Hi, I'm back!
What a week it has been. I am travel weary and fatigued, and sunburned. And so glad to be home. But I am also amazed at the things P and I did and saw on our trip to the east coast.
I arrived in Virginia Beach early in the evening last Monday, after getting up at 3:00 in the morning to catch my 6:30 am flight, which required a stop and change of planes in St. Louis. By the time I got unpacked and had something to eat, I was ready to fall down, so I went to bed at about midnight and slept until about 9 am. P had been there since Friday, and was already tired of the conference, so he played hookie from his sessions on Tuesday and we went to Colonial Williamsburg for the day.
That is a cool place.
Lots of walking and sightseeing and picture taking. It was super interesting to see how the people during the revolutionary period lived. We toured the Governor's Palace, which struck me as dark, dreary, and depressing, but in its day was considered to be the height of opulence and luxury. I must admit, the exterior of the mansion and the gardens made me day-dreamy, but the interior of the house left me a bit cold. Too dark, too closed in feeling, too gawdish for my tastes.
The next day P had to present his paper at the conference, and that evening was the awards banquet, so I was on my own all day. I slept in, moved all our stuff to another hotel (long story), walked on the beach and sunned myself by the pool. Then we went to the banquet, got extremely antsy about half-way through (read: bored out of our minds) and slipped out early.
Thursday morning we played on the beach and in the water, which was a bit cold, but nowhere near as cold as the Pacific Ocean, which is what we're used to, checked out of our hotel, and met up with some of P's friends from NASA. Had a nice lunch with them and a quick tour of the NASA campus. Thanks to P's connections, our badges and admittance to the grounds were all pre-arranged, so we skipped right through security clearance. After that we continued north, our goal being to make it to Washington that evening.
Here are the things we did and saw on the way to Washington Thursday afternoon/evening:
Stopped in Richmond to see some old civil war ammunitions facilities. Stopped in Chancellorsville and Spotsylvania to see the sights there and did the driving tours of all the battlefields. It was dusk, and we were the only people out there (it seemed) and it was eery. We walked the woods of the Wilderness, where fire swept through, burning to death thousands of injured and dying civil war soldiers. It is a somber and eerily peaceful place, though there must be thousands of ghosts.
Next we drove to Fredricksburg and visited Marie's Heights, the spot where thousands of Union soldiers met their deaths after making two charges up a steep hillside directly into the confederate line waiting for them behind a stone wall and atop the hill's crest. The commander who ordered these charges was immediately fired. Visiting this sight, one can only wonder what the hell he was thinking. The first charge, okay. He didn't know the confederates were up there. But the second one? Sheer lunacy. Anyway, it's a creepy place too, though right in the middle of town.
We considered stopping in Fredricksburg for the night, but it was only 9:30 pm, and decided to press on to Washington. We made it there about an hour later and got a hotel room about half a mile from the White House for only $110 per night (we were amazed).
Next morning we got up early and took the subway to the Mall. It dropped us off right by the Smithsonian, and so we decided to head for the Washington Monument and let our tour begin there.
I won't go into all the details of our tour of the Mall, but I will say that I think we must have walked 5 miles. We called our families and friends from the park in front of the White House. By the end of the day, we were utterly exhausted. Hot, sweaty, and hungry. It was about 90 degrees with 75% humidity. We saw almost everything, and what we didn't get to, we agreed to see on our way out of town the next morning.
No, we didn't go through the Smithsonian. That's a week long trip in itself.
Got checked out of the hotel the next morning, and stopped by to see the Capitol Building, the Supreme Court Building, and other things at that far end of the Mall we didn't get to the day before. Before heading south again, we went to Arlington National Cemetery, where we did a quick tour-bus thing. Because of Memorial Day, there were many many Vietnam Veterans on motorcycles descending upon Arlington, must as they had the day before at the Vietnam Memorial. It was an emotional sight. We got to see the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which was very serious and somber, but didn't really affect me until they played Taps. No dry eyes anywhere.
After leaving Arlington, we headed south and went to Mt. Vernon. I could write a whole entry on my reaction to visiting George Washington's homestead, but I won't go into it now. We walked the grounds, took a lot of pictures, and saw George and Martha's tombs. There is actually quite a lot to see there, but we didn't stay that long.
Headed south again and got a hotel room in Hampton. We were so tired by this time, we thought we'd just fall into bed. But we didn't. They were having a block party at the hotel outside on the docks of the harbor, with a live band, drinking and dancing. So we stayed up late, listening to the music and eating appetizers from the bar.
Next day we got up, checked out, and headed for the airport. A long day getting home (we lost the 3 hours we picked upon the way there), but finally made it. I've got tons of laundry to do, and I am going to pick up B later this morning. I can't wait to see her. We called her every day just so we could hear her voice!
It was a great trip. I never thought we'd get to see so much in such a short period of time. P and I travel so well together, and we get along so good, that just spending time alone with him, whether sight seeing, or just driving in the car, is precious time. We savored every minute of it.
I just realized my Guest Book is still broken. Has been for a long time. I emailed Andrew about it, but then I was gone, and he is busy. Guess I'll try to figure that out later. In the meantime, my Notes Page is working -- anyone can leave me a note!
It's good to be home. I am looking forward to spending today NOT traveling.
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