We arrived at our new park (technically located in Colonial Beach, but actually about ten miles from the town center) after just about 85 miles, a short trip but one punctuated by the knowledge that our GPS would have taken us to a dead end dirt road that was abandoned some years ago---except that we had been called by the park management and given proper instructions. The park is lovely but mostly vacant. There is a huge swimming pool, but no pickle ball court. Across from our site is a very large grassy area, perfect for Daisy to wander off-leash, which we have been told was a landing strip used by the Army Air Corps in the '30s and '40s. It's very hot here, but, strangely, not very humid. The Potomac River is just a stone's throw away from one side of our park. On Friday, we ventured 30 miles (each way) to Fredericksburg, a famous Civil War site, and which, according to the Visitors Bureau, is "the most historic city in America." I doubt it. I do, though, believe it is the least updated active city in at least Virginia. We will return for its highly-touted trolley tour one day next week.
On Saturday, Becky and I headed for Bethesda, Maryland, for an overnight stay. (Bill and Pat volunteered to watch Daisy.) The traffic heading out of Washington in the morning was horrendous. We went up there to visit Jean Cooley, a former colleague of Becky's at the Bright Angel Lodge at the Grand Canyon, and, far more importantly, to spend some time with Donna and her family who are coincidentally in town for a joint Bat Mitzvah of the twin daughters of Debbie and Ben Teicher, some old (college) friends of Donna and David. We had lunch with Jean at a very nice Irish pub adjacent to Glen Echo Park in Bethesda. The park was a typical amusement park for many years---with carousels, bumper cars, etc.---but had fallen into disuse. It has now been taken over by the NPS, and is being partially restored as an amusement park (at least the carousel is operating)
and as a center of children's theater and as a playground. It has a huge dance pavilion that is still used occasionally.
We had a dinner of appetizers (and Zinfandel) with the Bernstein gang at our common hotel (the Bethesda Marriott) Saturday night.
On Sunday (Father's Day), we conned our way into the Teichers' group breakfast, and in the afternoon the six of us went to the Air and Space Museum annex adjacent to the Dulles Airport. It's a very nice collection of airplanes and space stuff.
There is a beautiful and exciting sculpture, titled "Ascent" outside the entrance.
On Monday, we went to a local berry (and other fruit) farm. It was a lovely setup, very large and pastoral, but we didn't buy anything. On the way back, we stopped at a local winery (Ingleside Plantation) and, of course, at this location a sale was made.
On Tuesday, we ventured to the real Colonial Beach. There is not much there; it looks a bit like progress has gone past. But we did have a nice lunch at Fat Freda's Restaurant, a hole-in-the-wall with delicious crab cake sandwiches. Wednesday and Thursday were almost a complete bust---it was too hot to do anything. Quite necessary relaxation. On Friday, we returned to Fredericksburg for the trolley tour. It was quite interesting, and showed us sides of the town we didn't see the first time there. There is, in fact, a lot of history to the place. Hint #1: George Washington (one of six children) grew up there and his family lived there for many, many years. Hint #2: It is located exactly halfway between Washington and Richmond; Washington was the capital of the Union and Richmond was the capital of the Confederecy. Control of Fredricksburg changed seven times during the Civil War.
On Saturday, we visited the birthplaces of both George Washington and Robert E. Lee---just a few miles apart here in Westmoreland County. There is quite an impressive National Monument commemorating the GW birthplace, consisting of the many-thousand acre plantation that had been owned by the Washington family. GW left there at the age of three and moved to Fredericksburg. The Lee home is also a large former plantation, which General Lee left as little more than an infant. The Lee home (now owned by a private foundation) is intact, and much-restored, while the residence at the GW birthplace is a re-creation of what they thought his home looked like. The NPS rangers admit that they were way off-base concerning the size, location, and design of the residence, based on later-discovered information.
In any event, it was interesting to see these properties and get a small taste of what life was like in those long-ago days.
Sunday was my birthday, which we celebrated at the local beachfront popular restaurant.
On Monday, we ventured to Washington (DC) via a van tour from Fredericksburg. Luckily, the four of us were the only people on the van, and Leila, the driver, was a lot of fun (and good information). It was brutally hot that day, but we survived. One of the places we visited was Ford's Theater. The tour of the theater is a marathon event where you are first shepherded to the basement museum, then taken upstairs to the theater, then across the street to the place where Lincoln actually died. I became a bit uncomfortable (claustrophobic) being stuck in the basement with a big crowd of people, and Bill was bored anyway, so the two of us left and spent a nice hour having a beer (and green olives) down the street at the Hard Rock Cafe. In all, it was a nice day, and we're glad we went.
On Tuesday, Becky, Daisy, and I headed for Annapolis (Maryland) to spend the night on the way to Sherwood, Maryland, to visit the new home of Linda and Scott Hamilton, friends from Los Angeles who are going to retire there in October, 2011. They supposedly bought the home via the Internet, sight unseen, and have visited it only sporadically since then. It's located on an inlet off Chesapeake Bay, with its own dock and substantial grounds. It's a large, potentially very lovely property that needs a lot of TLC. (The former owner seemed to have had questionable taste and little capacity for maintenance.)
On the way back, we stopped by the Inn At Perry's Cabin, a beautiful bayfront hotel.
We decided to leave Colonial Beach a week early, largely because there's little to do at our park, so we headed for Front Royal on Thursday. (Bill and Pat left on Wednesday.)
