Old Town Alexandria Virginia

The trolley that runs through Old Town runs right along King Street which is the main street. Trolley is free.........Yeah..something free. We did however have to ride the metro from Pentagon Center to the King Street exit.

I loved....loved.....all these old quaint homes with all the design.

Cobblestone streets.! Can you imagine riding on this in a wagon or on horseback ???

My mother.........Curious George had to see what was in the back of peoples yards!!

Lots of wonderful little shops and places to eat are mingled in with all the historic places. And yes.......we ate alot of ice cream along the way. The daily temp while we were here was about 95 degrees with 94 percent humidity.....Let me just say....IT WAS HOT....

Waterfront and Torpedo Factory in Old Town Alexandria

This great building is the old Torpedo Factory and has now been turned into an Art Center.

Just me and my mom being silly in the cute art stores at the waterfront.

This area I will call the "Sludge area" Holy cow.......It must be where all the 'sludge' runs inland. It was pretty shocking however. Both days we were here it looked different

Beautiful river boat that runs daily up the Potomac.

Day two at the waterfront I wandered back over to the "sludge area" and saw this little doll.

Waterfront where we took a 2 hour ride up the Potomac to the Washington Monument. It was beautiful. Regan National Airport runs right along side it and we could watch the planes land and take off. We had some yummy crab cakes here too.

Kennedy Center for the performing arts.

Georgetown......................

Stabler Leadbeater Apothecary

This apothecary is located in Old Town Alexandria Virginia. It was established in 1792 and was ran by these two families until they just picked up and moved in 1933 leaving everything as is. It was amazing. Upstairs was where they would actually manufacture all the different kinds of herbs for their tonics. They also made all their own medicine bottles. This was where George and Martha Washington and also the Robert E. Lee family bought all their medicine.

Stabler Leadbeater Apothecary

Picture below taken about 1907.

National Cemetery in Alexandria Virginia

You know me .......I can't pass by any cemetery without stopping and checking it out. It was somewhat confusing at first. When they first started buring the dead back then there were individual cemeteries for all the different faiths. You know.......the Lutherans, Protestants, etc. Years later they just fenced it all in and made it a National Cemetery where their are still certain areas for those and then an established area for those to be buried in the military.

Directly to my left at the entrance are four graves and a marker. It stated that these four men lost their lives April 24, 1865 while in pursuit of Booth, the assassin of our beloved President Abraham Lincoln. Their names are Samuel N. Gosnell, Geo. W. Huntington, Christopher Farley and Peter Carroll. You just never know what you are going to learn upon the journey.

Gettysburg Day

On Moday mom and I took a day trip on Gray Line from Union Station. It's about a 2 hour ride by bus up to Gettysburg. We were simply amazed by the all the scenery and It was so lush and green! Something we don't see much living in the desert. So much farming. Neither of us had ever been to Pennsylvania.

If you can simply imagine.......It was a three day battle here in Gettysburg and the summer heat and humidity on record back in July in 1863 read it was 85 degrees in the shade at 2PM. On July 23rd the mercury read 87 degrees. The humidity alone when we were there was a near 85 to 95 percent. With poor food, medical, and living conditions it is simply unimaginable to me. Let alone the heavy wool army uniforms these brave soliders were wearing.

Between 46,000 and 51,000 Americans were casualties in this three day war. We toured all the famous landmarks where the fighting took place: Cemetery Ridge, Little and Big Round Top, Wheatfield, Peach Orchard, Cemetery Hill, Devils Den and Culps Hill.

We especially enjoyed touring the Shriver House and seeing it from the civilians point of view. How fearful they must of been. The women would literally hide their milk cow in the parlor for fear the soldiers would steal them. A 15 year old neighbor girl of Hettie Shriver named Tillie Pierce kept quite a detailed journal of the battle and the aftermath. The things she wrote of are shocking and sad. Can you just imagine what these simple farm families must of thought when they saw the different armies coming into town?

Gettysburg

My beloved General Robert E. Lee

View from Little Round Top

You can see Devils Den to the left in the distance

VACATION !!!!!

