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Posts tagged ‘Alexandria VA’

Easter Vacation: Family Visit

Bob and I spent the Easter weekend in Alexandria, Virginia. We used to go to Virginia a few times a year to visit Bob’s brother and our sister-in-law. We have missed those trips to Virginia, since John and Dorothy moved to Hawaii. We miss visiting with John and Dorothy; however it is still possible to get our Virginia “fix” by visiting my cousin, Vernon, and his family.

When we visited Vernon and Wendy in May 2011, their family had recently been increased by 1. Their son, Aiden, was born on May 14. We were among the first to meet baby Aiden.

This is my favorite photograph of Aiden from our May 2011 visit.

Aiden giving Daddy a fist bump

Fast forward 11 months, and here are the photographs that I took of Aiden this year.

Aiden was fascinated with Bob’s mustache and beard!

Aiden checks out Bob’s beard and mustache.

I LOVE Aiden’s baby blue eyes!

In addition to visiting with Vernon and family at his home, we accompanied the three of them to Wendy’s mother’s house on Saturday, April 7th, for the Seder — the focal point of the Jewish Passover celebration. It was nice to see Wendy’s mother and sister again, as the last time we saw them was at Vernon and Wendy’s wedding in October 2009. A book entitled “30 Minute Seder” provided for a memorable Seder Passover that both engaged and entertained all participants.

Easter Vacation: Old Town Alexandria

Bob and I spent the Easter weekend in Alexandria, Virginia. During our 3-night stay we spent time with family members and visited Old Town Alexandria and Mount Vernon.

Bob, my cousin Vernon, and I visited Old Town Alexandria on Friday, April 6th. We spent most of our time at the waterfront.

Torpedo Factory Art Center

I consider the sighting of Osprey the highlight of our visit to Old Town Alexandria. I had never been so close to an osprey nest!

Osprey in Flight

Osprey on Nest

We didn’t see only one Osprey; we saw TWO Osprey!

Before leaving the waterfront, we enjoyed a quick snack at Pop’s Ice Cream.

Pop’s Ice Cream
(Storefront behind blue jeep)

As we drove out of Alexandria, en route my cousin’s home, we passed by the George Washington Masonic Memorial.

Approaching the George Washington Masonic Memorial

George Washington Masonic Memorial

Next blog post: Photographs from our visit to Mount Vernon

Memorial Day Visit with Cousins

We visited with my cousins Vernon, Wendy and Aiden for several hours on Memorial Day.

We hadn’t seen Vernon and Wendy since their wedding in October 2009, so there was much to catch up on. Even though we have stayed in touch via telephone calls and Facebook, I feel face-to-face conversations are the most rewarding. We had a very good visit. As is usually the case when good times are being had, the time went by much too quickly.

Vernon and Wendy have a new son. Aiden was born on May 14th. We were honored to be among the first to meet him.

Aiden giving Daddy a fist bump

Memorial Day Weekend – Alexandria, VA

We spent the Memorial Day weekend in Virginia. Our first night in Virginia (Friday, May 27) was spent in Front Royal.

On the morning of Saturday, May 28, after taking a few photographs in Front Royal we set off for Skyline Drive. We drove the entire length of Skyline Drive (105 miles) on Saturday. We spent our second night in Waynesboro at the Best Western Waynesboro Inn & Suites. We would stay at this hotel again, if the opportunity presented itself. We were happy with the hotel and our accommodations.

Our final destination for our Memorial Day weekend was Alexandria, Virginia. We took our time driving from Waynesboro to Alexandria. We stayed off the Interstates and took back roads most of the way to Alexandria. Along the way, as we were passing by Brandy Station, we spotted a church from the highway. We turned around for a closer look.

Fleetwood Church at Brandy Station

We spent two nights in Alexandria at the Best Western Mount Vernon – Fort Belvoir. This is another hotel that we would recommend for travelers. I expect that we will return to Alexandria sometime in the future and, when we do so, we will definitely stay at this hotel.

The purpose of our trip to Alexandria was to visit my cousins, Vernon and Wendy, and their 2-week-old son, Aiden. We didn’t do any sightseeing in Alexandria, except for a brief stop at Huntley Meadows Park on our way to Vernon and Wendy’s house from the hotel.