We originally thought about staying another day in Washington DC. That would give us one more day with Marissa. But the weather was bad and Marissa was really busy so we decided to move on. I wish we could stay longer with Marissa but then I wish we could live with our kids but that is not possible. So we move on in life and we move on in our travels.
We drove out to Arlington National Cemetary to visit Roy Fewell, Martha's husband. He was an important part of our lives. He and Martha lived with Marissa and me when Marissa was little. During that time Roy was diagnosed with Hepatitis B as a result of his Vietnam War experience. He had a liver transplant in 1993 which saved his life. Then 8 years later, the trauma of 9/11/01 caused him to reject his liver and he passed away on 11/18/01. He has two purple hearts so he was buried at Arlington.
We didn't have a chance to visit when we were at Arlington with the Trinity group because his grave is on the other side of the cemetery from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and we were on a schedule. So we went on Tuesday morning. It was a dreary rainy day. We got a pass and drove over. There was another funeral in the columbarium so we were extra quiet as we searched out Roy's marker.
This place is such a beautiful tribute to our fallen heroes.
Afterwards we headed towards Mount Vernon for a visit with George and Martha.
Mount Vernon is only about 15 miles away but took a lot longer to get to than one would think. Along the way we stopped for lunch and to change clothes. It was cold - too cold for the sundress I put on that morning.
We both visited Mount Vernon when we were young but we didn't remember it very well. My only recollection is being very hot and very crowded while guards yelled, "keep the double line movin' please". It has become a family slogan. On a chilly rainy day, there were no crowds. We got all the personal attention we could ask for.
But is was certainly rainy, a nice farmers rain to be sure but we got wet. So we bought some of those ponchos you see on tourists. We didn't look good but we stayed dry. Rusty was the only one who really enjoyed this weather.
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| View of the Potomac River |
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| The Potomac |
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| The porch overlooking the Potomac |
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| We walked all over in our glamorous ponchos |
It is a beautiful restoration, that is for sure. We took the house tour (no cameras allowed) and walked all over the property.
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| Chair carriage that George used |
We walked down the long stairs to the waterfront. George was a very clever farmer, like his contemporary Tom Jefferson. He farmed the river by sending all the residents on his plantation out to pull in thousands of fish at a time. Fish like smelt and others that his people preserved for the rest of the year.
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| George's overall plan |
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| This is the sample plot planted with the seven crop rotation |
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| Pete, the farm manager |
George had a crop rotation schedule. He divided segments of his plantation into sections subdivided into seven sections each which were planted with a specific crop rotation. The current occupants are recreating this seven segment crop rotation in a sample plot.
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| George's tomb |
We had a long talk with Pete, the farm manager who gave us the history. He made a career out of historical restoration of working farms. He used to work on a historical farm along the Hudson and he is from NYC so we had a long conversation about the trip and what to see up the Hudson River. He is holding a sickle in this photo because he was preparing to harvest the wheat if the rain quit for a few days in a row. We really liked Pete!!
Before leaving we went to the museum. It was a good choice. The exhibits were really great. Did you know George was promoted up the military ranks after some really bad decisions? For example, they claim he started the French and Indian War by inadvertently shooting a French military leader in the wilderness. He established a tiny outpost fort called Fort Necessity out of the necessity to protect a strategic piece of land then surrendered it in one day after being threatened just a little. He also encouraged a lot of spying during the Revolution.
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| Rusty enjoyed Mount Vernon too |
The rain stopped in time to take Rusty for a little walk before heading back to the boat in Virginia Beach.
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| The tunnel to Norfolk |
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| They have interesting dogs in Virginia Beach |
I realize this discussion about Mount Vernon took place over a week ago. What, you wonder, have we been up to that takes up so much time? Not much actually. We stayed in Virginia Beach mostly at the boat. We ate out with Mike and Judy a bunch of times, worked out at the gym, took bike rides, and had almost no adventures.
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One of many nice dinners with Mike and Judy
from One September |
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| We enjoyed the sunsets at Cavalier Yacht Club |
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Small fish dead on the sidewalk
very random |
We had dinner at Mike and Judy's house. Judy made a wonderful turkey meatloaf! They have this amazing magnolia tree in their front yard. One of our surprises has been following magnolia blooms from Florida through Virginia. They smell great!
MJaxson, their granddog, is great fun.
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| Jaxson, Kermit and Mike |
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| Jaxson |
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| Kermit and Katherine |
We rode bikes. It was hot but we still rode bikes. All we were missing was Don Donataccio!!
All day every day planes zoomed overhead. Kermit got this shot of a huge transport plane moving VERY slowly overhead on its way to the base a few miles away.
We went to the gym almost every day. It doesn't show but we did.
We went to a most unusual movie theatre, Beach Movie Bistro, combining the best of several activities. We saw a movie, Now You See Me (great by the way), had a beer, and ate dinner all at the same time in the movie theatre!! And the food was good!!
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| the coolest spot at Cavalier and Rusty found it |
Rusty enjoyed the Cavalier a lot. He wandered around the first hole when golfers weren't around. Every day it was an adventure to get him from the boat to the dog walk area without having him poop in front of the boat owners. The fact is he ALWAYS pooped on the dock. He never made it to the dog area. The trick is making sure the nice folks at Cavalier didn't see it. And that we cleaned up really well when he didn't make it (or every single time he went out). It was quite the adventure. And these are the nicest people so we felt a little bad about it. But Rusty is old and pretty much does what he wants to do and we follow around behind him and clean things up.
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| Rusty owned this dock |
Rusty also enjoyed swimming in the river from the ramp, another thing I don't think the Cavalier folks were used to. The good news is most boat owners are hardly ever there. I guess that is not always good for them. These are nice people who don't use their boats the way we use our boats. I made the club a wonderful private place for us though!! We really appreciated the nice people and the find amenities. They really made us feel at home.
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| Cavalier Yacht and Golf club |
Have I ever shown you Rusty's security bone? He picks this bone up every time he gets on the bridge before we leave. He has his security bone in this photo, taken today, because we left Cavalier today headed for Norfolk. It is time for us to get back on the water. We have been stationary long enough.
Next: On to Norfolk
Tom took us to lunch. Actually he took Kermit to lunch. I had a webinar at 1pm that I couldn't miss since I was the featured speaker. After lunch and the webinar Kermit and I took Rusty out to explore the park. It was too hot for much of a walk but Rusty enjoyed the water featured that brought cool water rushing under his back side. He just stood there, getting wet, ignoring the screaming little kids. 
