Thanksgiving weekend: Gravestones, No Turkey Bones

We had a very nice Thanksgiving, in spite of the fact that we missed family and friends this year.

Tom and I had a great dinner at the Fort Belvoir officer's club and I was happy to forgo the cooking and clean-up. no turkey day leftovers though....

 The next day,we headed to Charlottesville Virginia to see Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.  We have been lucky to have such an unseasonably warm Fall and beginning of Winter and have not been hampered in our travels by inclement weather.  The traffic was light and we were quite pleased with ourselves for choosing a perfect day to see the estate. Then, while listening to the radio we heard there was a big football game at the University of Virginia  and heavy traffic was expected- darn!   We had just commented on the wide open spaces and great little towns we had passed through and then the city folk drivers began appearing on the highway into Charlottesville. Increased speeds, horn honking and unwillingness to let others merge, betrayed their origins.   Oh well, soon we had the roadways to ourselves again and we marveled at the beautiful scenery at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Monticello was beautiful and fairly uncrowded. The Christmas events were scheduled for the following weeks with many visitors expected, so we had a nice unhurried tour.  It would be beautiful to see it in the Spring when the gardens are in full bloom.  Worth the trip and a must see in Virginia.  http://www.monticello.org/  A recurrent theme of the weekend was gravestones and we saw some beautiful old burial sites and headstones. Jefferson is buried there and his family plot is a short walk from the mansion.

We had just seen the Leonardo DiCaprio movie J. Edgar, interesting to see since it was partially filmed in the DC area. At the conclusion of the movie, it said that he was buried in the Congressional Cemetery in DC.  We decided a field trip was in order and spent a few hours there seeing various headstones of notables such as John Phillip Sousa, Matthew Brady and Taza- son of the Apache Chief Cochise. http://www.congressionalcemetery.org/welcome-historic-congressional-cemetery

The cemetery was an odd mix of the very old, dating back to The War of 1812 while jutting out in the middle of an urban area that has seen better days. Very interesting and another unexpected find in DC.

The grand finale of Thanksgiving weekend was seeing A Christmas Carol at Ford's Theatre with friends Kari and JR.  It was our second time to see this version of the play. I understand that it is updated every five years or so.  http://www.fords.org/event/christmas-carol-1  Thanks for choosing such great tickets Kari-outstanding  seats.  I got teary-eyed during the play as I knew this would be my last time to see this wonderful production.  And true to form, there was even a prominent gravestone in the play! Ebeneezer Scrooge's, show to him by the Ghost of Christmas Future.

As you can see, my blogging has continued to be backlogged and we are visiting the sites so fast I can barely keep up with it. Only about 6 weeks left before we leave for Arizona and although my wish list of places to visit is being fulfilled, we have a lot more to see.