Tag: travel

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Valley Forge, Philadelphia & Baltimore

After the British captured Philadelphia in 1777 and the Continental Army failed to retake it, George Washington set up camp at Valley Forge for the winter. Log huts were constructed to house the roughly 12,000 people who would be there for about six months. During the time in encampment there, nearly 2,000 died from disease (typhoid, influenza, small pox, typhus, dysentery) and malnutrition (as supplies were inconsistent).

The encampment included soldiers from all thirteen colonies. English was not necessarily the first language of all of them. The group was also racially mixed as the soldiers included free blacks and Native Americans. The Continental Army was the most racially mixed ever in the US until after World War II.

The time was spent drilling and training in order to make the army a better disciplined, efficient group. These were not professional soldiers, but farmers, shopkeepers, etc. One of the biggest myths about Valley Forge was that it was freezing and buried in snow all winter. This wasn’t quite true although it definitely wasn’t a day at the beach.

The Marquis de Lafayette had joined Washington by this point. He and other officers, such as Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton and Captain Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee, were housed in local stone buildings. The log buildings there now are all reproductions, but the stone buildings (including Washington’s headquarters) are original.

In Philadelphia, our first stop was the Art Museum where Rocky ran up the steps as part of his boxing training. Some of our group attempted to run up the steps themselves. Knowing that I wouldn’t get far with running, I chose to walk up at a steady pace. I ended up passing up several of the others who had started out running and ran out of air.

From the museum steps, we got a good view of the back end of another equestrian statue of George Washington. Off in the distance was City Hall with a statue of William Penn on top.

Next came a stop at the Liberty Bell. At the time I was there in 2010, excavations were taking place on the foundations of the house where George Washington lived as President. John Adams also lived there until the White House in Washington, DC was built. A memorial to the President’s house was under construction at the same time. Not much to take photos of at the time as what was there was behind fences and scaffolding. It looked like it was going to be pretty cool once completed.

We had special tickets to see the inside of Independence Hall with times on them. We just had to be at the entrance by the time stamped on the ticket. So, in addition to saying “hi” to the Liberty Bell and checking out what I could of the President’s House, I took a walk to the Graff House where Thomas Jefferson stayed and wrote the Declaration of Independence. I didn’t have time for the film, but dashed up the stairs to the two rooms Jefferson rented.

This time at Independence Hall, we weren’t herded around like the prior visit and I was able to see everything I wanted to see. I could take my time getting photos. The famous painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence was not exactly accurate as the whole process took several days and not all of the men were in the same room at the same time. But they did have their special chairs at the various tables in the room just like the arrangement that can be seen there now.

After I left Independence Hall, I went by Congress Hall, which was the first location of the US Congress when the capitol was in Philadelphia. The Old City Hall was where the Supreme Court met in those days. Library Hall has a cool statue of Benjamin Franklin as part of the façade.

I checked out those buildings while on my way to Christ Church Burial Ground to see Franklin’s grave. The burial ground was begun in 1719 for the church which had been there since 1695. Franklin died in 1790. The grave was easy to find as it is near the fence not too far from the entrance. It is a very simple slab with just his name and his wife, Deborah’s name. Benjamin Rush, another signer of the Declaration, is also buried in that cemetery. He has a fairly simple slab, near one of the walls with a memorial next to it that was added later.

Baltimore, Maryland was our lunch stop before heading back to Washington, DC. Prior to colonization, the area that is now Baltimore was mainly a hunting ground for Native Americans. Once colonized, it grew fast due to its tobacco and sugar cane plantations. We were let loose in the Inner Harbor at a shopping center next to the USS Constellation, which is the only Civil War era tall ship still afloat.

Prior to the Civil War, the Constellation was involved in efforts to end the slave trade as part of the African Slave Trade Patrol. Once the war began, the ship remained in African seas for a while before being sent to patrol the Mediterranean. Eventually the ship returned to the Colonies as part of a blockade of Confederate ports.

Next time – back in Washington, DC to spend a day hopping on and off a sight seeing trolley.

  • Valley Forge
  • More of Valley Forge
  • Washington’s Headquarters at Valley Forge
  • Philadelphia Art Museum
  • Rear of statue of George Washington in Philadelphia
  • Statue of William Penn atop City Hall
  • Liberty Bell
  • Graff House
  • Where Jefferson wrote Declaration of Independence
  • Independence Hall
  • Inside Independence Hall
  • More of inside of Independence Hall
  • Still more of inside of Independence Hall
  • Library Hall with statue of Ben Franklin
  • Ben Franklin’s Grave
  • USS Constellation in Baltimore
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Harper’s Ferry & Gettysburg

In 1859, a raid was led by abolitionist John Brown on the arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. He had 21 men with him – 16 white, three free black, one freed slave, and one fugitive slave. They were armed with steel pikes. They were soon pinned down by locals and some of the militia and took refuge in the engine house. Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee and Lieutenant J. E. B. Stuart led 86 soldiers to capture Brown’s raiders. Brown himself was hanged for treason. His goal had been to inspire a slave revolt.

Back in 1747, a fella named Robert Harper bought the rights to the ferry at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers from Peter Stephens, a squatter who was running the ferry on land actually owned by Lord Fairfax, a Scotsman. Harper then bought about 126 acres of land from Lord Fairfax, which included the land that became the town of Harper’s Ferry (originally called “Shenandoah Falls at Mister Harper’s Ferry”). Both Thomas Jefferson and George Washington visited the site at different times. When Washington arrived, he decided it would be a great place for a US armory and arsenal. Meriwether Lewis obtained the weapons and hardware for the Lewis & Clark Expedition from the armory.

When our tour group arrived, we found that Harper’s Ferry was still a very small town – only 286 people. The old part of town had been declared a National Historic Park and preserved as it would have been back in 1859. We left our tour coach at the visitor’s center and boarded a shuttle bus to take us down to the Lower Town. There we could wander around, in and out of buildings, until it was time to head back to the visitor’s center.

