Early Thursday we headed to Tommy Jeffs home Monticello outside of Charlottesville, VA This is our second trip. but Monticello is still amazing. Our tour guide was barely adequate, but touring the grounds on our own was great, Bets was having difficulty on the grades and because we had not eaten needed extra breaks. We had connected with her friend Judy and husband Dave who left from Nevada a day after we did. We played catchup on our trip and where we were headed next. Although Monticello is on many acres, the house is not huge, but there are many interesting parts under the house kitchen, ice house, beer and wine cellar and privies. There are additional walking tours around the grounds and down to the family cemetery. Got Bets back up the hill, on the ... read more

Monday found us again in DC with an easterly breeze off the Potomac making the day comfortable. First on the agenda was a Capitol tour and the make or break issue is the tour guide. Ours was both informed and enthusiastic, A win for our side. Bets needed some energy, so off to the Rayburn building for lunch. As we sat down, 2 tables away just finishing lunch was the “Bulldog” Henry Waxman. He was meeting with 2 or 3 others and when they all left the table, he cleaned up the table and took all the trays to the trash area. Not your typical politico. Next it was off to Senator Boxer’s office to pickup tickets to the Senate gallery as they were convening at 3:00 to discuss the DoD appropriation. It was about a ... read more

Long time no talk. I gave Betty her chance to update the blog, but she did strictly a narrative with little humor or colorful imagery (OK flat out exaggerations). First, I would like to checkpoint our family visitations and locales honored with our presence. I think we left off with arriving at my sister Leslee in Northern VA outside DC. While there from Friday PM to Thursday AM, we visited the FDR and Jefferson memorials, Congress (House and Senate), lunched in the Rayburn building cafeteria, did a whirlwind trip through the Library of Congress (we were kicked out), drove to and visited Williamsburg, Yorktown battlefield (last battle and surrender of the British during the revolution), Jamestown (1st permanent British settlement in America), returned to Leslee’s for a take-out dinner and crashed so we could get up ... read more

Here are a few Lincoln Museum snaps... read more

Well we started our trip across America with great expectations, but 13 hours later pulling into SLC we were wondering "whose idea was this?". Driving across Nevada can have that kind of effect on even the sanest of travelers. There is no amount of lipstick that can help the endless nothingness of Reno to SLC. However the next morning we were once again ready to continue our journey with North Platte, Nebraska as our overnight stop. 13 hours later we pull into our motel. Not only have we driven over 650 miles, but have lost another hour to time zone change. We only had time for a dog walk followed closely by a "crash and burn". The good news - we are still taking to each other with KC as the go-between. Our next stop is ... read more