dual personalities

While I was visiting daughter #2 in Maryland and Virginia, spring was beginning to show its face…

…but by the time I left on Tuesday, it was sleeting and promising worse.

Nevertheless, we had a lovely time, starting off straight from the airport in Baltimore with a jaunt down to Fredericksburg, Virginia. Located near where the Rappahannock River crosses the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, it was a prominent port in Virginia during the colonial era. Today it is chock full of beautiful old buildings. We ate lunch at Foode, a hip restaurant in a historic bank building.

There were plenty of historic buildings, etc to visit in the historic district in which our airbnb was located. This one was practically across the street.

Love this sign!

A few blocks away was the Episcopal Church…and the Presbyterian church…

It was a handsome, vibrant town where we also did a lot of shopping in the numerous antique malls, which, not surprisingly, were far superior to our mid-west versions.

On Saturday we headed to Norfolk to visit my old friend, where we were wined and dined and talked non-stop. Then on Sunday, the three of us headed to Shirley Plantation, located on the north bank of the James River in Charles City County. We took a tour and walked around the grounds.

Then we headed to the Upper Shirley Winery for lunch and wine.

On the way back to Norfolk, we stopped at Bacon’s Castle, the oldest documented brick dwelling in the U.S. Built in 1665, it is notable as an extremely rare example of Jacobean architecture in the New World.

We couldn’t resist stopping at St. Luke’s Church near Smithfield in Isle of Wight County. It is the oldest church in Virginia and the oldest church in British North America of brick construction. According to local tradition the structure was built in 1632.

Indeed, daughter #2 and I had a great time with our hôtesse élégante and her very nice husband!

Back in College Park, we were happy to be reunited with dear Nate (DN) and to spend some time with him. He is a great son-in-law and I much appreciated that he drove me to BWI in a sleet storm without so much as a grimace/eye roll.

Anyway, it was a super fun getaway.

It is always nice to get back home though, right? The OM had not burned the house down, but he had put the trash out two days early.