Some of the buildings I visited contained the A Place in Time Museum (the history of Harper’s Ferry), Frankel’s Clothing Store, the Provost Marshall Office, Stipes Boarding House, Arsenal Square (where the arsenal once stood), John Brown’s Fort (the engine house), the memorial on the original site of John’s Brown’s Fort (and where he was captured), the John Brown Museum, the museum to the 1862 Battle of Harper’s Ferry, the Confectionary, and the Civil War Museum. I had lunch at a café in the midst of all of these preserved buildings and museums.

Other than the café, restaurants, and the restrooms, it was like stepping back in time. Cars were not allowed (other than the shuttle bus), so it really seemed like we were back in 1859, except for the clothing and equipment of all of the tourists.

I got back to the visitor’s center a little early so I could browse in the gift shop. I found a large portrait photo of Abraham Lincoln and his son Tad, which now hangs on the wall of the bedroom I use as a library.

The bloodiest battle of the Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg was fought from July 1st to 3rd in 1863 in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The casualties were estimated from 46,000 to 51,000 in total. Major General George Meade was commander of the Army of the Potomac (Union) while General Robert E. Lee commanded the Army of Northern Virginia (Confederates).

Other than memorials (and the growth of trees and shrubbery), the battlefield doesn’t look that much different than it did then. This makes it really easy to imagine the whole thing in your mind, especially while being described by an expert guide. Having the guide join you in your car and show you around is definitely worthwhile. That is what my brothers did when they took a day trip from DC. Our tour had one come aboard the tour coach.

We had about four hours at the battlefield, starting at the visitor’s center with a film, followed by the cyclorama and museum. After that, we were joined by our guide and toured the battlefield. We began at the statue of General Lee, which stands close to the starting point of Pickett’s Charge. This was a portion of the battle on the third day where about 12,500 Confederates marched across to what is known as the “high water mark” on Cemetery Ridge. The Confederates were pretty much mowed down, although there were a few who made it all the way to the Union line and hand-to-hand combat.

On our circuitous route to Cemetery Ridge (and the statue of General Meade), we stopped at several battle sites including Plum Run, the Peach Orchard, the Wheat Field, the Devil’s Den, and Little Round Top (which included a Union Reenactor). We got off of the tour coach and walked around at most of these locations.

The movie “Gettysburg” (based on the book The Killer Angels) used thousands of reenactors and filmed many of the battle scenes at Gettysburg on the actual battlefield. When I watched the movie, in addition to Pickett’s Charge, it was the 20th Maine’s adventures on Little Round Top that made a big impression. Their attempt to defend their position on the second day of the battle culminated in a downhill bayonet charge led by their school teacher commander, Colonel Joshua Chamberlain (Jeff Daniels in the movie) when they ran out of ammunition. Standing on Little Round Top and looking down the slope makes their charge all the more impressive as it was fairly steep. If it had been me, I likely would have tripped, fallen, and become impaled on either my own or someone else’s bayonet.

The failed Pickett’s Charge is quite dramatic also. The movie footage was filmed in the actual location where it took place. Standing at either end (where it began or where it ended) it seems impossible that it would have been successful. In the book and movie, after the charge fails, Lee tells Pickett to “look to your division”. Pickett responds, “I have no division.”

The 1st Minnesota was heavily involved in the Battle of Gettysburg as well. They have three monuments there as roughly 82% were killed, mainly on the second day at Plum Run.

That night we were staying in the Gettysburg Hotel, which dates from 1797. It is on the main square of the town, across the street from the David Willis House, where Lincoln stayed when he came to deliver the Gettysburg Address. The hotel was used as a hospital during the battle and is reputed to be haunted. I spent some time before dinner walking around in the neighborhood, which was very historic.

We had dinner at the Dobbin House Tavern, which dates to 1776 and was a hiding place for runaway slaves on the Underground Railroad. After a tasty dinner of flounder stuffed with crab meat, a baked potato, and a slice of cherry pie, we were given a short tour of the rooms where the runaways were hidden. The conditions were very cramped, but they would have had to have been in order not to be found.

Back at the hotel, I ended up sleeping with the lamp next to my bed on. I was pretty sure I wasn’t alone in the room.

Next time –Valley Forge, Philadelphia, and Baltimore.

  • Buildiings at Harper’s Ferry
  • Clothing store
  • Clothing store interior
  • Boarding house
  • Engine house
  • Memorial on engine house’s original location
  • One of John Brown’s pikes
  • Near the start of Pickett’s charge
  • Plum Run near Peach Orchard and Wheatfield
  • The Devil’s Den sharpshooter location
  • Little Round Top
  • On Little Round Top
  • Union reenactor on Little Round Top
  • Memorial to 20th Maine on Little Round Top
  • High Water Mark where Pickett’s Charge was heading
  • Memorial to 1st Minnesota
  • Gettysburg Hotel
  • David Willis House
  • Dobbin House Tavern
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Virginia: Richmond, Monticello & Shenandoah

The site of Richmond, Virginia was once a Powhatan Village. Some of the settlers from Jamestown moved up the river to join the Native Americans there in the early 1600s. By 1737, the village of Richmond was formed. During the American Revolution, it displaced Williamsburg (which had displaced Jamestown) as the capitol of Virginia.

It was in St John’s Church, where the House of Burgesses from Williamsburg was meeting after having been kicked out of Williamsburg by the Royal Governor, where Patrick Henry gave his famous “give me liberty, or give me death” speech. This church was built in 1741, replacing a couple of earlier churches. The first one was Henrico Parish Church, which had been built in 1611. This church was the first college in the American Colonies. It also educated the children of the Native Americans there.

Pocahantas was held captive nearby. But was baptized (taking the name “Rebecca”) at the Henrico Parish Church and married John Rolfe there. They established a plantation across the river. When the town of Henricus, along with the church, were destroyed in the Massacre of 1622 (and never rebuilt) a new church was built at the Rolfe Plantation. Once Richmond was founded, the present church was built in an area that became known as Church Hill.

It was during the Second Virginia Convention at St John’s Church, which was attended by all the important Virginia delegates, including Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Harrison V, Thomas Mann Randolph, Richard Bland, Richard Henry Lee, Francis Lightfoot Lee, that Patrick Henry gave his historic speech. By the time of the Third Virginia Convention, Patrick Henry found himself elected as the first Governor of Virginia while George Washington was appointed as head of the American Army.

