And That Is A Wrap

 We got home yesterday from Virginia, tired but very happy that we took the ACL cruise and got to bracket the cruise with visits with my family. We arrived in Roanoke early in the afternoon of the 8th and checked into our hotel, the Hotel Roanoke And Conference Center. The hotel is old and grand and originally opened in 1882. If I recall, it was rebuilt after a fire. The hotel is also quite large, quite a step up from the Tru in Pigeon Forge. After settling in, we walked over the pedestrian walkway that traverses the train station and set out to explore a bit of downtown Roanoke. We were able to go to the Museum of Art prior to it closing for the day and enjoyed strolling through the galleries and seeing the art pieces on display. We entered a store where the woman who worked there, a native of Roanoke told us where not to walk, so we took her advice and made our way through a bit more of downtown. As we made our way back to the hotel, we answered the siren call of an ice cream store we passed and indulged ourselves in sweet cold frozen bliss, aka dinner for the night. (We actually ate real dinners along the way, but sometimes ate ice cream if we were too full for a full dinner.......😋. Healthy? Probably not. Delicious? Absolutely). Back at the hotel I believe this is the night we watched The Nonnas on Netflix, a completely delightful movie for anyone, and particularly for those who have or had Italian grandmothers. We highly recommend it. The next morning after we checked out of the hotel, we made our way to a merchant that had been recommended to us to buy a little thank you for my sister Cathy and her husband Gerry for our upcoming stay at her home in Lake Frederick. I picked bacon flavored olive oil and some smoky flavored balsamic. It sounds like a great way to have bacon and eggs without the bacon and might make a good dressing for spinach salad. If they turn out to be crappy, I will take full responsibility for choosing them.

  The drive from Roanoke to Lake Frederick was quite easy and very scenic as we passed farms and wooded hills characteristic of the part of Virginia through which we were driving. We arrived a little after 3 and were greeted by my sister and her granddaughter Charlotte, who according to my niece Laurie is 4 going on 14. The rest of Saturday was dedicated to visiting, dining (no ice cream this time), and more visiting and talking. Sunday was Mothers Day and the rest of the family came to the house to celebrate the day with my sister Cathy. My nephew Joe was there with his wife Dee and their two year old daughter Zoey whom I met for the first time. Wonderful though we are, Zoey did not know quite what to make of Patti and me as two year olds are wont to do. She is really cute (said the totally objective granduncle). Laurie's husband Jihad, who had been teaching a class on Saturday also came as did Cathy's daughter Katie, who got the Reardon teaching gene, and her boyfriend Tom and Cathy's youngest daughter Molly. There was plenty of good food and great company and a lot of familial love. I have seen my sister at different times in the five years since my sister Sue died. As for my nieces, nephews, and Charlotte, the last time I saw them was almost three years ago when we gathered to celebrate Cathy's 70th (I hope I just did not give away a closely guarded state secret with that mention of age). It was wonderful to see them. They are all such wonderful young adults and I am very proud of all of them. After eating, some of us took a short drive to Winchester, VA to explore the old town pedestrian zone. Some of the stores were open and restaurants too. We did not try or buy, but if you have a need for "medicinal mushrooms", there is a store for that in Winchester. After the family departed, we had a quiet evening of more visiting, talking, and reconnecting. Monday morning Patti and I took a walk and then went with Cathy to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. It was in Harpers Ferry that the Pelosi Reardon combo hit the trifecta of excursions. In Savannah, TN the town was pretty much closed because the town did not know a boat would be in the Saturday we were there. In Florence, Alabama, the power was off all over downtown when we arrived (but, as reported earlier, it came back on while we there). In Harpers Ferry scheduled maintenance on the water system meant there was no water turned on at all, so many merchants and all restaurants were not open there. In spite of that first world problem, the visit was well worth it and it probably cut down on the number of visitors, so it did not feel crowded there at all. The town John Brown put on the map due to his ill fated attack on the Union armory in 1859 retains much of the 19th century charm and history that make it a real draw for tourists and school field trips. The raid was put down and Brown was captured by a combination of local militia and a detachment of US Marines led by Robert E Lee. Brown was charged with treason and inciting a slave rebellion and was executed by being hung. Within a year and a half, the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Ft. Sumter, South Carolina and four years of bloody civil war commenced. On our way back to Cathy's, we crossed one item off our bucket list, eating at a Waffle House. Our four word review: Been there. Done that. Monday night, we took Cathy and her husband Gerry to dinner as a way of thanking them for their wonderful hospitality. Around midday on Tuesday, we set out for a rainy drive to a hotel close to Dulles from where we flew home. Our flight yesterday was at 8:30, so we set alarms for 5 am so we could catch the 6 am shuttle to the airport. We were both pretty much awake a bit after 4 am (1 am in California) so we stopped fighting it and got up. Check in was a breeze and the flight was smooth (mostly) and we arrived at SFO about 40 minutes ahead of schedule, caught BART and were picked up by Patti's daughter Lindsey (thank you, Lindsey) and brought to Patti's house where I had left my car. By 1:25, I was back home. The rest of the day was pretty much unproductive and by close to 8 pm (11 pm for my body) I had pretty much hit the wall and called it a day and had no trouble getting to sleep until I got up around 4:15 this morning (7:15 for my body). I am so grateful I got to share this trip with Patti. We have many great memories to cherish, met some really nice people on the cruise thanks to the open seating at meals, had many laughs along the way, and my family had the opportunity to meet and get to know Patti a bit, and I know they all approve (but seriously, who could not approve of Patti?). This was the first of four trips for us. Next up, Hawaii. Aloha until then.