2013 Vacation 5

But wait, there is more to Virginia!

We visited Appomattox, where General Lee surrendered to begin the end of the Civil War.  Dominik is in his "no pictures" mood again.

Have you read the children's book about the doll that was witness to the meeting of the generals?  Here's the doll!

We enjoyed listening to a re-enactor who represented a Pennsylvania volunteer soldier during the war.

He stayed in character while whittling some wood.

Nineteenth century--don't smile.

Then we went on to Fredericksburg, switched centuries, and visited George Washington's Ferry Farm.  Avid readers of The Happy Ones will remember that Lukas and George Washington share the same birthdate, so this was especially fun for Lukas.  Here we are in the area where they are excavating the childhood home of George Washington.

We talked about the story that George could throw a stone across the Rappahannock River that flows next to the farm.  That was a long throw!

Running through the same woods that George explored.

Next we went to the other side of the Rappahannock River, still in Fredericksburg, and moved forward a century to return to our Civil War tour.  Natalie found a caterpillar...nothing to do with Civil War, but at least she found something interesting!

This was all quite interesting to the boys, because there were cannon!  Here they are loading Confederate cannon.

Lukas is leading his troops on a charge, using the same trenches dug by the army of Robert E. Lee.

Lukas and Konrad posing near trenches (that went on for miles) dug for the Battle of Fredericksburg.

Then we went to the Sunken Road, a place made famous by the number of Union soldiers who died trying to cross it.

In the city of Fredericksburg, we visited an apothecary from the 1800s, where the boys saw real slugs and knives that a doctor would have used to bleed a child.  I decided it was time to take Natalie to the restroom at this point...I don't have much stomach for modern medicine, but ancient medicine REALLY makes my stomach turn!

Lukas is smelling rose water the doctor would have made.

Dominik and Tom listening carefully...this picture is taken minutes before Tom got the call to offer him a new job!  If you haven't heard about his new job, please email me privately and I will tell you.

But all this talk about herbs and ground up beetles proved too boring to some in our group...Natalie is playing a game on my iPhone and Dominik is waiting for his turn.

We caught a train just as it was running through town.

Enjoying the train!

On our way to the Shenandoah Valley, we saw signs to James Madison's Montpelier.  We didn't have time to stop, but we drove by and marveled at the beautiful estate.

Then it was time for dinner.  We really ate well on this trip, sampling the specialties in different areas (never time to take a picture when the food comes!)  Here we had some fabulous ribs.

We have almost made it to the end of our trip, and the whole reason we even went on this adventure...check back next time for the end of the story.