trip home. It was cloudy, and because some of the trees were already losing their leaves, the colors weren't as brilliant as they might have been, but almost anywhere you look here now, the trees are beautiful.
In the Shenandoah Mountains wearing my Shenandoah shirt that I purchased the last time we were here.
No comments:
Post a Comment