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Published: February 11th 2008
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So much has happened that I don’t know where to start - it seems impossible that we have only been away 3 weeks! Perhaps the Shenandoah Valley is a good place because it is so beautiful in the spring and we really enjoyed it when Phil took us there the first weekend.
On the way on Saturday we went to the new Smithsonian air and space museum at Dulles airport. Aircraft are displayed in huge hangers that give much greater opportunity to exhibit some of the larger planes such as the Enola Gay (of WW2 Hiroshima fame), a 707 and a Concord. It also covers helicopters and light aircraft as well as some of the very early flying machines. One section is devoted to space travel. The museum in the city is still there and you can go from one to the other by bus if you want the full experience.
Saturday afternoon we drove to Harrisonburg, in Virginia and stayed in an old fashioned B&B full of quaint nick knacks. We experienced old style US dining with a great meal at a co-op vegetarian restaurant - cheap but really great food and followed it by an icecream from
the towns famous ice creamery which has only two regular flavours plus a weekly special. This week it was chocolate and peanut butter and Col just had to try it - silly man, judging by his face when he finished!
Sunday we spent the day driving the Skyline Drive (105 miles) in the Shenandoah National Park which forms part of the Blue Ridge Parkway stretching for hundreds of miles from Maine to North Carolina and Georgia .The Appalachian trail crisscrosses it and Phil does lots of walking here in winter. It is full of Civil war history as well and on the way back to Washington we stopped at Manassas the site of the first major battle of the Civil war (1861) at Bull Run when the Union army set out to capture Richmond and end the war. We walked the first Manassas battlefield through pleasant pastures and country lanes where the 10 hours of fighting led to 900 deaths and a victory for Stonewall Jackson’s troops. They say that day swept away any notion that there would be a quick end to the war. Later we will visit the Antietam battlefield where you drive over 12 square miles
Col at War
He led the attack at Bull Run in the Civil War of battleground. So even though Phil calls this our architecture trip we are doing our history and collecting beautiful views as well.
We have also been spoilt as my cousin Rick through his Illinois contacts organised for us to have a tour of the Capitol. We went last Tuesday and were in a party of four with an intern guide for a tour. The Senate was in recess but the Hose of Reps was in session so we sat in on a while. The whole complex is fascinating, from the time you go below the adjacent Dirksen Senate Building and travel by underground train right into the basement of the Capitol. Considering it was started in 1793 it was certainly an ambitious project. We visited the three Senate chambers with each one larger than the previous one as the number of senators increased as new States were added. Classical art work fills the building and there are lots of statues as each State can place two statues of people they want to honour plus there are lots of others of presidents etc. Luckily Col didn't do his usual trick of lying down on the floor to get a good
In the Capitol
This chandelier they had given to them - turned out to be Waterford Crystal and worth thousands more than they realised view of the dome as they take a dim view of this practice because the best viewing spot is where they lay the presidents in state before burial. Our guide mentioned arrests etc. so we all stayed on his our feet!
Enough of the city it’s time to get on the architecture trail and we are off to Falling Waters for a few days.
That adventure next time...enjoy your own travels in the meantime. Lyn and Col
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