Friday, June 3, 2016

We started the day in good weather and ended it in a downpour.  Stella started the day by having a conversation with a guy in the elevator about a chicken.  It could only go up from there.  After a stop at WalMart, we kind of doubted that statement.

We drove a ways on the Blue Ridge Parkway and then drove halfway through Shenandoah National Park.  It's beautiful country but we were sort of claustrophobic after 35-40 miles so we left the park and headed for Mount Vernon.  Claustrophobic in the sense that the trees are right up to the side of the road and you can't see much except at the overlooks.

We stopped at a mobile visitor center to get our stamps in our national park passports.  I told the two young women there that we had seen an animal run across the road in front of us.  When I described it, she said. "A ground hog or a woodchuck."  I said that we called them rock chucks.  She said that some people call them whistle pigs.  I said that what we call whistle pigs were much smaller.  I think we were talking two different animals.  And that reminded me that we saw one at Monticello.  It was rust colored and so fluffy that it looked like it had been blow-dried.  After thinking about it some more, I decided that what we saw did look like the ground hog they show off on February 2nd, so they saw ground hog, we say rock chuck.

On the way to Mount Vernon, Stella spotted signs for James Madison's Montpelier estate so we went to it.  The restoration started in 2003 and finished in 2008 so it has not been open to the public very long.  The DuPont family owned it after the Madison's and had added wings and upper stories that were removed to restore it to his time.  It's very different from Monticello but there are similarities.  We did a guided tour through the house and walked around the grounds.  There is an active archaeological dig going on here.

Dolley Madison has a strong influence in the furnishings of the house.  She was the first presidential wife to be called "the First Lady" (in her eulogy) and the term has been continued ever since.  James Madison was a scholar and became Thomas Jefferson's closest friend.  He was the most influential person in the structuring of our government.

We thought it interesting that there is a horse racing track here that still has races a couple of times a year.  It's very well maintained.

Then it was on toward Mount Vernon.  By this time it was apparent that we were not going to get there before it closed so we are staying about 10 miles south of Alexandria, VA.  The sky over DC was absolutely black when we got to our hotel.  This was after we missed the exit and were lost for awhile.  Anyway, we got our stuff to the room and decided to go to dinner across the street and be in for the night.  It was a good idea until we got to the door and were met with a pounding rainstorm..  The storms here seem to pass quickly so we waited and waited and waited.  My rain jacket was in the car.  So was Stella's umbrella.  I finally said that I would run to the car and pick her up at the door.  I was really wet but we drove across the street to the restaurant, dried out during dinner and came out to clearing skies.

Tomorrow it's off to DC, starting with Mount Vernon.