Entries about virginia

Saturday, 26 January 2008

We leave tomorrow for home, and Bob and I have been arguing over what route to take to get to the Frankfort KY Hampton Inn. We had a choice of going north to St. Louis and crossing the Mississippi there or going south and going through rural Illinois. I picked to go south.

We left the Crown Pointe condo and checked out about 0900.

Exit from condo

They are changing the name of the hotel from Eagle Lake so that it will Crown Pointe too.

Mississippi Bridge

We went down Route D to Farmington for the last time to Route 51

End Missouri State Route 51

Approaching the bridge

Mississippi bridge with yellow GPS reflected

and were crossing the Mississippi by 1020.

We drove through rural southern Illinois until we got to I-57 which would take us to I-64. We took this route so that we would not have to go all the way up to St. Louis to get on I-64.

We didn't get on I-64 right away, but drove to the next crossroads and stopped about 11:44 at Burton's Cafe, home of the Famous White Pie

Burton's Cafe - Menu

for lunch. Bob got

Chili and chicken liver appetizer

(which was too much for him to eat), and I got a

Turkey club sandwich

Famous White Pie

I couldn't eat all the pie, although it was pretty good. It was a vanilla flavor cream pie which, according to the menu was invented when they didn't have any fruit for a fruit pie.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup sugar
1 dash salt
4 egg whites
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons white vanilla
1⁄4 teaspoon almond extract
1 9 inch pie shell, baked
2 cups fat-free whipped topping
2 tablespoons ground almonds

We left about 12:20. We crossed into the Eastern Time Zone, and got gas in Indiana

CAT scales

Marathon Gas

before we crossed into Kentucky.

Snow on the ground

Staying on I-64, we went through Louisville (which we have never done before - we've always gone to Millington)

and got to the Hampton Inn about 5:45.

Frankfort Hampton Inn

I picked this Hampton Inn because it was close to the interstate. It was high on the hill over the shopping center and visible from the road to the exit.

Looking down on Lowes shopping center from the Hampton Inn

They had a wi-fi, which wouldn't let me log on unless I could open the browser and type in the password within 11 seconds. I got a booster from the desk, and that helped a little.

We ate dinner at nearby O'Charley's

O'Charley's

of the Unsliceable Rolls. (They advertised rolls that were so fresh and hot that they were "unsliceable".) They had really good rolls.

Rolls

This was another chain that I had never heard of, probably because there are none in Maryland. We had to wait awhile for a table. When we were seated, there were a lot of people circulating around the bar. Everyone at this place seemed to know everyone else.

Bob got a

Chocolate smoothie

Coconut shrimp appetizer.

I got a chicken pasta (grilled chicken, lasagna noodles, spinach and cheese for $9.99)


Sunday, 27 January 2008

We had breakfast the next morning and it was good but I picked a couple of 'fat pills'

Fat pills

instead of eating healthy.

Healthier options for breakfast

We were on the road the next morning about 0900.

Ice falls

I was fascinated by the black trees against the gray sky. At least it wasn't snowing.

Silhouettes- black tree branches against a grey sky

Farm in the hills

Bridge to Nitro

We stopped a little before Charleston WV for lunch.

Fireplug

We tried Wendy's first, but they were so slow that we defaulted to McDonalds, and even at there all the soda dispensers were out of order. Bob got a chocolate milkshake and used my water to take his pills.

Out of Service

Bridge

West Virginia's gold topped capitol building

We drove by the capitol,

Clearances

55 mph and Water ICE Bridge signs

and then I reminded Bob that we had a toll road coming up. He has so much trouble getting out his wallet when he is driving - he hates to have to do that.

Pay toll

We drove through the mountains with the ice waterfalls seeping out of the rock walls that surrounded the road.

Ice falls

We began to see snow on the ground also.

Interstate

Planes and cows

We stopped at the Virginia Welcome Center for a map of Virginia,

Virginia Welcome Center Ladies room

The lady there told us how to get to the Hampton Inn which is also Col Alto - 1827 Manor Home - a historic house. It isn't right on the highway, but is in the middle of downtown Historic Lexington so it was a good thing that we had directions. Otherwise it would be difficult to find. We arrived about 1600.

Hampton Inn sign

Historic Hampton Inn

Lounge in the Hampton Inn

We got parked (being careful not to drive or park where it was marked for carriages only. There are historic bedrooms in the old section.

Historic bedroom

Our bedroom in the new wing was very much as a normal Hampton room. I had wi-fi and a TV.

Hampton Inn bedroom in the new section

Pool and New section where we stayed

We could walk across to the new section via a breezeway for breakfast.

We went out for dinner, aiming for Aunt Sarah's Pancake House, but we never found it. Instead we ended up at the Redwood Family Restaurant.

Redwood Restaurant from outside

There was a specials board at the entrance.

