FUN IN FEDERAL DISTRICT AND FREDRICKSBURG

This post is not about a European adventure. And it's hard to believe I am only now getting around to writing about the nice trip I took to DC to see my sweet, delicious daughter, Alexi in late June!

It was June 22, around 9:30 a.m., to be precise, when I hit the road. Nice drive. The Ohio Turnpike oases are the best, and I used one to stop and make some business calls. Mostly uneventful drive. Some rain as I entered Maryland, and there were severe storms reported throughout the region. However, none slowed me down.

I got to Alexi's apartment in Arlington, Virginia around 7:00 p.m. She, Dustin and I went to a Mexican restaurant in the 'hood. We returned home, watched some TV and went to bed early.

Saturday, June 23, Lex and I woke up before 7:00 a.m. and by 7:45 a.m., we were out the door. First stop: Harris Teeter (Hairy Tweeter) for some food supplies. We would need to pack our lunch today, because we were headed down to Fredricksburg, Virginia and an all-day river adventure.

We had reserved space on the Civil War Canoe Paddle. The Friends of the Rappahannock River (an important river during the Civil War) were conducting an all-day canoe paddle on the adjoining Rapidan River with National Park Service Ranger Greg Mertz, a specialist in Civil War history.

If anyone has ever seen the South Park episode when the boys are looking for something to kill their boredom during Spring Break and they decide to go zip lining, then you would know what Alexi and I experienced: a very varied group of people being cajoled into participation and having fun by an overly enthusiastic staff.

I don't want to paint the wrong picture. It was a fun and educational day. We watched a video for basic river safety tips. Then we piled into vans pulling canoe trailers and drove about 40 minutes to the launch site. The launch site was locked, so we had to carry the canoes over the fence and down to the river.

I hadn't canoed in at least 30, if not 40, years, but it came back, just like riding a bike. Lex in front. Me in back. We would paddle to a spot, at which the guide would relate stories of what happened along the river or nearby during the Civil War. There were about nine such stops during the day, plus a stop for lunch.

Remember when I wrote about feeling like a leaf floating on a river during our visit to Versailles?

Well, Lex and I were literally those leaves floating on the lazy Rapidan River. We only had a few "upsets" along the way, but mostly, we coordinated our paddling and were consistently among the 2-3 lead canoes.

We saw bald eagles, turtles, fish, and a snake. And spiders...in our canoe!

It was nearly 7:00 p.m. by the time we checked into the Courtyard by Marriott in the Fredricksburg historic district along the Rappahannock River. After some room adjustments and showers, Lex and I walked to a great Italian restaurant. The food was good and filling after a long day paddling in the hot Virginia sun.

We walked around town. If you are a history buff, you would like Fredricksburg. Here are some photos snapped by Lex that evening.

Remember Floyd's Barber Shop from the Andy Griffith show? This is it!

Sign of the (very old) times

This was posted on the apothecary shop. Very instructive.

We happened upon Wally's Ice Cream Shop. The smell of fresh chocolate brownies baking hit us as we entered the old time shop. They bake the brownies to include in the brownies and cream ice cream. Wally opened up the shop about 10 years ago after having been a travelling salesman making big bucks during his career. Now he makes home-made ice cream, and it is GOOD! We listened in as Wally told an old customer about buying peaches for his peach ice cream. The local peaches will be coming in soon, and when they do, Wally will be up for two nights straight getting the batches made.

Neither Alexi nor I could keep our peepers open to watch a silly movie before we were both asleep.

The next morning, we woke up, had breakfast and went to the Fredricksburg Battlefield Visitor Center. We watched the video about the December 1862 battle of Fredricksburg. There is a plethora of Civil War history about and around Fredricksburg. It is amazing the events that unfolded here and which lead to Gettysburg and the ultimate end of the Confederacy. There was an older, Southern couple watching the video with us, and they made a comment to us (not knowing we are Yankees) which demonstrated that some bitterness still remains to this day. (Although, they were very friendly about it.)

We walked the Sunken Road and entered the Innis House, which was between the Confederate line on the hill and the attacking Yankees, who couldn't take the heights. Some photos, please Alexi:

Innis House on Marye's Heights along Sunken Road.

Alexi in Innis House looking at bullet scars that remain from 150 years ago.

Kirkland Monument. Kirkland was a Confederate who helped Yankee wounded as they lay on the hill during  lulls in the fighting.

Will at the Fredricksburg National Cemetery.

We then drove several miles to Prospect Hill, where a National Park Service ranger related how this point on the far right Southern flank in Spring 1863 almost fell to the Yankees. The Blue was so close, but they  retreated, leading to Lee's resolve to take the war north.

Lex was not feeling well (sneezing, head ache...) so after a stop at CVS for allergy medicine, we visited Chatham, a revolutionary era-built manor that was used as a Union command post and hospital during the Civil War. It is a truly lovely estate that overlooks the Rappahannock River from Stafford County. We enjoyed the presentation and the grounds.

Chatham. Finished in 1771 by William Fitzhugh, a friend of George Washington. 

Walt Whitman visited here in search of his Union solder brother and wrote about the horrors of the hospital.

The wrought iron fence was installed when the DeVores restored the property in the 1920s.

Alexi wanted to visit George Washington's boyhood home at Ferry Farms, just down the road from Chatham. It was a typical hot and humid Virginia afternoon, so we took advantage of the air conditioning inside and learned about George's life before he became a respected  general and father of a nation. Walking   the grounds, we found archaeological excavations underway as the roots of the farm are still being explored.

Then we were off to Chancellorsville Battlefield in Spotsylvania County and the visitor center there. Apparently, it was not allergies affecting Alexi, because by the time we finished watching the video, she was downright ill with a migraine. We drove around the military park a little before driving back up to Washington, D.C.

On Monday, I went to submit our visa applications for Russia. Three times I scaled Invisa's walls, and three times I was repulsed by those Russian bureaucrats! By lunchtime, I gave up. I met Alexi for lunch near her office in Georgetown and then hit the road back to South Bend. I left at 2:00 p.m. and arrived home shortly before midnight.

We used Duke's Visa Service to complete our visa applications, and on Wednesday, July 11, we received them!

Daughter and Father at Prospect Hill, June 24,  2012.