Washington DC

We spent two days in Washington DC this last week with our friend Linda.  The first day was an exhausting day.  We drove to a metro station outside of the City so that we could park the car and take public transportation.  It was a beautiful day as we walked (and walked and walked) to see the outdoor memorials, including the World War II Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, The MLK Jr Memorial, the FDR Memorial.  We also walked around the White House, the Capital, Library of Congress and the Supreme Court.  We hadn't made arrangements with our congressperson ahead of time, so didn't get to go on the White House tour, and we tried to do too much too quickly so didn't get to spend time in any one area.  But it was thrilling to see the places that we hear about every week in the news.

Leaving the City gave us the experience of being on a standing-room only metro at commute time.  We wondered how many of those people might have been out of work during the government shutdown!

The second day we spent most of the time at the Smithsonian History Museum, which was fine with us because it rained a bit, and we didn't want to walk as much as we had the day before.   It was a wonderful museum.   But the problem, of course, is that you just can't do Washington DC justice in two days!  So much to see--so little time.

We left Linda at the hotel in the afternoon so she could fly home the next day -- we came back to New Windsor.  A special couple of days.

Frederick & SERRV

The last time we visited John's cousin, Prue Kestner, she lived in a large old historic home in the countryside near Harper's Ferry, Virginia.  Now she lives in the city of Frederick, Maryland, in an attractive smaller home.  We picked her up on All Saints Sunday, November 3, and went to her United Methodist Church in Middletown.  It was the best worship service we've attended since leaving home.  It's a large church, with attractive buildings and worship space, and an active ministry and outreach program.  More progressive than most congregations in the area.  The senior pastor is a woman who has been there 30 years!  That's mostly unheard of in United Methodist Churches! She is married to the retired dean of Wesley Seminary in Washington DC, whom we enjoyed visiting with before the service.

We went a bit further into the hills to have lunch at an historic inn.  Beautiful countryside and perfect day for a drive with the beautiful fall colors.  Terrific brunch buffet.

This week Cousin Prue and a friend of hers came to New Windsor to have lunch with us, and to shop at SERRV, the fair-trade store on our Brethren Service Center campus.  John and I have made several shopping trips there, too.  If interested, you can shop on line at  
                       www.serrv.org 

Virginia

We had 4 days off this week -- loved it!

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.

                         Stairs for people to disembark from their carriages.  

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.