Trip to Wirtz

My folks have lived in Alexandria, VA, since I graduated from high school. Even before that, we lived there off and on because of my dad's Naval career. They have recently built a home in southwestern Virginia in Wirtz. Wirtz is near Smith Mountain Lake and about 20 minutes south of Roanoke. Beautiful country. We drove down on the 30th, the day after Brad arrived in VA. It was so good to have Brad back with the family - it is hard being away from my honey (and daddy) for a whole week. The drive was beautiful and VA has so much history associated with it that I wanted to stop and see everything, but we didn't. Monticello is a must next time, though.

My parents' house is beautiful and so is the property. My dad has a dream shop for his wood working. He has a tractor and a riding mower and a golf cart and lots of fun toys. The kids were in heaven. Mike and his kids came down the same day we did. Kendra, Asher and the Hills (Kendra's folks) came on Friday afternoon.

The second day that we were here, we all went to the Booker T. Washington Memorial State Park. It was the plantation on which Mr. Washington was a slave until his release at the end of the Civil War. He was instrumental in starting technical and vocational schools for black Americans and he was an advisor to three U.S. presidents. He encouraged blacks to earn the respect that they were worthy of by working hard and becoming educated. He was quite a man. He is known to have said that as evil as slavery was, black men could thank God that He pulled them out of their heathen existence in Africa and used it to expose them to the gospel.

Dad was doing a wood turning demonstration in a nearby town, so Brad and the boys all went to watch grandpa do his thing. They had a ball and I am sure that my dad enjoyed getting to share his incredible talent with them all. We ate, made tons of noise, rode all of Dad's machines, visited, looked at a zillion (or maybe it is only a billion) wooden works of art in the basement and picked out our favs.

While I was there, I went through boxes of stuff that my folks had of mine from high school and college to decide which items I wanted to keep and take back with me and which things were headed for the dump. Funny stuff. A whole box of letters from old friends that I finally pitched. I had a 6 inch thick stack (and I'm sure those were only some of them) from Janet (Taylor) Enright. I read through some and laughed hard; we were such goof balls.

We took so many photos and laughed and just enjoyed each other's company. when we left, I am sure that my parents enjoyed the silence but they would rather have had us there - noise and all. It was a great trip. We didn't get half of what we wanted to get done, done. Next time, we will have to stay longer. Brad already figured out that there are twelve CSA (community supported agriculture) groups in just the D.C. area alone. Hm. I feel a business trip coming on - bison anyone?