FREDERICKSBURG,
VIRGINIA
AUGUST 16-19,
2024
August saw me hit the road for another little Weekend Trip
that I didn’t really do a lot of planning. I knew I wanted to make the
Fredericksburg area the hub for this adventure and made hotel reservations for
a couple of nights in that area. My thinking was I could make a an easy drive
up to the Springfield Metro Station and maybe take the Metro into Washington D.
C. For the Day.
On the way to Fredericksburg, I stopped at the New Markert
Battlefield and the Virginia Civil War Museum.
Then it was off to Warrington, Virginia to visit the grave of John
Singleton Mosby, who was known as “The Gray Ghost” of the Confederacy.
My plan for Saturday was to drive up to Springfield and Take
the Metro into Washington. But there were several protest going on around the
National Mall and the last thing I wanted to do was get into that mess. So I
opted to revisit the National Museum of the Marine Corps. I also stopped at the
Quantico National Cemetery where I visited the grave of Watergate Figure
Charles Colson.
Sunday was my last day in Fredericksburg so I took advantage of the Light Traffic on Interstate 95 and headed to visit a few cemeteries in Northern Virginia. Among the notable people that I visited was, United States Senator Robert Byrd, Presidential Aid Lyn Nofzinger, Author William Safire and Hall of Fame NBA Coach Red Auerbach. By early afternoon, traffic was beginning to pickup and It was time to head west out of the Northern Virginia Area.
One the way I decided to return to the Holiday Inn, in
Charlestown, West Virginia. Before leaving and making my way toward home I
decided to spend the morning touring the Harper Ferry National Park. I had
visited Harpers Ferry several years ago and took this opportunity to return to
the site of John Brown’s Raid in 1859.
After spending the morning at Harpers Ferry, I wrapped up
this little weekend trip and headed home.
TIME FOR A
REUNION
OCTOBER 11-13
The College Football Season began the last of August and with me being a Wake Forest Demon Deacon Season Ticket Holder, the opportunity to travel was limited. However, I did make time to travel back to My hometown of Tazewell to attend My 50th High School Class Reunion.
The last reunion that I had been to was our 20th
back in 1994. Since then so many of my
friends and classmates have passed on. While I have managed to keep in contact
with some of them on Facebook, a lot of them I have seen in 50 years. I was
really looking forward to this weekend.
We started the weekend on Friday night by attending the
Tazewell – Virginia High Football Game at Bulldog Stadium. This was a great warm-up
for the main event on Saturday Night.
More than 50 of my former classmates gathered at the Red
Barn at the Historic Crab Orchard Museum. What a wonderful Night it was
visiting with friends and classmates and hearing about what they had been up to
for the past 50 years.
Sunday morning several of us go together for a little
informal breakfast before saying our goodbyes and returning or our lives. It
was an absolutely wonderful weekend. I hope we don’t wait another 50-years to
do it again.
BIRTHDAY AT THE
BEACH
OCTOBER 15 –
18, 2024
My final trip of the season was a birthday visit to Virginia Beach. Every year since I retired in 2018, I have made it a point to take a short trip for my Birthday. One year I ended up in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge Area. Another year I spend the week in Nashville. Even during Covid I managed to get out of town and just drive around the remote areas of Virginia and West Virginia.
This year My niece and I headed down to Virginia Beach.
While there was a chill in the air and we didn’t spend a lot of time on the
actual beach, we did enjoy our time at the ocean. On day we did make our way
across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and spend several hours on the Shore.
I also found time to visit the First Landing State Park and
the Cape Henry Lighthouses. These sites are on Fort Story, which is an active
Military Base and I had to go through some security screening. After spending a
couple of hours visiting the historic sites, it returned to the hotel and spent
the rest of the afternoon walking around and visiting some of the shops and
cafes.
Our trip to the beach was my last trip of 2024.
I finished out the year attending Wake Forest Football and
now Virginia Tech Basketball is occupying my time.
Even though I didn’t take any really long trips this year, I
enjoyed the shorter, more structured trips. These 2024 adventures saw me travel
a total of 5,553 miles and visited 6-states. What does 2025 have, well I do
have some plans. Like always, I have a bunch of stuff on the planning board. I
will let you in on some of the places that I am looking at early in the New
Year, but you will have to stick around throughout 2025 to see what made the
cut and where I go.
Until next then, I
hope everyone has a Safe and Happy New Year.
