What is a vacation summary without photographs? Originally, the seven of us planned to tour Virginia and North Carolina with a stop in Washington. No sooner had we started than Hurricane Debby plopped squarely in our path. With some scrambling, we managed to miss the storm and have a great time.
One of our first stops was the Antietam battlefield outside of Sharpsburg, Maryland. That September day in 1862 is still the single most bloody day in U.S. history.
My earliest interests, besides art and girls, were baseball, the American Civil War, and WWI. One of my side-hustles was working as a wargame designer and developer.
We then headed into the Shenandoah Valley. This photo is from the tour we took of the Luray Caverns. Amazing! Visit them if you can.
We spent several days enjoying the Shenandoah Valley. During our trip, we took 1500 photos.
In Charleston, West Virginia, we went to a minor league baseball game. The Charleston Dirty Birds is an A-League affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. We had great seats right on the field. The only downside was that we sat next to the Dirty Birds’ chief booster and cheerleader. He was constantly up and down leading the fans in cheers and jeers. A strange tradition there is toast throwing. He constantly used his two large-capacity toasters to make toast that he threw to the fans with rousing cheers of “They’re toast!” The area around us smelt like burnt toast the whole time. As we were next to the visitor dugout he kept a non-stop pater with the visiting players, many of whom he knew. He was very effective at distracting the opposing players; several couldn’t help but laugh out loud at his antics.
We took an Ohio River ferry to Blennerhassett Island Historical State Park. Blennerhassett Island is in the middle of the Ohio River and is most remembered as the place where Aaron Burr plotted his coup. We took a rousing horse carriage ride there.
The museum tour guides are well-versed in the island’s history and are enthusiastic entertainers. Our tour guide, Debby, did an excellent job of making the history come vividly alive. Here Southern accent reminded me of my grandmother and her siblings.
