Alexandria, VA, and Washington, D.C.: August 16-18, 2024 - In Which I Something Something Whatever My Dear Friend Clayford

This was just a random jaunt.  Every now and again I'll get a text from Clayford on a Wednesday or something saying "hey!  Flights are cheap!  You could come up here for the weekend!"  And my response is frequently, "...can we please plan it just a bit farther in advance?"

So this time, we did.

Took a PTO day to fly up Friday morning and get taken over to Clay & Valerie's townhome in Alexandria.  There I got to see my buddy, my sunshine, my raisin d'tetris: Chip!

Actually, all the bubs were in rare form this weekend:

...but anyway.  We soon, the three humans, set out to see Old Town Alexandria and have a spot of lunch:

We made our way to this place called the Torpedo Factory, which is an art collective these days, but back in the 40s was.........a torpedo factory:

Went to what Valerie claimed was the skinniest house in America:

And just generally hung out the rest of the day.

Next morning, Clay and I ventured into D.C., first to the Jefferson Memorial, which Clay claimed was the most deserted he'd ever seen it - I think we may have seen just one other person there:

Next, the FDR monument, which I don't think I'd ever seen.  It was this neat little series of waterfalls and statues outlining the full four terms of his presidency:

We finished our circuit of the tidal basin, then went back to the house.  The three of us then ventured out to a brunch spot at the Wafle Shop.  And no, that's not a typo:

Clay's idea for the afternoon was to pick one D.C. thing, Uber into town to do it, and then leave - after a couple years up there, he's had his fill of spending entire days in the city seeing the sights.  His recommendation, in part because I'd never been before, was the Holocaust Museum:

Heavy subject matter of course, but an excellent museum nonetheless.  Well designed, like as an experience.  Has the impact you'd hope it would.

Clay & I hung out in Old Town again that night, then hit the hay.  The next morning's itinerary was actually my idea: go to church!

But not just any church - the National Cathedral, a structure that rivals the most magnificent of European churches, and I dare you to challenge me on that!!!!!

A fine service, and included one of the most exquisite performances of Byrd's Ave Verum Corpus I've ever heard, but I gotta say: the attempt to incorporate newer, non-traditional "praise band" music is a failed experiment.  The drumset and electric guitar turn into a mishmash of sound in that echoey acoustic.  Just doesn't quite work.

Another lunch, and then it was time to jet me back over to the airport and out of town.  Soon after, my choirs would all be restarting, and the extensive free times of summer would come to a close.

Chimney Rock and Asheville, NC: August 8-10, 2024 - The Mountains

A million years ago, when I first started this blog, I did an entry on the Biltmore House, just a week or so before I was to head off to Louisville for the next nine years.  My family has a timeshare (that we haven't been able to get rid of yet) up in the mountains of Lake Lure, and that was the "home base" for both the Biltmore trip of 11 years ago, and this one, in Current Year!

I was only able to join the Mountains fun for part of the week, and there was a hurricane a-blowin' in the day I arrived!  So, blocked from the outdoor fun of the lake, we spent the 8th in the town of Chimney Rock, although we did not ascend the actual Chimney Rock itself (see above: hurricane)

We got some lunch at an excellent barbecue place:

Before a wine tasting at Burntshirt winery next door:

A quick coffee, then we headed back.  The rain pretty much abated toward the end of the day, and the following day was picture perfect, so we did lake, pool, and mini golf type activities.  Saturday, we got up and vacated the timeshare early to make the drive over to Asheville for Biltmore!

We were meeting the Beth clan there, not only to see the House itself, but because of a special event taking place at that time: a Dale Chihuly exhibit on the Biltmore grounds!

Now, I had pictured like, Chihuly sculptures all throughout the house, but it was really just an exhibit at the museum on the property.  Still, we did the regular house tour:

Plus the outside balcony:

Then back in:

And out to the gardens:

We then went over to the little village for lunch, and following that: at last, the Chihuly exhibit:

And then finally, before heading out - another wine tasting!

Surf City and Wilmington, NC: June 15-17, 2024 - The Beach

My right water shoe belongs to the sea now, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Me n' Leigh took a notion to head out to a beach weekend to enjoy the start of the truly hot part of summer.  Leigh has a separate tradition of going to Surf City each year with her brothers, and so knew this town relatively well and could be our guide through the three days.

She picked out a bungalow right on the sound, tucked away and perfect for our getaway:

weird art though!

The spot couldn't have been more idyllic, and the first evening we were there we decided to try walking to the beach, which was only about 30 minutes, though we broke that trek in two at a coffee shop mid-way.  We swam for a bit, then came back to enjoy the sunset from our porch:

And that beautiful evening light indoors:

And sparklers!

Then we drove back into town to see the pier at night - a must see, says Leigh!

and right she is!

The next day was the big beach day, and we set out early to get a breakfast sandwich from a shop in town, then head to the beach.  Surf City is a small island across a bridge, and is just big enough to have plenty of seaside while also having a charming beach town and shops.

We set up our blankets & big umbrella, then hit the waves.  My favorite activity of course is to walk out just far enough to still touch bottom, then get clobbered by the biggest waves right as they are breaking on their way to shore.  This is great fun!  But it was inevitable when a particularly colossal wave broke at just the precise moment to sweep me forward and backward - via the undertoe - and vacuum the shoe right off of my foot into the abyss.

I knew it was gone for good right when I felt it, but I searched in vain for a bit anyway.  Luckily this was not the day we walked 30 minutes to swim, but I did still have to cross a hot pavement parking lot with one bare foot to get back to the car.

The plan then became: return to the bungalow, have the pre-packed picnic lunch that Leigh had crafted, then come back into town to shop for new water shoes.  It is fortuitous that we were in a beach town with copious places to purchase water-related clothing.  The first place we tried had racks upon racks of good shoes, and a pair was selected in no time.

And so I returned to the afternoon beach session renewed, and with water shoes that had a tightening strap and velcro.  More fun in the sun was had, and more waves were crashed upon us, but no further shoes were eaten by the sea.

We considered coming back for more swimming in the evening, but we were tired out by our day in the sun, and as it turned out, we were both a bit sunburnt (me quite a bit more than Leigh).  We gathered up our paraphernalia, then grabbed dinner at the Maine Lobstah Shack.

Leigh looked up and found a movie in the park at Soundside Park (near the Lobstah), so we strolled around that area until the show started:

The movie was Shrek, which somehow Leigh called:

Sleep was wonderful, yet painful that night, given the aforementioned sunburns.  We packed up early the next morning and headed out for a breakfast stop in Wilmington, which was on the way back to Charlotte.

We had some donuts and sat by the river:

Saw a bookstore:

And just generally poked around til we got to hot to keep going, then returned to the car and headed home.