Well, I just got home from my vacation and I can't wait to look at all the 500 pictures or so that I took. I will be getting them up in the next day or so and I can't wait to tell you all about the journey.

Birthday Memories

Birthday's can either bring out the best or the worst in us. I have never had a hard time at any age with the exception of my 50th. After that "who really cares". I think birthdays are a great time for thinking of yester years. As a child I grew up on a farm in southeastern Iowa. It was the best. Really........I had a great childhood. I miss my childhood. Dang........I wish I were ten again. I remember riding my bike a mile to town in the summer just to go to the library. I remember loading my barbies in the basket on my bike and riding to my friend Kathy's to play for the day. She and I are still very close and talk at least once a week.

It's the cycle of life I guess...........but I still wish I were ten again....

Happy Birthday.......To Me!!!!

Zion Weekend with Kenzie and Joe

On friday my daughter Mackenzie and her hubby Joe came to Zion for two days. I am always so excited to see them. She is now 6 months pregnant with their first child and she feels pretty good.

We had the best time!! First of all the temperature here in Zion has cooled off to about 94 degrees during the day instead of the 109's................It has really felt like fall at times. I am ready to say goodbye to summer.

We had dinner the first night at the Bit & Spur and had wonderful sea bass fish tacos, black beans, rice and salad. We certainly couldn't pass up freshly made, with local peaches..........a peach crisp that we all shared. Oh yeah.....topped with vanilla ice cream.

On Saturday after I got off work we had lunch at Oscar's cafe (the best place to eat in Springdale). Seriously the best Carrot Cake in the world. Kathy makes it fresh daily and the cream cheese icing is like.......an inch and a half thick. We then went on to the movie and saw the new Harry Potter. Afterwards we went for chinese..........

Holy Cow.......I gotta get back on the regular healthy food. But it is always fun to eat at our favorite spots when the kids come. We love being together and it is always sad when they head home.

Journalists will be "pardoned"

AMEN!!! It appears that our journalists who were being held captive in North Korea will be Pardoned..........They will be coming home with President Bill Clinton.

I have been so concerned about them and praying for their safe return to their families and their country.

Cool......Cool........Cool..

This morning I feel a touch of fall in the air. Seriously!!! I was out in the yard by 7AM and it was 70 degrees. It is now 9AM and only 74. YIPPEE......YIPPEE......

It is still suppose to reach 105 today. But there is a glimmer of "Fall"...

AMEN

MIA

Oh my goodness..............Today I have had two friends ask me "where the heck you been and are you ok"? They check my blog quite often and noticed that I have been MIA.

I have just been really busy ............that is no excuse is it?

I know .......I missed such a great opportunity to take photos of my grandkids that were here last weekend but kept forgetting the camera. I have had my mind on a stupid foot problem. I finally went to the Dr. two weeks ago and he diagnosed it as a "neuroma" What.....??? He wanted to inject cortisone but I said "YOU WANT TO DO WHAT"?????????88796%$@#*&(&

Being a nurse for 22years I can certainly tell you that ...that has been my most fearful experience. For others that is!. I nearly passed out just thinking about it. Anyway I did make an appointment after I got home that day for the following Monday. I now would have a week to prepare myself mentally. It was just to painful to not try it. Besides.....it is really cramping my lifestyle. I love running and it was just getting impossible. We all know that if you don't exercise you can't eat cake. That's the pits......

Both of my daughters have been very concerned and my sweet daughter Ivy was able to come on Sunday with those sweet grandbabies and spend the night. Then on Monday we headed to St. George to the foot Doctor. Even sitting in the waiting room I pictured myself making a break for it and running for the door. What a big baby I am!!! Even watching out the little window from my exam room I pictured myself bracing the door as the Doctor tried to enter. Ha Ha. I really should be a writer. IT WAS BAD......JUST LIKE I THOUGHT..BUT FOR ONLY A SMALL MOMENT.

I would like to say that it has helped but it has been nearly a week and I don't see much improvement. Boo Hoo. The next step I guess is surgery. The doctor says it's no big deal and I will only have to be off my feet for 2 or 3 days. Now, I will just have to find the time to squeeze it into my busy schedule. Until then.........no cake for me.