Another day out and about

June 14 – It was another long day but we really enjoyed it.  We stopped again at the VC to see if the safe magically was working – not!  Bill left 3 messages for our contact and she never called back.  That kinda leaves us in a pickle as to what to plan on for work tomorrow.  Oh well, we figured we’d deal with it tomorrow.

Front of Poplar Forest

We drove south to Bedford to visit Poplar Forest, the second home of Thomas Jefferson.  His wife inherited it when her father died and he actually had control of it.  They never lived there together on the 5,000+ acre plantation.  He would go there for 2 weeks to 2 months as a get away from public life.  The house is small by plantation standards and he had it built to his specifications.  It’s octagonal inside and out and only 1 floor but

Back of Poplar Forest

with a basement of rooms and a cellar.  The landscaping is symmetrical and a few of the original poplar trees still stand.  One had to be taken down recently and the wood is being used for the renovations to the house.  The house was continually lived in for over 200 years and saw many changes.  When the last owner was going to sell it off to a developer, a private citizen stepped in and bought it due to its historical value and a foundation was formed.  So

One of the 2 Privies

now its renovations are funded totally by donations, fundraisers and admissions.  Jefferson incorporated some unique ideas into the house.  In his bedroom the bed is in the middle of the room with walls the width of the bed at the foot and head, so one side of the bedroom is the dressing and grooming area like a regular bedroom and the other side is a study of sorts. 

By the time we finished the tour and photos we were way

behind schedule.  We bought a dual admissions ticket to the National D-Day Memorial about 20 minutes away.  We had agreed to meet friends back in Waynesboro for dinner at 5:30, so we were clock watching.  Once we arrived at the Memorial the lady

The front of the memorial

said the next tour was leaving momentarily and it would last about 40 minutes.  We didn’t even go inside to check in and they were using a golf cart and there was one space left so Bill got to ride and I walked the hot concrete with 2 other couples.  Well, as impressive as it all was, the 40 minutes ended up being 1 hour and 40 minutes.  The guide was excellent with lots of stories of veterans who have come to visit and told him their stories, but geez, it was so hot out and I was sweating like a pig and had no water.  The site itself was all privately funded and they still have plans for other additions to it.  The planning and thought that went into the design was amazing.  It represents the landing at Utah Beach so well and some of the stories were so sad.

So after a quick visit to the gift shop, we jumped (well, not Bill), into the car and hot footed it back to Waynesboro.  I had texted earlier during the tour that it would be at least 6 and they said OK.  Once we got on the road Bill called and they said they could make it 6:30 but not later and we said that should be fine.  We ended up pulling in just after them so the timing was perfect.  We went to Silk Road again and again it was excellent.  I wanted sushi again but went with shrimp teriyaki.  The had the same drink special as before, the white sangria so Sue and I both had one.  Yum!  We finally finished up at 8 and it was really a nice evening.

They headed back and we headed to Wal-mart to pick up Bill’s script that we just about forgot, then we headed home, tired puppies.  But it was a great touristy day!