Some people say it's a little crazy to start over with little ones after already raising one set of kids. But hey, if you can't be a little crazy in life, it gets boring!
And I never claimed to not be crazy. ;-)
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Arrived in DC/Appomattox
Today has been a very introspective day for me. We arrived in Washington DC and checked into a very nice hotel with an amazing view of the Washington skyline. Tomorrow morning I am up early to meet hubby and Mr16 at the airport, and after a bit of rest for them after their red eye flight we'll see what kind of trouble we can get into around the city.
We stayed last night in Appomattox Virginia, which is the location where General Lee surrendered to General Grant in the Civil War. At home I learned to pronounce it as Appat-o-mox but it is correctly pronounced Appa-matoc. I think the lady at the visitor's center was amused by our attempts to pronounce the word correctly. We spent the morning touring the well preserved and somewhat restored village. There was a living history presentation which was totally fascinating to me, a Union Sergeant described his experiences for an audience of about 25 visitors.
It was amazing to listen to him talk. He used the vernacular of an 1865 Pennsylvania Sergeant in the Federal Army and was dressed out in a realistic looking wool suit. He described the conditions he endured during the war as well as the events of the fateful day in April 1865. As we sat on the porch of what used to be the local tavern we could see the area where the forces had skirmished, the house where Grant and Lee had met to sign the surrender papers, and the old stagecoach road where the soldiers marched up to lay down their arms. He wove the story so skillfully I can still hear the scuff-scuff of the soldier’s feet marching to surrender.
We got to stand in the reconstructed house where Grant and Lee sat in the parlor and made “Gentleman's Agreement" to halt the terrible bloodshed. You could all but see them standing there still... the room re-furnished from pictures taken at the time of the surrender. You could smell the history and the intensity in the place still. I love history. I love how you can look into men's (and women's) souls and learn what's good and right and what's evil and hateful by looking at the fruit of their lives over time. I'll never forget today, or what happened in our nation's life April 9, 1865.
I took pictures, I'll have to upload them later, right now it's well past bedtime.
Good night.
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2 comments:
What an adventure sweetie , so proud of you guys :-)
(((((Bear hugs and be safe n' sane))))
hi kristen,
I'm really enjoying reading about yall adventures! Take care!
Linda in LA
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