During the Revolution, Benedict Arnold housed his troops in St John’s Church. A signer of the Declaration of Independence, George Wythe, is buried in the churchyard. He was also the first law professor in the US and a delegate to the Continental Congress. Edgar Allan Poe’s mother was buried in the churchyard as well, but the location of her grave is not known.

I was moved to be in that church, which wasn’t a replica, but the actual site of such important US history. We had the time to walk around in the neighborhood next to the church, which was also authentic and dated back to the time when the church was built.

From there, we visited the Capitol Building, designed by Thomas Jefferson with the help of French architect, Charles-Louis Clerisseau. It was built at the summit of a hill and completed in 1788. The House of Burgesses moved in and became the Virginia General Assembly.

The building survived the Civil War, despite its role as the capitol of the Confederacy. But the gallery and floor of the large courtroom on the second floor collapsed in 1870. Instead of being demolished, the Capitol was repaired and two wings were added. A short distance from the Capitol, in Capitol Square, Is a large, equestrian monument to George Washington.

We had lunch in Charlottesville on our way to Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello. Designed by Jefferson himself and built in 1772, the house is one of the most interesting I have ever seen. He had so many inventions and contraptions all over the house that were way ahead of their time. I really liked his bedroom, which had a bed built in an alcove as part of the wall between two rooms – his bedroom and his study.

After coming in through the original main entrance, our group (there were a lot of people in the house) was taken into the library. I ended up at the very back of the room, next to a very old looking chair. We were pretty well packed in. This was one time when being short was a good thing. Because I couldn’t be seen, was behind everyone else, and didn’t need to bend down at all, I was able to caress the arm of the chair.

Later in the talk that the guide was giving, he mentioned the chair next to which I was standing as being one of Jefferson’s favorite chairs that he sat in often. Yay! Although I do usually stick to the rules and keep my hands off, this was one time it was just too tempting, especially since my hip was already up against the side of the arm in that very crowded room.

Even if photography had been allowed, there were so many people it wouldn’t have been possible to get a decent photo anyway. We could take photos of the kitchens and outbuildings.

Once we toured the inside of the house, we had free time to explore the grounds. I headed along Mulberry Row, which contained a lot of the service buildings and the slave quarters for the house slaves. Several gardens were also along the path to the family graveyard where Jefferson’s grave is located. Once again I hiked all over the area to see as much as I could, then finished up at the visitor’s center.

When I was a kid, I saw a film called “Shenandoah” starring Jimmy Stewart. In addition to its Civil War setting and its anti-war theme, I remember being impressed by the beauty of the scenery. Come to find out much later that it was filmed out in Oregon, not in Virginia. Oh, well. I was still really looking forward to taking the Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park. A very heavy thunderstorm hit shortly after we left Monticello and didn’t begin to clear until we reached the entrance of the park. That was a relief as visibility had been quite bad up to that point and I didn’t like the idea of driving along a road high up in the mountains in heavy rain.

We had quite a drive before we arrived at Skyland Lodge, our quarters for the night. The lodge was built in 1895, which was before the park existed. It had cabins and lodges scattered around the property. The lodge in which I was staying had beautiful views of the Shenandoah River Valley below. That was what I had been waiting to see and it was truly gorgeous.

It was a relatively short walk from my room to the building containing the dining room. I decided to just go simple and southern with fried chicken for dinner. Along with dinner, I sampled some Virginia bourbon with orange juice and lemonade. It was quite tasty, despite the fact that I tend to prefer vodka, rum or tequila in my cocktails. While perusing the menu a little further, I discovered that they offered moonshine. Since the Appalachians were where moonshine (a clear, unaged whiskey mostly made from corn mash) was mainly distilled, I figured I couldn’t not give it a try. So I had some moonshine with lemonade as an after dinner drink.

It went down smooth and was quite delicious. It had a higher alcoholic content than most other hard liquors, but didn’t taste like it – not at first. As time went on, however, the effects began to be felt. Then it sucker-punched me! Wow! I was glad that I wasn’t alone and walked back to the lodge I was in with others in my group whose rooms were nearby. My friends, Gaye and Judy, however, were in another part of the resort.

The effects just increased. By the time I got into my room, I was feeling might tipsy. So, I got ready for bed, set my alarm for the morning, and went to sleep. The next day, we continued along Skyline Drive to the north, stopping off at Hazel Mountain Overlook to take some photos and look at the spectacular views.

Next time – complete immersion in the Civil War at Harper’s Ferry and Gettysburg.

  • St John’s in Richmond
  • Grave of George Wythe
  • Inside St John’s
  • St John’s Interior
  • Where Patrick Henry gave his speech

  • Neighborhood of St John’s
  • Capitol Building at Richmond
  • Statue of George Washington
  • Monticello
  • Monticello – another view
  • Another angle of Monticello
  • Kitchen at Monticello
  • Mulberry Row at Monticello
  • Jefferson’s Grave
  • View from Skyland Lodge
  • View from Hazel Mountain Overlook
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Virginia: Alexandria, Mount Vernon, Yorktown, Jamestown & Williamsburg

Alexandria, Virginia – now basically a DC suburb – was a major slave trading port with one of the largest slave markets in the country. The building that housed the offices of a slave trading company is now a museum called Freedom House. Some of the auctions were held in front of the Town Hall. Our stop in Alexandria was brief — just long enough to see the Town Hall and a little of the Old Town.

The land on which Mount Vernon stands was acquired by George Washington’s great-grandfather in the 1600s. The view from the house across the Potomac River is gorgeous. What a lovely place to live! No wonder Washington was anxious to get home after he was President. We were able to tour most of the house (though not allowed to take photos other than in the kitchen). I walked around the property, looking at everything. Once I paid my respects at George and Martha’s graves, I went back to the porch and sat in one of the rocking chairs, taking in the views until it was time to leave.

We had lunch at Spotsylvania Courthouse, location of a Civil War battle in 1864. The 20 hour battle ended in a stalemate and three cemeteries full of bodies.

