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IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

This is the final week of our adventures on the East Coast. We went over our list of "must see" places and decided to check off a few more things.

Last Friday, we headed up north to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. We took the back roads so we could see some of the local area. Before we made it to Harper's Ferry, we took a side trip to the small town of Brunswick, Virginia to visit the B&O Railroad exhibit where we learned about the transportation system in the area. In Harper's Ferry - where the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers meet - we learned that the town was a diverse, vibrant and thriving community where the town's major business was the U.S. Armory and how important this area was during the Civil War. Harper's Ferry witnessed the first successful application of interchangeable parts, the arrival of the first successful American railroad, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, John Brown's attack on slavery, the largest surrender of Federal troops during the Civil War and the education of former slaves in one of the earliest integrated schools in the United States. The only thing I remember about Harper's Ferry from school was the arrest of John Brown. We also took a walk on a bit of the Appalachian Trail across the Shenandoah River. We spent the whole day exploring this area and didn't get back home until dark.

Since it was Memorial Day Weekend and we were expecting lots of traffic on the roads, we decided to stay close to home for the rest of the weekend. We did want to see the Iwo Jima Memorial and all the flags placed on the graves next door in Arlington Cemetery, so we spent some time there. That was a very emotional experience. Since Laura had military credentials, we also took a drive through nearby Fort Myer to catch a great view of the capitol.

One of the great sights in Washington D.C. on Memorial Day is the arrival and parade of thousands of motorcycles. "Rolling Thunder" was started to honor POW's and MIA's and has grown to a huge event Memorial Day Weekend in the nation's capitol. We didn't want to go into the city for the event, but Laura found a website that said that about 300 bikes would be leaving the local VFW hall at 8 a.m. Sunday morning. So we got up early and drove to a corner where we could catch them as they made their way north into the city. We got there early and waited. And waited. 8:00. 8:05. 8:10 and then :15. Nothing but cars driving by looking at the three crazy people on the corner watching traffic go by. Finally, at 8:20, a somewhat chagrined Laura loaded us into the car to drive to the VFW hall. We got there and it was empty. Somehow, they had changed their planned route and bypassed us altogether! Laura felt so bad that she took us out and bought us a wonderful breakfast!

Sunday after breakfast, the guys settled down in front of Stan's 106 inch TV screen to watch the Indy 500 race. What a difference a huge screen makes to watch something like that! While the guys were busy doing their thing, Laura and I worked out in the yard for awhile. That evening, we had neighbor friends over for dinner and we watched the Memorial Service from the steps of the Capitol on the big screen. That was very moving and I have noticed that people in this area seem to be far more patriotic than we are on the West Coast. I guess it is because there is more of a military presence here and that they are at the heart of our nation. With the six of us there that night, we had veterans of the Air Force, Army and Navy.

Monday we drove two hours to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to see the battlefield there. Again, it was a very impressive site of over 3,000 acres where the Confederate and Union armies fought for three days in early July of 1863. After arriving at the park, we started our visit by watching a movie about the Civil War and then viewed this 360 degree painting "The Battle of Gettysburg" by Paul Philippoteaux that was depicted on a Cyclorama program which is a sound and light show of the spectacular 377-foot circular painting. We then hopped on a bus and took a three-hour tour around the battlefield, narrated by yet another excellent tour guide. We have found the guides on all of these tours are most passionate about their subject. It was yet another memorable day.

Dave and I were off to D.C. on our own on Tuesday to catch up on a few sites that were still on our list. We decided that we would tour Ford's Theater where Lincoln was shot and the Peterson House across the street where he died. We arrived at Ford's Theater and found that it was closed for the week. That was frustrating because we had three weeks to go there and we picked the week they were doing some renovations. They did give us free tickets to the Peterson House and the museum. We had to wait in line but it was well worth it. We entered the house and made our way through the various rooms and then up an elevator where started a tour of four floors of exhibits and memorials from Lincoln's funeral. Since our plans to visit Ford's Theater had been changed and we still had most of the afternoon, we decided to take in the International Spy Museum, which was close by. This museum was devoted to espionage, spy legends, history of spying, spying in the future and had an entire floor devoted to James Bond. We thought the museum was aimed primarily at younger people but we enjoyed it just the same.

Wednesday was the killer. We walked our feet off in the National Air and Space Museum. This was at a different location than the first A&S museum that we visited three weeks ago near Dulles airport. Both are Smithsonian museums, but this was the original in downtown D.C. It was two floors filled with everything from the exhibits on stars and planets to the first airplanes. They had the original Wright Brother's flyer, the "Spirit of St. Louis" which was flown by Charles Lindbergh on his historic transatlantic flight, space capsules, weather and environmental satellites, etc. We spent the whole day here. But we weren't done yet! Late in the afternoon, we took the Metro and met up with a neighbor of Stan and Laura's who works at the Pentagon where he had scheduled a special tour for us. After going through security (we needed two pieces of "government" issued I.D. just to get in the door), we walked the halls of the Pentagon. It has over 17 miles of hallways and we got through just some of them, although by the time we finished, it felt as though we had done them all! He showed us the General McArthur exhibit, the Eisenhower exhibit, the Secretary of Defense exhibit, the POW/MIA exhibit and the Joint Chiefs of Staff area. He took us to the 9/11 Memorial Chapel and then out to the Pentagon Memorial where 184 people lost their lives when the American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.

We have one more day before we board our flight for home. We are going to spend that day in Baltimore. This is a city that has intrigued me for a long time, although I really don't know why. Something has always told me that if I'm ever in this area, I need to visit Baltimore. So, while we are here, we are going to go visit it just to satisfy my curiosity, if nothing else.

Last week, I mentioned that we have been invaded with Cicadas. They're still here, and louder than ever. We couldn't make this audio cut work last week, so I'll post it now so you can hear what we hear all the time when we're outside. You can hear it here.

I will always remember this trip because it is something that I have wanted to do for a long time. It has been a wonderful trip filled with lasting memories and if it wasn't for our friends, Stan and Laura, who have generously given their time, transportation and a place for us to stay, we would have never been able to have accomplished as much as we did. I am forever grateful. In turn, I am beginning to miss home and family and look forward to being back there.