A Week in Virginia

John was sent TDY to Langley AFB in Virginia last week. Gabe and I were able to accompany him, and it sure beat being home alone for a week! The Air Force put us up at the Hilton Hotel (your tax dollars hard at work) and we were just minutes away from lots of fun things to see and do. Our first night there we drove to Buckroe Beach and Gabe experienced the great Atlantic for the first time. He was scared at first of the waves, but by the second night when we went back he was enjoying playing in the surf and of course the sand.

While John was in class at Langley Gabe and I would go do a little sightseeing and touristy stuff. One stop we made was at the Berkeley Plantation: Site of the First Official Thanksgiving in America in 1619, birthplace of William Henry Harrison, 9th U.S. President and Benjamin Harrison V, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, ancestral Home of Benjamin Harrison, 23rd U.S. president, “Taps” was composed here in 1862. Quite the historical plantation and very beautiful! There is actually a cannon ball still stuck in the side of the house from the Civil War. Very cool!

Another favorite that John was actually able to visit with us was Colonial Williamsburg. Once the capital of Virginia this is one historic city. It's amazing to walk the same streets that Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and so many other famous Virginians walked too. One evening we even enjoyed a "Ghost Tour" of the city. For this we went to the Govenor's mansion after dark and heard myths and legends from the time period. I'm sure it was really good, but I only was there for about half of it, since Gabe apparently doesn't like ghost stories. . .

We also visited Jamestown Settlement. Very cool museum and reconstructed fort and ships as the settlers would have built/used. We learned a lot of history about how the English lived and tried to survive, as well as how the Indians lived at the time. It was real "woodmansy" stuff, the whole time we were there we were thinking it was something that John's dad would really enjoy seeing.

I think our favorite stop had to be Monticello. What an incredible place. Beautiful, ingenious and 100% original from the construction to the furniture and paintings on the walls. If you ever have a chance to visit - do it! We are so glad we stopped here! Jefferson was such an amazing man, the house really gives you a sense of who he was and what was important to him. Besides the framed copy of the Declaration of Independence that he kept on the wall, he actually kept a rough draft in the house for his grandchildren to read.

And finally another favorite stop was Virginia Beach. Gabe and I spent all day here and John, Matt and JC (the other Lts. from Wright-Patt) joined us in the evening. Beautiful sand, great waves, and a "noisy atmosphere." (There were Navy F-18s flying overhead all day long making quite a rucous, but with John's love of jets he was in 7th heaven!) We loved the beach and wished we'd had another day to spend there. I even saw a family of about 7 or 8 dolphins swim by while I was there. It was so exciting to see dolphins in the wild, I just wish someone else was there to see it. . .Gabe just didn't appreciate the moment.