Our afternoon was spent at Yorktown. Founded in 1691 as a port town, Yorktown was the site of British General Cornwallis’ surrender to George Washington during the American Revolution in 1781. This was also the battle when Washington finally caved in to Alexander Hamilton and let him take command. One of the photos I have from there is of a redoubt where Hamilton fearlessly led the charge. In town were several buildings that were there at the time of the Revolution, including a house (the Nelson house) with a cannonball still imbedded in the wall. Down below the town, is a cave that Cornwallis used as his headquarters.

We spent the night in Williamsburg, not too far from the historic part of town. We could actually walk there. It would have been a long walk, but we could still walk there. Since I had walked all over Mount Vernon and Yorktown (I covered the entire battlefield as well as the town), I didn’t feel the need to walk all the way into town that evening. So I grabbed some food near the hotel and watched a movie in my room.

Jamestown was our first stop for the day. The first settlement there was begun in 1607 when the ships Susan Constant, Discovery, and Godspeed arrived in what later became Virginia. The settlement had a pretty rocky time. Its location was swampy with loads of mosquitos and brackish water. The settlers arrived in the middle of a major drought and too late in the year to plant anything. Most of the group were gentlemen and their servants, none of whom were used to manual labor. Seems that this idea was not too well thought out. In a few months, roughly 80% of the group was dead.

Although another group arrived in 1608, many of them ran off to join the Powhatan tribes, so the settlers were in dire straights by 1609. This was when the Sea Venture led several other ships to rescue Jamestown. Unfortunately, they encountered a hurricane and ended up stranded in Bermuda for nearly a year while they built new ships. They finally arrived at Jamestown in 1610.

1609 and 1610 are remembered as the Starving Time. There wasn’t much left of the settlement by the time the people from the Sea Venture finally arrived. But their arrival saved what was left of the colony. There is an interesting book about it titled The Shipwreck That Saved Jamestown. This story is also considered to have been the basis for Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest”.

My first ancestor to arrive in what eventually became the US (and my 11th great grandfather on my paternal grandmother’s side) was on the Sea Venture, survived the hurricane, and arrived in Jamestown on the Deliverance in 1610. He stuck around for a couple years and headed back to London in 1612. In 1620, he decided to give it another try and sailed across again with his second wife and children from both his first and second wives. I’m descended from a daughter by his first wife.

I would have really liked to have seen the remains of the original settlement that is known as Historic Jamestown, but we were taken to the recreation of the colony known as Jamestown Settlement. A Powhatan village was been reconstructed just outside of the settlement. They also have replicas of the three original ships and of the settlement itself as it would have been in 1610 through 1614. It was very interesting to see. Sometime, though, I would still like to visit the actual settlement.

After spending the morning at Jamestown, we returned to Williamsburg for the remainder of the day. I had been to Williamsburg before on an earlier trip, but we ran out of time before we could tour the Governor’s Palace. So this time, immediately after lunch (which was at the same end of town as the Governor’s Palace) I made my way there first.

To try to keep from having too many people in the building at the same time, they gather groups in the courtyard. Then, when one group has pretty much exited, they let another in. Fortunately we did not need to stay with our group and gather around a tour guide. We could wander through at our own pace. There were placards to read and costumed guides who could answer question and would bring our attention to something they especially thought we should see or learn about. Since we had all afternoon, I took my time.

Making several stops along the way, I walked from the Governor’s Palace to the House of Burgesses at the other end of town and back again. I stopped in at the Brickyard (brick making), the Blacksmith shop and Armory (making horseshoes, tools, weapons and nails), the Joinery (finishing work on doors, windows, fireplace mantels), the Gunsmith shop (gun making), the Apothecary (pharmacy), the Bindery (book binding), the Coopers (barrel making), the cabinetmakers (furniture making), the Wheelwright (wheel making), the Foundry (creating objects in brass, bronze, pewter and silver), and a Shoemakers (making shoes and boots). I also visited some of the houses that were open to the public, such as the Everard House, the Geddy House, the Wythe House, and the Peyton Randolph House.

There were also several costumed interpreters portraying historical figures such as Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, James Madison, and George Washington, and others playing various townspeople, soldiers, and slaves. Had a nice chat with a housemaid at the Governor’s Palace, a soldier at the parade ground, a free black woman, and Thomas Jefferson, in addition to some of the people at the different shops and workshops. All in all, a fun day.

That evening, we went back into town to have dinner at the Shields Tavern, where we had an 18th century style southern dinner accompanied by 18th century music. We also had a few actors playing patriots who were doing a little rebel-rousing. After breakfast at the hotel, we had an interpreter give us information on the life of a slave at that time.

Next time – Richmond, Monticello and the Shenandoah National Park.

  • Alexandria Town Hall
  • Freedom House
  • Mount Vernon
  • Graves of George & Martha Washington
  • Yorktown Battlefield
  • British Redoubt at Yorktown
  • Canon ball in wall of house
  • Powhatan Lodge
  • Inside of Powhatan Lodge
  • Replica of Susan Constant at Jamestown
  • Interior of Susan Constant
  • Jamestown Settlement
  • Jamestown Settlement
  • Governor’s Palace at Williamsburg
  • Bedroom in Governor’s Palace
  • Williamsburg
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Washington, DC Revisited

For a fall 2010 tour of the US Historic East, including Colonial, Revolutionary, and Civil War sites, I had an early morning flight from Minneapolis to Chicago. I do dislike early morning flights. But I would rather take one when going to a domestic destination and have a decent amount of time on my first day than taking a late flight and not getting to see anything before the tour begins. This tour, the flight from Chicago to Washington’s Reagan National was delayed by a thunderstorm. After getting a good late lunch at the hotel, I set off to explore the area around it.

I was upgraded to a suite on a special floor where you had to use your room card on the elevator when selecting the floor in order to get there. Unlike Amman, Jordan where I had a suite but couldn’t use it, I had two full nights at this hotel. After getting back to the hotel from my exploration of the neighborhood (the hotel was roughly a block from the White House), I checked out the VIP room for the people on my floor. I found bottled water, fruit, pastries and small bottles of sparkling wine. Trying not to be too much of a pig, I hauled a few items back to my room. I wasn’t going to need to go anywhere for dinner that night.

