Saturday was our planned last day in Washington so we decided to ride the metro back down to the mall, wander around a bit and then take in the 20th Annual Safeway National Championship BBQ event. We arrived early enough to sit and enjoy a Starbucks on their outdoor patio. After coffee we wandered around some side streets north of Pennsylvania Ave. Sometimes it is amazing what you find or see getting off the main path. We forgot to mention in last week's happenings that we did the same thing up near the Renwick Gallery and came across the World Bank building. Who knew they have such a terrific bookstore and gift shop. We could have easily filled the wee trailer with books from that place! Anyway on this day we were about 2 blocks off Pennsylvania when we came across an old building with a plague on the front detailing the house as being where Clara Barton lived and worked. Clara Barton was, amongst other things, responsible for setting up the missing soldiers registry during and after the Civil War and for establishing the Red Cross in America. Over one hundred years after the Civil War ended someone looked in the attic of this building and discovered a treasure trove of information about Clara including hundreds of pairs of socks she was preparing for the troops (socks were a big deal as the Civil War soldiers did a phenomenal amount of walking) along with thousands of letters sent out regarding missing soldiers. Very, very interesting...
We also discovered the Hill Country restaurant, a Texas BBQ joint in the heart of Washington DC!... so authentic they even fly in their sausages from Kreutz' Market in Lockhart Tx. We decided we might return there later for lunch.
It was now time to join the long line of people going into the BBQ event, They fence off 6 blocks along Pennsylvania Ave and several side streets for this thing... over 10,000 people attend and lots of competitors...
Lots of displays, games and food stalls. We chatted with a number of the competitors. Saturday was chicken judging day and Sunday was pork ribs and brisket so most of these folks have been hard at it already and will be up most of the night into Sunday as the meat will be on the BBQ most of the night. We have pictures of the stalls for numerous competitors on our Picasa album but here's a couple of the more colorful ones...
Probably the most interesting thing for us was chatting with competitors who use the Big Green Egg as their cooker of choice. We already had plans to get one of these when we get home and chatting with these folks confirmed our plans. We also found out about electronic heat controls that will maintain a perfect brisket temperature for over 12 hours without having to add any additional fuel to the fire. Definitely have to get one of these puppies.
Since most of the food stalls were small samples, a bit costly ($4 for 2 rib bones) and very messy, not to mention that it was getting stinking hot out, we decided to head up to the Hill Country BBQ place a few blocks away. This place truly is the real deal for Texas BBQ. We had an excellent lunch of sausage and brisket with the usual sides.
It was still a bit early so after lunch we jumped on the metro and went south to the Pentagon City shopping mall. Partly for the air conditioning but also to pick up a few things we needed. While at the mall, I (Brian) asked a concierge guy if there was a Bank of America nearby... "...yes, of course, walk up one block and then go 2 blocks to the left..." Great! BUT what he really meant to say was "...one block up and then 2 of the longest freaking blocks you will ever walk..." Did I mention that it was stinking hot out?
To top off the heat, we just missed the bus to the campground when we got off the metro and had to wait 45 minutes for the next one. This campground is very handy but if we return we will seriously think about driving to the metro on Saturdays and Sundays when parking is free and the buses run only once an hour!!!
Sunday was our drive up to Baltimore to see the Orioles host the Nationals at Camden Yards. Beautiful ball park...
This was our second Nationals game in a week. They might begin to hate us as they came up on the losing end again. This time a 2-1 setback. They were up 1-0 into the bottom of the eighth inning and feeling good; brought in their closer and then this swing happened...
... sending the ball into the left center field stands for a 2 run "jack" (home run) to give the Orioles the lead which they would not relinquish. Needless to say the home fans were a tad ecstatic.
Our trip record is now: Home team 3, Visiting Team 2.
Monday we left Washington to head south into Virginia and the heart of the Civil War. Our first stop was the Manassas National Battlefield Park. We thought there were actually 2 major battle fields near here (Manassas and Bull Run) but found out they were the same thing. The Confederates named battle fields after nearby towns, the Union named them after nearby rivers. We asked the ranger why, if the Union won the war, was this park given the Confederate name. He explained that the National Park Service decided to name each park based on who won the battle at that place. Here the Confederates won decisively.
Anyway, this is a fabulous park. The farmlands and surrounding forests are basically the same as they were back in the day so you get a real feel (well other than flying bullets and dying soldiers) for what it might have been like. We watched an excellent demo by a guy dressed in period gear. He showed how soldiers were taught to load, aim and fire their muskets in a very disciplined manner. He explained how the battle line strategies worked with a line of soldiers all loading and firing at the same time...
After the park, we headed into downtown Manassas where we wandered around the historic district a bit before having a very nice lunch. Then it was on to Fredericksburg our stop for a few days where we booked into the KOA south of town. It was pretty hot out so decided to have a relaxing pool session before heading back into town for groceries.
