Excursion to Alexandria

Instead of sticking around the city today, Kevin, Brad and I decided to head south to Alexandria, Virginia. We wanted to take in some history, and history in abundance was what we found.

But before leaving for the day, we, as has developed into a tradition here at ASP, joined the resident life director and his family for pancakes. His wife does the cooking, and on a given Saturday morning she said she makes over 100 pancakes for all those who wish to drop by. It's really a good time to relax and share some laughs and fun times in the morning, and it's the only morning out of the whole week that I see other people from the program.

After filling our stomachs on pancakes and orange juice, we departed for Alexandria. The Metro dropped us right in the middle of the town, but we had to take a bus to get to our first destination: Fort Ward. Constructed during the Civil War as a "last defense" for Washington, the Fort never came under siege and now serves as an historic preserve. The original buildings are still there, and the landscaping is a solid testament to the original. How do I know this? Easy. The museum's curator told us.

After taking some pictures and wandering aimlessly around the grounds, we took a bus back into "Old Town" Alexandria. Our first stop was Christ Church, where George Washington once rented a pew. It was beautiful, and we actually got to sit in Washington's pew (it's #60, FYI), and it turns out that FDR and Churchill both sat there on January 1, 1942 to commemorate the national day of prayer.

We ate lunch at Chipotle (there was an abundance of interesting eateries in the town, but we settled on an old favorite) and then took in some more sights. The Potomac River was still frozen over in some sections, so that was interesting.

It was good to get out of the city for a change. And while we were in a gift shop there, we found out that one of the owners was originally from Seattle. It was definitely nice to meet another native Northwesterner...made me feel a little bit more at home, for some strange reason.