We had about 45 people on the tour. Since it had to do with US history, there were several Americans. We also had a few Canadians and a couple of Brits. Our Tour Director was named Scott. At our meet and greet that evening, I met a couple of ladies (Judy & Gaye) from Louisville, Kentucky with whom I often sat for dinner or lunch.

The following morning, we began our tour with a walk to Lafayette Park and the White House. However, we were fairly quickly asked to leave as the President and his family were walking from the White House to the church on the other side of the park (St Johns) to attend Sunday morning service. So we walked back to the hotel, jumped on our tour coach and made our way to Arlington National Cemetery.

The first thing we did was to visit the graves of President Kennedy, Jackie, Bobby & Ted. Then we looked at some of the Civil War graves before heading to the Iwo Jima Memorial. The land upon which the cemetery stands was originally owned by the Custis family. These were the descendants of George Washington’s wife, Martha and her children by her first husband. Martha’s great-granddaughter married a fella named Robert E. Lee.

When he resigned his commission in the US military and took the reins of the Confederate army (actually the Army of Northern Virginia at that time), Lee stationed his army on his property. This was way too dangerous for the Union. So once the Union managed to remove Lee and his forces, they took over the property. It wasn’t widely used as a cemetery until after the war ended, although a couple bodies were buried on the outskirts once the other cemeteries in the DC area filled up.

The Iwo Jima Memorial is actually dedicated to the US Marines. This was not a memorial that I saw on my first trip to DC back in 1999, so I was glad to see it. We then visited the Korean War Memorial, which I find to be very haunting. Next came the Lincoln Memorial (one of my favorites) and the Vietnam War Memorial. The son of one of our neighbors back in Dallas, where I grew up, died in the Vietnam War. We had enough time there for me to look up his name and find it on the memorial.

We drove by the Capitol, only stopping for a photo from across the lawn. That was okay since I had been able to go inside on my last tour to DC. I had other plans for my free time in the afternoon. We were dropped off at the Smithsonian National Gallery of Art to get lunch and set off on our free time. We could either return there later in the afternoon for a pickup or make our own way back to the hotel. I chose to make my own way back.

After lunch, I walked to Ford’s Theatre. During my last trip, I had been able to see the museum in the basement of the theatre, but not the theatre itself. It had been closed due to a performance of a play. After paying for my admission, I walked up the stairs and entered the theatre at the balcony level. I was retracing John Wilkes Booth’s footprints at that point, but then I departed the path he took to walk down to the front row of the balcony and sit down to soak it all in.

When I was in college, I had designed the costumes for a play which ended up traveling to Ford’s Theatre as part of a competition for play productions from universities around the US. Since I wasn’t actually in the play that time, I didn’t get to go. Just my costumes. I stared at the stage for a while, imagining my costumes moving about down there.

Although you can’t get into the Presidential box itself, you can see right into it from the same perspective that John Wilkes Booth had in the small hallway right behind the presidential box. I managed to get a pretty decent photo from there without reflections. After spending as much time in the theatre itself as I wanted to, I went downstairs to the museum and explored that again.

I had been pretty much all by myself in the theatre and had purchased the ticket to see both the theatre and the Peterson House across the street. Back out in the street, there wasn’t any line in front of the Peterson House at all. I went in and found that I had it pretty much to myself too. The challenge with photographing the bed on which Lincoln died, is that it is completely surrounded by glass. So getting a photo without reflections is difficult. But I don’t think I did too badly. He was too tall for the bed and had to lie diagonally across it.

On my way back to the hotel, I went by Madame Tussaud’s, so I decided to stop in. In addition to the usual actors, singers, etcetera, this one had several historical figures and presidents. Not all of the wax figures are great likenesses of their subjects, but they can give you a good general idea of what someone looks like – especially height and build. Since you can walk around among them, you can stand toe to toe.

That night, we went to Georgetown for a delicious seafood dinner, followed by a visit to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. I sat with Judy and Gaye at dinner. They were delightful company.

A World War II Memorial had been built in 2004. We visited it too and took photos from there of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial and Capitol. The WWII Memorial was quite beautiful at night. It has memorials for both the European theatre and the Pacific.

Next time – we set off for Alexandria, Mount Vernon, Yorktown, Jamestown, and Williamsburg.

  • The White House
  • Arlington Cemetery
  • Iwo Jima Memorial
  • Korean War Memorial
  • Lincoln Memorial
  • Statue of Lincoln
  • Capitol Building
  • Vietnam War Memorial
  • Ford’s Theatre
  • Presidental Balcony
  • Interior of Presidential Balcony
  • Pistol used to assassinate Lincoln
  • Peterson House
  • Bed on which Lincoln died
  • Kennedy Center for Performing Arts
  • World War II Memorial
  • Lincoln Memorial
  • Washington Memorial
  • Capitol Building
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Amman

Evidence of habitation in Jordan’s capitol city dates as early as 7250 BC when it was called Ain Ghazal. During the Iron Age, it was called Ammon and was the capitol of the Kingdom of the Ammonites. During its Greek and Roman periods, the city was called Philadelphia, becoming Amman once it became part of the Ottoman Empire.

We were given an overall tour of the city prior to visiting the Citadel, which mirrors the city in the number of ruins and artifacts from different historic periods. The oldest site on the Citadel that I saw was a Bronze Age cave dating to sometime between 1650 and 1550 BC. No Greek buildings remain, just pieces of pottery.

The Temple of Hercules is the main structure from the Roman period on the Citadel. It was built in roughly 162 to 166. Much of the marble used for the temple was reused for the later Byzantine Church.

A colossal statue of Hercules was once part of the temple. All that is left of it are three fingers and an elbow. It was likely destroyed during an earthquake. Just below the Citadel is a large Roman Theatre.

The Byzantine Church is all that remains from that period, but the early Islamic Umayyad Palace is thought to have been built over another Byzantine building in the beginning of the 8th century. The palace is mainly in ruins, but the entrance chamber has been restored. Near the palace is a cistern from the same period. The remains of a mosque are also nearby.