Redwood Restaurant Specials Board

Inside Redwood

You seat yourself. This place seems fairly popular with the local crowd. Bob had the

Lasagna special $8.00

He said there was too much of it. I had

Chicken stir fry

He had some of the

homemade carrot cake

(he complained that there was too much icing), and I had

Blueberry pie

Cost - $22.56 (no credit cards)

Monday 28 January 2008

Today is the last day our insurance will cover the car. We had breakfast at the Hampton Inn. There was no cranberry juice and not a very good breakfast - one hot item, cold cereal and Danish rolls.

Pastries breakfast

Then we drove to the CVS so Bob could try some medicine for tinnitus that he had heard about. Then we drove back through town so I could take some pictures of the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery.

Sign at the gate

Looking toward the Jackson statue

List of famous people

Cemetery

Here in the middle of Lexington Virginia are the graves of many famous people, in addition to Thomas Jonathan 'Stonewall' Jackson [body minus Arm], including 144 Confederate veterans, and two Virginia governors. In the center of the cemetery, the statue of Stonewall Jackson was sculpted by Edward Valentine

Others (in alphabetical order):

• John White Brockenbrough - the founder of Washington and Lee Law School
• John Mercer Brooke - Confederate States Naval Commander, Inventor, and Professor.
• William Gilham - the author of a popular book on military drill and tactics.
• Mary Anna Jackson -Widow of General Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson who wrote his memoir.
• George Junkin - the founder of Lafayette College in Easton, PA; the founder of the University of Miami in Oxford, Ohio (Miami of Ohio); and the President (1846-1861) of Washington College (present day Washington and Lee University ) in Lexington, Virginia. He was also the father of Eleanor Junkin, the first wife of Confederate Civil War General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.
• John Letcher - Virginia Governor, US Congressman. the editor of the Democratic “Valley Star” from 1839 to 1850
• Elisha Franklin 'Bull' Paxton - Civil War Confederate Brigadier General.

Pendleton graves

• Alexander Swift 'Sandie' Pendleton - Civil War Confederate Army Officer. Historians today call him the most capable staff officer in the whole Confederate army
• John Thomas Lewis Preston. - founder of the Virginia Military Institute and his wife
• Margaret Preston - Author ot "Silverwood, a Book of Memories," "A Rhyme of the War," and "Old Songs and New."
• Absalom Willis Robertson - Major, World War I, 1917-1919; United States Representative from Virginia, 1933-1946; United States Senator from Virginia, 1946-1966; father of televangelist Pat Robertson.
• Francis Henney Smith - the first Superintendent of Virginia Military Institute.
• Henry St. George Tucker - US Congressman.
• Edwin Parker 'Cy' Twombly - Major League Baseball Player. He was a pitcher for the Chicago White Sox in 1921.

Cemetery

Back on the road, I started calling to have services started. I called Verizon to have the phone put on limited service instead of paying for each message. I tried to get the DSL line taken off vacation, but he said it couldn't be done until Weds. I called the DirecTV people to have the satellite turned back on.

We got gas in Charlottesville, and went out route 20 (Bob hates Route 20 in Charlottesville) and up to Orange and then to Wilderness

Road_near_Wilderness and Wilderness sign

where we stopped briefly at the battlefield information area. (Last time we went to the Visitor's Center on Route 3)

Wilderness battlefield exhibit shelter

5 and 6

We ate lunch at Denny's just before we got to Fredericksburg.

Inside Denny's

Bob had a milkshake and chicken soup

and I had a senior's grilled cheese with tomato with a side of applesauce.

Denny's lunch bill $12.61

Edgehill Virginia

Road through Camp A.P.Hill

Route 301

We were crossing the Potomac by 1330, and were home about an hour later. We picked up the mail on the way through town. The house had heat so they hadn't let the furnace run out. Bob was able to turn the water back on without leaks (last time he forgot that he'd taken the washer hoses off), and start the various cars.

He unpacked the car, and put up the flag. I called to fix the TV reception, and to have the paper started. I sorted the mail, called the insurance people and paid some bills. We went up to town to the Mexican place for dinner. We both had virgin pina coladas.

Tuesday 29, January 2008
We turned in the car today and got back about $300 of the projected rental. The actual rental for a month was about $700 and we
had a 10% discount, but the extra charges ($400+ for one way rental and the Florida charges and the taxes) make the total over $1400.

They delivered oil again on today too.

I weighed myself, and I've only gained 4.5 pounds, which is good.

Wednesday 31 January 2008

Our house in February

I have been arguing with Verizon for several days, as they insisted that I can't have the DSL line until Wednesday and not even early
Wednesday. They finally got it on at 7 pm on Wednesday. I also was having trouble sending email from Forte Agent, so I was on the phone
to the earthlink people until we got that fixed.

My next trip was A Med Cruise with my second grandson.