Leaving the campground we took a wrong turn and ended up down a narrow country road. Spotting a turn off into a farmer's field we decided to turn around as there was sufficient room to back in almost to the fence and pull back out the way we had come. While slowly backing in, all of a sudden the car jolted backwards with a loud bang followed by a crashing sound. WHAT THE??? Well, it looked like the ditch culvert collapsed and the rear driver's side wheel fell into the hole causing the car to jolt backwards into the fence post. Thank goodness for 4-wheel drive as we were able to extricate the car. No damage to the fence but the car suffered a busted taillight, a dent in the hatchback door and numerous dents and scratches in the bumper.
The next day we took the car into the local Nissan dealer. They could not replace the taillight because our car was bought in Canada. They said the part needed is not available in the USA. Well the lights still worked so he recommended a patch job with clear waterproof tape and since the dents were not impeding the hatchback door decided to leave it all until we get home. We had them put the car up on the hoist and make sure there was no other structural damage as we are pulling the wee trailer. They reported none.
There are 4 major battle fields in and around Fredericksburg. The area is known as the bloodiest place in the USA. Over 100,000 casualties in those 4 battles. In Fredericksburg, when the city was held by the Confederates, the Union army attempted to build pontoon bridges across the Rappahannock river into the town. The Union sent engineers to construct the bridges with no cover. Confederate sharpshooters sat in building windows and picked off the engineers one by one. Kris commented to one ranger that even the ancient Romans would have built some sort of moving shield for the engineers to work behind. The ranger's response was that what the Confederate shooters did, hiding in the buildings, was not considered normal warfare at the time. The result was that the Union finally figured out this strategy was going nowhere fast, pulled back the engineers, brought up artillery on the hillside and proceeded to obliterate the town. Every building was hit and the Confederates withdrew to their position on the hill overlooking the town. The Union army built the bridges then went on a rampage and destroyed what was left of the town. Then they marched on the Confederate hill position. It was amazing to see where the Union army marched line after line of young men up an open field about a quarter of a mile into unrelenting fire. One Confederate commander was heard to yell something like "... fire directly into the line, if lucky, you will get two with one bullet...". At one point, something like 8,000 men killed in just over an hour. Brutal!
Over the next couple of days we visited the Chancellorville and Wilderness battlefields. At Fredericksburg and these two battlefields we took the ranger led talks and tours. Well worth the time and very interesting.
It was at Chancellorville that Stonewall Jackson, the great Confederate General was mistakenly taken to be a Union soldier and shot by his own men. Thus began a tragic end to his life. He was hit twice in the left arm and once in the right hand, his horse bolted through the trees and he was badly cut across the face on a tree branch. When his soldiers managed to recover him and get him off his horse and onto a stretcher, they twice dropped him causing further agony. Out of immediate harms way the doctor amputated his left arm (literally, hacked off with a saw). They then determined that he needed the best help possible which was in Richmond, reachable faster by train from the Guinea Station, some 27 miles away. They loaded him onto a wagon (his "ambulance") and off they went. By the time they got to the station, they found that the Union army had ripped up some of the rail line to Richmond and they had to wait. Jackson ended up with pneumonia which was virtually untreatable at that time and ultimately did him in days later.
Remember that narrow road where we had the car incident. Well, it turns out that road is now known as the Stonewall Jackson Ambulance Route. If you took up the pavement, the road/route would be pretty much the same as it was 150 years ago; a wagon trail. There is now an annual run, the "20 mile Stonewall Jackson Ambulance Route Marathon" that follows the same route.
When we packed up and left Fredericksburg we decided to follow the ambulance route down to where there is now a shrine to Jackson near where the Guinea train station was. There is a memorial and a house from the original plantation. This is where Jackson was treated and eventually died. They actually have the bed where he died and the quilt that covered him. The ranger there told us the story and showed us around. Excellent. Regardless of what one might think of the war, he was regarded as a military genius and the shrine is very quite moving. Some Union officers were said to be happy that their "enemy" was gone but sad that such a great military man was lost. After his death it was pretty well all downhill for the Confederates. General Lee did not win another major battle.
Thursday we headed further south on rural roads through the small Virginia communities of Bowling Green and West Point into Colonial Williamsburg, a much earlier era in America's history. Step back another 100 years.
Colonial Williamsburg is pretty neat. They have maintained the core of the city as a large "Colonial" town filled with original buildings, museums, working craft locales such as foundry, cabinetry, silversmithing, weaving, carpenter along with period re-enactments such as a working plantation, military encampment and several taverns. We took a docent guided tour of an historic furniture exhibit in one of the museums and also watched craftsmen/craftswomen in period attire doing demonstrations of life as what it would have been like in the colonial period. It is a tad expensive ($90 for a 3 day pass for the two of us) but well worth it. You can wander around the Colonial Williamsburg grounds for free but need a pass to get into any of the period demo locales, and really, that's the interesting part...
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