In the Archaeological Museum are artifacts from all over Jordan, dating from prehistoric times to the 15th century. At the time of my visit in 2010, the museum was located at the Citadel. In 2014, a new museum was opened not far from the Citadel (near the Roman Theatre). The new museum was built because the old one had become too small and they couldn’t expand on the Citadel.

In addition to some of the Dead Sea Scrolls (including the only copper versions yet found), the museum also has some of the oldest statues of human figures in the world, dating from when Amman was Ain Ghazal (roughly 7250 BC). Not only could we see these items, but we could photograph them as well.

When we checked into the hotel, we found that we had been upgraded to suites. However, since I had a 2:50am flight from Amman to Frankfurt, it was pretty much useless to me. I did take advantage of the large, jetted tub before dinner. But one of the couples and I were leaving the hotel at midnight. So only two hours between dinner and our pickup time.

Once we arrived in Frankfurt, we found we were grounded. The Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajokull (don’t ask me to pronounce it), after a pause of a few weeks, had started erupting again. Fortunately, our delay was only for about three hours and not overnight. The couple was heading to Toronto and I was flying to Chicago. Upon arrival in Chicago, I needed to re-book my flight to Minneapolis as I had missed the one I was supposed to have been on. By the time I got home, I had been up for nearly 48 hours.

Next time — the start of a tour of the Historic Eastern US.

  • An Amman mansion
  • Amman from the Citadel
  • Bronze Age cave
  • Temple of Hercules
  • Hand of Hercules
  • Roman Theatre
  • Byzantine Church
  • Umayyad Palace
  • Palace entrance hall
  • Cistern
  • Mosque
  • Ain Ghazal Statue
  • Dead Sea scroll
  • Copper Dead Sea scroll
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Petra & Little Petra

Indiana Jones has got nothing on me. He traveled through the Siq in Petra, Jordan to find the Holy Grail. I traveled through the same Siq to see the Treasury (the building used in the movie as the location of the Holy Grail) and the rest of the ancient city of Petra. It is a two hour walk into Petra and two ½ hours uphill back out again.

Petra is believed to have been settled as early as 9,000 BC with the Nabateans settling in and expanding the city in the 4th century BC. The Nabateans grew wealthy through trade in frankincense, myrrh and spices, and are considered to possibly be the “wise men from the east” who traveled to Bethlehem shortly after the birth of the baby Jesus.

On the way to the ancient city, we passed the mountain (Mount Hor) where Moses’ brother, Aaron, is buried. The photo is a little fuzzy, but you can see a white building at the top of the mountain.

We were at Petra (which had been known as Raqmu by the Nabateans) when they opened. We weren’t the only people there or the first people there, but it wasn’t nearly as crowded as it would be later in the day. It also wasn’t as hot as it would be later.

The first structure encountered, once entering the area, is the Obelisk Tomb. It definitely has strong Egyptian influences. Shortly after passing this building, the Siq begins. It is a very deep and narrow gorge. Here and there it widens a bit and Roman paving can still be seen in places. The Roman eventually took over the city. Then earthquakes in 363 AD destroyed much of the city. Changes in the trade routes also meant that the city declined until the middle 7th century, by which time it was finally abandoned. That’s when the Bedouins moved in.

At the end of the Siq is a very tantalizing glimpse of the Treasury (Al-Khazneh) shortly before emerging from the Siq to fully see the building. The Treasury was built in the beginning of the 1st century AD as a mausoleum. The name “the Treasury” came later when people thought that pirates had hidden some treasure in the urn on the façade. Significant damage can be seen on the urn from when the Bedouins shot at it.

There isn’t anything inside the Treasury and you can’t go in it either (at least we couldn’t in 2010). But I went up the steps and took a photo inside through the opening.

Veering to the right of the building and along the road there, it doesn’t take long to get to the Street of Facades. This has loads of buildings carved into the rock on numerous levels. We took a lunch break there. The dog of the owner of the café where we stopped for lunch decided that I was his buddy and he lied down with his head on my foot to take a nap. Fortunately he did decide to get up and go about his business before we needed to leave.

From the Street of Facades, we continued on to the Theatre and the Royal Tombs (the Urn Tomb, the Silk Tomb, the Corinthian Tomb, and the Palace Tomb). Then we had the Nymphaeum (fountain), the Colonnaded Street (the central market of Petra), the Great Temple, and another temple called Qasr al-Bint.

It would have been a long, steep climb to the Monastery and would have taken me too long (I can do mountainous climbs just fine when I have time, but not too well in a hurry). So I chose not to make the climb. Nobody else in my group did it either. I spent my time exploring the main part of Petra. I visited the restroom and bought a couple more bottles of water before beginning the 2 ½ hour uphill trek back through the Siq. It was pretty warm by then. I downed 3 ½ bottles of water along the way (and sweated it all out again).

I had noticed several people with donkeys or camels for rent on the way down into Petra, but not on the way back. I had my collapsible cane with me, so I used it much like a staff. It really does help to have a cane or a walking pole of some kind during these types of hikes. I usually take the cane since it is light weight and folds up to fit in my camera bag when I don’t need it. I have taken walking poles on other trips when the hiking has been pretty extensive.

Emerging from the Siq and looking for a restroom and a place to get some ice cream or fresh-squeezed orange juice, a young Jordanian engaged me in conversation. To make a long story short, he wanted me to adopt him and take him to the US. It wasn’t that many years earlier that I would have had a proposal of marriage. But then, I wasn’t in my twenties or even my thirties any more.

The next morning, we got up at 5am and left the hotel at 7am. This was for an extra visit that wasn’t on the itinerary – Little Petra. At the time we were there, it was thought to be roughly 400 years older than the larger city and had been where the Nabateans lived before creating Petra. But current archeologists feel that it was created about the same time as the larger city as a type of suburb, possibly for travelers to Petra.

On our way to Little Petra, we could see part of the larger Petra from above. We also saw the “back door” to Petra for supplies and staff. Nobody was at Little Petra when we arrived. We were able to enter the buildings there. We spent about an hour exploring and then set off to return to Amman. On our way, we stopped off at a place with a lot of antiques. I bought a curved dagger.

