In the V-A

Virginia! It’s not entirely wanted for my Virginia experience, but you never know, there may be more Virginia on my way back down from Maine. What happened is I was planning to knock out West Virginia first while near the southern end of the state. When that fell through last minute I had to go with whatever connections I had, and after a few missed connections I found myself going all the way through Virginia to the northern end outside of D.C. So I missed a lot of the state and it may be underrepsented, but one area was represented quite well compared to some stops.

For two nights I found myself in Alexandria where most of my time was playing ketchup and mustard, sending mail, cleaning my car, buying some new socks and undies, and all that fun stuff. All that stuff has to be done from time to time and it can take up a big portion of time. But when it comes to the “best of” list that I’m working on for the trip I found the best Irish pub so far, Murphy’s in old town Alexandria. There in town I spent two nights with a friend of a friend, Sierra, and her mother. Thanks for having me last minute and being so welcoming!

From Alexandira it was on to McLean, VA. Way back when in Birmingham I met a freshman at UAB by the name of Ben. Ben becomes one of the rare few who has seen me in two different states. Ben graduate from high school in McLean just a year ago. And living on the edge of D.C. has its advantages. Hilary Clinton is schedule to be their graduation speaker next year and he has neighbors who are US senators. It’s an interesting area with hot shots, big money, and you name it.

Ben, being a year out of college, is back in his hometown after a year of college. For so many 19 year olds after their first year of college they come back to town and hang out with all their old high school friends. So I met many of them as they came back from their various schools, Delaware, USC, UConn, and Mimami and schools throughout Virginia. What do kids this age when seeing their friends again after a year at college? They party and stay up all night. They wore me out. But a good time.

As a side note I haven’t seen much of D.C. yet. But on one afternoon drive I found myself driving down Massachusetts Street and loved seeing embassy after embassy. Each building was very impressive and proudly displaying their flag. And I love flags! One of the coolest streets to drive on during the trip thus far.