The Terrible Catsafterme

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 »

American History has long fascinated me, so I love visiting places that continue to further my historical education. Instead of a strict daily breakdown of all events from my last trip through Virginia (and other similar trips I have taken and will hopefully continue to take), I have decided to combine locations that pertain to particular Presidents of the United States into one posting. Although I typically find all of the other people, places, and things that I have visited very fascinating, my primary goal is to find all of the Presidential locales, those being birthplaces, homes, places of employ, Presedential Libraries if applicable, and graves. Not surprisingly, the first locations I have chosen to share are those that pertain to our first President, George Washington. Read the rest of this entry »

On Tuesday morning, February 13, 2007, I spent the morning tinkering around Bob’s place. He had to work a half-day, so I got up, leisurely got ready for the day, ate some bags of chips off his couch, and browsed his autograph collection. He had a box of stuff he wanted me to look through to see if I wanted any of it. Around 11:00 or so, Bob came home and we headed to Yorba Linda, CA to see the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace. This was my second visit to his library, the first being when I visited California in 1995. Read the rest of this entry »