We also stopped for lunch at an authentic Jordanian restaurant. We didn’t encounter any other tourists. Several people were smoking from large water pipes. The first course was a variety of of dishes, most of which I had no idea what they were. What I could identify included humus, babaganush, sausagues, veggies, pita, and olives. The main course included lamb cooked with rice and yogurt plus a mixed grill with lamb and chicken. Dessert was watermelon. This was all washed down with a lemon mint drink.

Next time — we finish our time in Jordan at Amman.

  • Aaron’s Tomb (white building at top left)
  • Obelisk Tomb
  • Along the Siq
  • A wider area of the Siq
  • End of the Siq
  • The Treasury
  • Treasury interior
  • Another view of the Treasury
  • The Street of Facades
  • The Theatre
  • The Urn Tomb
  • More Royal Tombs
  • Another view of Petra
  • Little Petra
  • Another building in Little Petra
  • Entrance of a building
  • Inside of a building
  • More buildings in Little Petra
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Introduction to Jordan

We arrived at Queen Alia Airport in Amman via Royal Jordanian Air quite early in the morning and were met by our Tour Director, Rabbi, and our driver, Samla. The tour coach was not quite large enough to comfortably hold 16 people plus all of our luggage (which was piled rather precariously on the back seats of the vehicle instead of inside of a luggage compartment in the rear or underneath). There weren’t any overhead bins either. So Rabbi arranged for a larger coach to meet us at Madaba. Then he threw out the planned itinerary for the day, which was to have included Um Quais (ancient Greek ruins), Bethany (supposed to be the actual site where John the Baptist baptized Jesus), and Lot’s Cave (where Lot and his daughters lived after fleeing Sodom) as we made our way to Petra.

I have had tour directors on other tours switch a schedule around or add something in as an extra treat. I have also had them substitute something when we couldn’t go to what had been planned. But I’ve never had anyone just throw out the entire schedule. Instead we headed for Mount Nebo (which was on the schedule for our return to Amman after visiting Petra). Since Madaba was also on the original schedule for when we came back up to Amman, it appeared at first that we were just traveling in reverse. But that proved not to be the case as we never did see the first day’s sites and also didn’t see a few that we should have seen coming back up either.

I am awfully glad we went to Mount Nebo. This was the mountain where Moses was shown the Holy Land and then died before he could enter it. Jericho can be seen straight out from the point where Moses supposedly stood. They say that Jerusalem can also be seen on a clear day. I could see Jericho, which already existed at the time that Moses was up there. Joshua and the Israelites had an adventure there not too much later. On Mount Nebo, there were some churches, a museum and a memorial to Moses. The memorial was closed due to renovations when I was there in 2010 and was reopened in 2016. We spent some time in the museum before heading on to Madaba.

We rendezvoused with our new transportation shortly after having lunch. Then set off for the church that has a 6th century Byzantine mosaic map of the Holy Land on its floor. The church is dedicated to Saint George and has a very large painting of him slaying a dragon on its wall. The painting is similar to the hand-painted icon I had purchased in Bulgaria in 2009. Madaba is known for its mosaics and the map is quite famous as it is the only surviving 6th century map of its kind. Scholars worldwide refer to it when studying that era. I managed to get a couple fairly decent photos of it.

Since we weren’t going to the Kerak Crusader Fortress, Rabbi said he would take us to the Shobak Crusader Fortress instead. It was built in 1115 by Baldwin I of Jerusalem and was captured by Saladin in 1189 after a long siege.

We began climbing in the mountains on a very narrow road with nothing to stop anyone from flying off of the mountain. As we rounded one “corner” where the fortress came into sight, a car came zipping around from the other direction. Our driver veered quickly to keep from a collision and we ended up quite perilously on the edge. One of the wheels was barely still on terra firma. This scared the portion of the group that wasn’t already scared quite thoroughly. Then we found that we weren’t actually going to visit the fortress. This look across from the mountain we were on to the mountain it was on was as close as we were going to get.

We continued on our way down to Petra and checked into our hotel. For maximum time at the ancient Nabatean site the next day, we were going to have an early start. We would be one of the first groups there in the morning when they opened. We would be spending the entire day in a very beautiful and mysterious place.

  • Mount Nebo
  • On Mount Nebo
  • View from Mount Nebo towards Jericho
  • Church at Madaba
  • Interior of church
  • Mosaic map on floor
  • More of the mosaic map
  • Wall painting of St George & the dragon
  • Shobak Crusader Fortress
  • Bedouin tent
  • Cave dwelling
  • Hotel at Petra
  • View from hotel room at Petra
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Latrun, Emmaus, Valley of Elah & Jaffa

The last day of the Israel portion of the tour I took in 2010 to Israel & Jordan was spent taking our time to return to Tel Aviv by visiting some additional interesting locations. The first one was Latrun (Latroun), which is on a hilltop in the Valley of Ayalon, where Joshua commanded the sun to be still so they could complete the battle against the Amorites before dark. Samson was also born in the area. Our visit was to the 1890 Trappist Monastery, set in a beautiful garden.

 I would have loved to have purchased a bottle of the wine they produce at the monastery, but I was going to be picked up at 4:30am the next day to catch the flight to Jordan. No time to drink it all and couldn’t take it on the plane. Too bad we didn’t stop off there when we started the trip.

Our next stop was Emmaus. We visited the remains of a 2nd century basilica that had been built on what was assumed to be the site where Jesus manifested himself to a couple of the disciples after He arose following the crucifixion. This basilica was rebuilt first by the Byzantines and later by the Crusaders. Near the basilica are a few 1st century tombs. It was great to see one “in the wild”.

The Valley of Elah was where the story of David and Goliath took place. Tol pointed out the one hill where the Israelites were hanging out and the other hill where the Phillistines were encamped. Not much imagination was needed here as the two hills and the area between them didn’t seem to be much altered. Tol then described how Goliath came down from the hill to our right and challenged the Israelites. David then came down from the hill to our left to face him.

