Before I leave Manassas, I just want to finish up with a few things I didn’t get in other posts.
One of the delightful features of my stay in Manassas was visiting with friends I hadn’t seen in a while.
Susan, a friend I met on a forum for lovers of words, invited me over. I spent the day with her and her mother, Grace.
Grace took the photo for us, but declined my request to take one of her with Susan.
We ate breakfast, lunch and dinner and watched High Society on TV. We also played Susan and Grace’s version of Scrabble. They play with the goal of using all the tiles and they don’t bother with keeping score. That was a fun way to play, and they even have one of those deluxe spinning Scrabble boards.
I also spent an evening with Linda and Tom. Linda and I went to Daemen College in Buffalo, New York.
It was fun catching up a little. Since we graduated about 35 years ago, (gulp!) I am sure we didn’t catch up on everything! Where does the time go?
I took Cora to the vet for a follow-up on her ears. One ear was all cleared up. The other one needed another course of treatment. I have to find one here in North Carolina for yet another follow-up. Her ears seem like they are doing better, so the next visit may be this will be the last visit for a while.
There is no such thing as a free cat!
One day, while driving around, I told Siri that I was hungry. (Siri is the voice on the phone that helps me with research and things.) She said, “Well, we can’t have that.” And the first restaurant on her list was right around the corner.
This is the same Pollo Campero that I enjoyed when I lived in Guatemala. Oh, the memories! I parked and ordered my food.
The woman who took my order confirmed that it was the same chain from Guatemala. I told her that I loved Guatemala. She thanked me and told me that it was her country.
It was delicious!
Another day, I happened upon a Duck Donuts store. I had heard the name, but had never seen it before.
The unique thing is that they are served hot and topped when you order them. You need a fork to eat them.
I’m glad I tried one, but once was enough. Hot donuts are just not my thing, I guess.
The Manassas area is really multicultural. When I went to the laundromat, the instructions were in English, Spanish and Korean. Next door was this huge and interesting grocery store. I just went in for a couple mundane things – milk, toilet paper. I could have spent an hour just looking at all the exotic items for sale.
I went to the library to use their wifi, and I found these books on the shelf.
Another mini-adventure I had was looking for the grave of Stonewall Jackson’s left arm. I followed the directions provided by HISTORY Here when I left the Marine Corps Museum in Triangle, VA. I passed the sign for the place where Jackson was shot. I passed the sign for the place where his arm was amputated. I turned at the corner, and then the voice in my phone told me to turn again. I saw a gravel road and one of those familiar white signs by the road, so I turned in.
About a hundred feet in, I saw a graveyard, and I figured that I had found it. I parked and started looking around. I examined all the stones, and it wasn’t there. I had just found one of the ubiquitous southern graveyards that you see all over.
On the way out, I stopped an looked at the sign by the road.
Whoop! Wrong war!
I did find the entrance to Ellwood, the estate where the arm is buried. However, I arrived after hours. I could have parked and walked in, but I didn’t exactly know where I was going and my Spidey Sense was telling me to move along. And so I did.
Bull Run Regional Park has Christmas lights. The display must be stunning! I never saw them turned on, as they were only working on installing them during my stay.
Since I was staying right by Bull Run, I decided that I ought to get a picture of the actual stream – a “run” is a stream. I parked and walked over to the edge of the the trees lining the stream.
I figured I could get closer, so I started down the bank. I slipped and fell and landed hard.
As long as I was down, I thought I might as well get that close-up photo I was came for.
I landed really hard on my right wrist. After crawling on my hands and knees up the slippery slope, I was covered in slimy stinky mud. I got a shower, changed and took myself to the hospital. Just a sprain.
Bull Run’s last casualty.