The Terrible Catsafterme

Dave and I awoke bright and early the morning of July 29, 2007 in our hotel room at the Westin LAX Airport Hotel. We packed up our stuff and headed over to the Wiley office to help load up the afternoon’s coolers with beverages and ice in preparation for the second leg of our bus tours to the various Laurel and Hardy locations. While the prior day’s tours had been centered around Culver City, this day would see some of the other film locations in the outlying areas of Los Angeles. Read the rest of this entry »

James Madison was our fourth United States President from 1801 – 1809 and the primary author, hence the title “Father of the U.S. Constitution.” Among his other achievements were the co-authorship of The Federalist Papers and the creation of the first ten amendments to the constition, better known as The Bill of Rights. Quite a fascinating and well-educated man, Madison’s life both began and ended in Virginia, a state I recently toured and was able to visit several of the important locations of his life…all carefully and excitedly detailed below. Read the rest of this entry »

After our incredibly busy Sunday activities, it was amazing that we were able to peel ourselves out of bed to catch an early breakfast in our digs, the Richard Johnston Inn, before heading toward Richmond, Virginia’s capital city. But we did…and were consequently able to enjoy a nice cherry and coconut dessert for breakfast. We quickly stuffed ourselves in the car and prepared to depart for our next destination(s) of the day, Monday, August 6, 2007. Read the rest of this entry »

Thomas Jefferson, our third American President from 1801-1809 was quite an eccentric and unique individual based on some of the things I learned during our visit to sites pertaining to him in Virginia. I’m currently reading his autobiography which makes it clear that he considers his primary achievement to have been his authorship of The Declaration of Independence rather that his Presidency. In addition, he was an architect, archaeologist, political philosopher, writer, scholar, horticulturist, inventor, paleontologist, and statesman. However he is best defined, he remains an enormous icon in American History and one definitely worth scoping out in my Presidential studies. Read the rest of this entry »

Bob and I awoke bright and early in Colonial Beach on Sunday, August 5, 2007. It was going to be one of those days that have enough activities packed into it to last anyone else a week or more. We checked out of Doc’s Motor Court and chatted with the nice lady whose husband had built the place. She sent us on our way with some suggestions for things to do in the area. Of course we already had a relativley strict schedule we needed to stick to in order to get even half of the items on our itinerary accomplished. Our first stop – naturally – was at McDonalds to fuel our bodies for the day. Read the rest of this entry »