Not sure if Virginia really has an edge over the other states regarding its claim about "lovers", but it sure seems to have the edge in "leaders". Our recent whirlwind 3-week tour had our history heads spinning after just first stop -- central VA to see Jefferson's Monticello, Monroe's Montpelier, and Madison's Highland (US. Presidents #3, 4, & 5). Makes you want to name your house too, huh?
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| Us at Monticello |
We then moved closer to Washington D.C. to see the National Air & Space museum next to Washington Dulles airport -- and it was so big and extensive that it was tough to do in just a single day.
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| Air and Space Museum (look at the center and you can see the nose of the Space Shuttle Discovery in the back room) |
My aunt Helen also flew up from FL and the 3 of us visited my uncle Charlie's Columbarium resting place in Arlington National Cemetery as well as the graves of my maternal great-grandparents (unfortunately gone before I was born).
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| My beloved uncle, Charlie Lavery |
From there we drove to Mount Vernon, the home and burial place of General George Washington (U.S. President #1). My aunt and I are descendants of George's half-brother, so the museum about George's life and family was especially interesting. Unfortunately it wasn't until after Helen left that we decided to swing by George's birthplace. Forget George! This was the homestead of his great grandfather, John Washington -- the first Washington who immigrated to America in ~1656 and he is also my great great great great great great great great great great grandfather! The original home is gone but the National Park Service maintains a small museum and home built to represent the period. The family cemetery is still there and has John's grave and the graves of 3 additional generations that my aunt and I hail directly from, including that half-brother of George. Sadly, a recent storm toppled some trees and we weren't able to get to the cemetery itself in this visit. Oddly enough, while leaving the area, we stumbled on the locations of both Madison's and Monroe's birthplaces too. Quite fertile ground for U.S. Presidents!
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| Mount Vernon |
As we started to trek further south of D.C. we made day trips to the Fredericksburg battleground, James Madison's Museum, and Richmond's Museum of Civil War & White House (confederate). Our final RV stop was down in Hampton, VA near Newport News and Norfolk. Turns out the RV park was right next to Fort Monroe, a decommissioned army base. When I say "fort", I mean FORT -- tall rock walls, a moat, and the largest coastal artillery cannons the military ever made. It is now being slowly converted to offices and homes/condos, but they still maintain a great museum within one the casement walls where you can actually stand in the cell where Confederate President Jefferson Davis was imprisoned after the Civil War. Goosebumps!
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| Fort Monroe (photo stolen from the internet) |
Norfolk was loaded with attractions too -- the Nauticus museum, the Wisconsin (Iowa-class battleship), and General McArthur's Memorial/Museum. We even did a boat cruise that covered the huge naval base and shipyard. In Newport News we explored the Mariners Museum and found ourselves enveloped in the history of the Monitor (one if the first "ironclads"). It was sunk in a storm off of Cape Hatteras in 1862 and wasn't found until 1973. As it is rusting away quickly, a big operation was undertaken to recover it's odd looking turret and that now resides at this museum.
So much history in this area and so little time to see everything! We tackled the highlights and will just have to come back!
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| Three nuclear aircraft carriers being serviced at Norfolk naval base |
Now to divert to "life on the road" experiences! Oddly enough, we are members of Costco. You'd think people who live in such a small space wouldn't find much use (or space) for purchases from a warehouse store like this, but we actually look for them as we travel. They are always good for a car fill-up, a shrimp ring, and a huge cooked chicken, but Costco is also great for a few "Kirkland" staples that we use consistently. Conversations in our household are often something like: "Do we have enough chewy bars to get to the Costco near Detroit?".
Regarding Max, 'tis the season to be filthy with pollen no matter how hard we try to keep him looking spiffy. Certain outdoor maintenance items just have to wait until it lets up. Worse is to be under trees in a rainstorm. Unfortunately instead of washing off the pollen we just get more tree gunk glued to us! Tough lives, huh? Another priority is keeping a close eye on the weather this time of year as it is often unpredictable. We'll choose to keep our slides "in" and live in a smaller space so that we have less noise from awnings flapping in the wind.
But our biggest challenge this month when we traveled from Florida to Virginia. We had a great annual service stop in Gaffney, SC to get oil changed, etc. Technician even replaced our serpentine belt and fixed a small leak he heard in Max's air system (used to operate his air suspension and brakes when we are underway). Those are nice things to get fixed before they become bigger problems. Anyway, I digress! While we were at Freightliner for this service, Jeffrey broke a tooth. Luckily, we were only a4-hour drive to Raleigh where we have dentist #2, so we modified our drive to VA to go through Raleigh and get it addressed. We've been lucky to have medical issues happen at convenient times when we are near doctors we know -- and sure hope that trend continues!
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