Harpers Ferry and Richmond

Soft toy tree
Notre Dame Tree at Festival
at Harpers Ferry
Lee's Headquarters at Harpers Ferry
at Harpers Ferry


I might have too many photo's here, just hope the right ones post.

We went & visited Keith at John Deere headquarters, what a lovely place to work. Saw lots of farm machinery, JD of course, ( on Foster's Farm they only use John Deere.)so had to check out a few things for them, it was a very interesting place to visit.

Too soon it was time to leave the Williamson's, Michelle took me back to Galesburg, where we had a lovely lunch & I bought another bear, but I had a train to catch.

Harper's Ferry was my destination, where a charming storekeeper at Grape Expectations directed me to a lovely B & B run by Alan & Alison. Harper's Ferry was a great place to be, it felt like little had changed since the civil war, and the soldiers had just marched down the street. I walked all over, saw where the Potomac & Shenandoah rivers meet at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, it was stunning.
Found the house that Lee used as headquarters, lots of battle sites, the Armory where the whole thing started. It was marvellous being here amongst the history & the grandeur.

Passed through Washington on the way to Richmond, the train arrived quite late & I couldn't make contact with the hotel I had chosen. I was getting more than a little worried, so I just stood there & prayed "Lord, show me what to do," when a voice at my elbow said "Do you need a cab?" It was this great guy called Al Mathis, so I said "Yes, and I need a budget place to stay." So he whisked me off to the Historic District Hotel, where he arranged a discount rate for me & offered to take me back to the train when it was time for me to leave.

Richard, the Bell captain, took my bags to my room & suggested that I might like to see some of the sights in the hotel shuttle bus. So with a couple of other guests we had a very nice time seeing the city by night. Next day, Al rang to make sure I was OK, & as I wanted to go out to a plantation, we struck a special rate & he spent the rest of the day showing me around, first the Shirley Plantation, where I took an interesting tour.

We then returned to Richmond & Al took me to some really great places. We went to The Jefferson , a 5 diamond hotel, the staircase in it was used in "Gone with the wind", I walked down it, it was quite magnificent. We saw the Omni Hote, The Tobacco Club, the decor was wonderful, went to Shockoe Bottom, now a truly beautiful area that has been restored, & the tobacco warehouses turned into delightful little stores, there were cobbled streets as well.

We had a great day, Al reminded me so much of Bill Cosby & we had lots of laughs. After he had gone I went to the capitol building, what a stunning place, it was another magic day. Next day I went to The White House of the Confederacy, what a grand building, & so sumptiously furnished, also saw the White House museum, and lots of other historic buildings.

Al arrived eary the next morning & took me for another tour, this time to the University of Virginia, beautiful setting, along monument avenue where there is a 60 foot statue of Robert E Lee, would be interesting to know what they would have put up if the south had won the war. It was then off to the train, all this had been done in Al's lovely Lincoln convertable.

Headed back to Washington, stayed in a very old & elegant B & B. Took a trolley tour around Washington, great guide called Thomas who made it very entertaining. Saw Lincoln, Jefferson, Roosevelt & Washington memorials, the Whitehouse, the Smithsonian, the Capitol buildings, the Pentagon, Arlington Cemertery, the Kennedy graves, Arlington House whch was Lee's home before the war. Also saw the Korean & Vietnam war memorials, the JFK Performing arts centre & heaps more beautiful buildings. Took both a day & a night tour, both spectacular.

You can't have a light without a dark to stick it in.