Old Folks Home

 Saturday, December 14, 2024         We explored the Spotsylvania Court House Battlefield with Sam, Walt and Stevie. We did one of the hikes and explored the Bloody Angle section. Still much more to see. You can tell from this picture that it was pretty cold. Walt is holding corn cobs that still had some corn that he found on our walk through a dormant cornfield.                   We had fun at the RV before and after the battlefield excursion. Kids explored the park on bikes. We also walked all around. Hot chocolate in the morning. Then a hotdog lunch.  Several games of Hearts in the afternoon. Scott successfully "shot the moon" twice.               We made our first visit to Alexandria on Sunday, December 15th. We had a great afternoon and evening with the Parkers. Wonderful dinner!  Annie went also and behaved well enough to be welcomed back. A big co...

 Fredericksburg, VA / D.C. KOA         We arrived in Fredericksburg on Saturday, Dec 7th, after a brief stop in Wytheville, VA, where our RV held up in the 11 degree weather. We are here for two reasons. The most important is to be near Sam and Kara and the grandkids. The other reason is that we have decided not to travel in the RV on a regular basis anymore. It's just gotten too hard.           Maudie was our first visitor. She came on Sunday and helped us get set up. Not only did she wash the windows before we put up the magna shades, she washed the whole RV with the window washer brush. Inside we cleaned out drawers and washed floors. You name it, she did it for us. She also worked hard to vaccum up all the yellow lady bugs that came inside while we were at Natchez Trace. We took a little time in the afternoon to play Oh Hell and let Maudie rest before driving back to Alexandria. The drive took her a little less than an hour...

 11/21/2024 to 12/5/2024         We had a great Thanksgiving with the Coburns and with my sister Kate, who came in from Oakland, CA. The first picture is of John, Katie, Parker, Ryan, and Chad. The second one includes Kate, Scott and me at Cafe Blue. The third one is John enjoying his raw oyster appetizer.      Katie was the master chef for Thanksgiving dinner, although Chad, Kate, and I also helped. We had a spatchcocked turkey, which was delicious, along with all the other traditional Thanksgiving sides. Here is a picture of our pies. And one of Parker sampling the Challah.           We left our RV at the Cumberland Mountain State Park in Crossville TN while we flew out of Knoxville for the Thanksgiving trip. Annie stayed at the Dog Walk Spa and Resort in Crossville.           Our RVing at this park was remarkable because of the unseasonable cold weather. We knew it would be below ...

 11-7-2024 to 11-21-2024         This state park, especially in contrast to our last stay at the KOA, reminds us of why we love state parks. Huge wooded park, spacious RV sites, wonderful lakes, and lots of nice trails.           We had a great family visit during this stay. This picture was taken by Cody after an afternoon hike  - Harry, me, Kate, Sam, Anita, Haley, Annie, and Scott.           It was also a sibling reunion. We decided it has been 5 years since the three of us have been together.    Additional pictures from the visit: Sam, Anita, Cody Harry Sam and Scott on hike bridge World's best crossword puzzle team.  Anita and Sam Cody and Haley Kate and Harry          Harry's hair is still wet in this picture from his time spent in the lake for the therapeutic effects of the 40 degree temperature.           During the ...

 10-24-2024 to 11-7-2024         We traded a beautiful, spacious state park stay for a cramped, parking lot stay at a KOA by a noisy interstate. Reason for this unlikely trade was learning that the state park has no internet and very limited cell service. So we chose the KOA because we wanted to watch the election returns and the World Series.              After we got in the mode of being Memphis site seerers, it turned out ok.  Our first sightseeing walk was the Big River Crossing, the longest (about a mile) public pedestrian and cyclist bridge across the Mississippi. Great views and nice grassy trail at the end.  Entrance View from the river crossing          We went to Tom Lee Park several times, either combined with sight seeing or as the primary destination. It is a long strip along the Mississippi River that's fun to walk. There's a statue of Tom Lee, who saved 32 people in 1...