A couple of posts ago, I described how I tripped and fell at David’s tomb, smacked against the gate separating the women’s section from the tomb itself and the dollar bill in my hand flew into the tomb area, landing in front of the sarcophagus. Tol had been teasing me about it for the remainder of the trip. So, when he described David facing Goliath and asked what we might say to David at that moment, I responded, “you owe me a dollar.” It was a laugh that was well worth the two-day wait.

We went into Tel Aviv for lunch and then back-tracked to Jaffa for some sightseeing in Old Jaffa. Archeological evidence shows that Jaffa has been in existence at least as far back as 7500 BC. Whenever anything is excavated, they find evidence of nearly every period of history all mixed together. I really enjoyed Jaffa with its narrow cobbled streets and thousands of years of history.

When we got to Tel Aviv, those of us who were headed to Jordan (16 out of 26), would have preferred to dine fairly early to get some rest before our flight to Amman. Since we weren’t dining until 8:00pm, I got everything ready to go so I didn’t have much to do when I returned to my room. It was a farewell dinner for everyone who was leaving the tour that night, but the group going to Jordan all bailed a little past 9:00pm.

Next time – arriving bleary-eyed but excited for new adventures in Jordan.

  • Latroun Monastery
  • Latroun Monastery Interior
  • Emmaus Basilica Ruins
  • 1st Century Tomb at Emmaus
  • Valley of Elah
  • Tel Aviv
  • Jaffa
  • Old Jaffa Harbor
  • Jaffa Street
  • Old Jaffa
  • Old Jaffa Street
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More Adventures in Jerusalem

At the Israel Museum, we visited a large “to scale” replica of Jerusalem in the Second Temple period. It represents what Jerusalem looked like before it was destroyed in 66 AD by the Romans. I thought it was really cool. It was designed by a historian in the 1960s, based on the writings of the Roman historian Flavius Josephus and other sources from the 1st century. The version of the Temple is the one constructed by Herod.

Next to this model is the Shrine of the Book, which contains the collection of the Dead Sea Scrolls held in Israel (there are others in Amman, Jordan). They rotate which scrolls are on display, so that they can keep them safe, as they are quite fragile.

Our next visit was to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum. The initial part of the museum we came to was a series of memorials consisting of trees planted and dedicated to people who had saved Jews from the Nazis during World War II. These included memorials to Raoul Wallenberg, Irena Sendler, Oskar Schindler, Corrie ten Boom, Princess Alice of Battenberg, the People of Denmark, and King Christian X of Denmark. This is called the Garden of the Righteous among the Nations.

The Children’s Memorial was breathtaking. It consisted of a single candle reflected 1.5 million times to represent the children who lost their lives during the Holocaust. It was difficult to get a decent photo, but I explored the different angles and waited until I was alone.

I visited several exhibits in the galleries of the Holocaust History Museum as well as the Hall of Names. Another outdoor memorial was to the people who had been deported from their homes to distant concentration camps by train.

After lunch, we returned to the Dung Gate in Old Jerusalem where we entered and headed for the Davidson Center Archeological dig. This was along part of the Western Wall and the Southern Wall of Temple Mount at the time (2010). It may have expanded since then. The first area was near the southwest corner which contains the remnants of a 1st century street, the traces of Robinson’s Arch (a massive bridge up to the mount), and a reproduction of a block that fell from the wall above and is engraved with a message saying it was where the trumpeter stood to announce the beginning or end of the Sabbath.

There have been some scholars who believe that the Temple Mount was not really where the Temple was. They say it was located in the part of Jerusalem known as the City of David and that the Temple Mount was really just the Antonia Fortress. Sorry, I don’t buy it. I subscribe to both Biblical Archeology Review and Archeology Magazine (is it obvious I love Archeology?) as well as having studied some of the history (yeah, I really like history too) and I think they have the right place. Besides which, why would the trumpeter stand at a corner of the Antonia Fortress to announce the beginning and end of Sabbath?

I have heard rumors that non-Muslims have been allowed up on the Temple Mount from time to time. But this was one of those times when they weren’t. So we just kept touching the wall surrounding the Temple Mount and exploring the excavations that had been done up to that point.

Along the Southern Wall was a 1st century toilet of the public variety. It seemed to be very public as Tol did not indicate that there had ever been any type of enclosure around it. Further along the Southern Wall was a crusader structure. There were some steps added to allow us to climb through part of it to get to the other side where we could see the outlines of former gates and stand on the steps associated with those gates.

Back during what was known as the Baron’s Crusade (1234 – 1241), which was led by Richard of Cornwall (a son of King John of England), one of those knight ancestors of mine, Sir Hugh Wake (a 23rd great grandfather), landed at Akko (Acre) and proceeded to Ascalon (Ashkelon) where he was involved in rebuilding the Crusader fortress there. Not too many years ago his Coat of Arms was found carved in a piece of stone in the moat near the northern Jaffa gate of Ascalon. I bring this up as he was killed December 18, 1241 in battle in Jerusalem. I don’t have a clue as to where, but could it have been somewhere near the Temple Mount? Maybe near that Crusader fortress?

Because we had been unable to take photos the day before, Tol took us back to the Wailing Wall just for a photo op. Several soldiers were there, armed. So I got a photo of them as well as of the wall.

On our way to our hotel, Tol pointed out Oskar Schindler’s grave. I managed a rather lop-sided photo of the entrance to the grave, which I have included here.

We had one more day in Israel before flying to Amman, Jordan. So, next time will be our visits to Latrun (Latroun), Emmaus, the Valley of Elah, and Jaffa as we returned to Tel Aviv.

  • Miniature version of Second Temple period
  • Shrine of the Book
  • Garden of the Righteous among the Nations
  • Children’s Memorial
  • Children’s Memorial Interior
  • Deportees Memorial
  • Excavations at the Western Wall
  • Remains of Robinson’s Arch
  • 1st century street
  • Stone indicating where the trumpeter stood
  • Along the Southern Wall
  • Just past the Crusader Fortress
  • Israeli Soldiers at the Wailing Wall
  • Entrance to Oskar Schindler’s grave
  • Coat of Arms of Sir Hugh Wake