We had a good sampling of the area in and around D.C. on our trip. We took one day and visited our friends, the Monihan’s, who moved to Springfield, VA. after they left Shawnee. They had a very nice two story home in a quiet neighborhood and intended staying there for the remainder of Dave’s career with the Military. Beverly insisted we bring Becky back the next day to stay with them while we toured Williamsburg. She was horribly swelled from poison ivy and was miserable with the heat and her seeping skin. I hated for her not to see Williamsburg but decided it was probably best with her condition.

We had a full day at the Colony where people were making it all come true as they worked in the stable, blacksmith shop, pottery, copper, pewter or candle shops….all the things of the period that people would need in their daily life. We ate in one of the Inn’s where George Washington ate, of course, and enjoyed the atmosphere. The ladies all wore impressive dresses and looked every bit like a step back in time.

We took one day and went to Mt. Vernon. I had been there twice before; once with grandma Stricklett and aunt Mary and again on our Senior Class Trip. It was one thing I wanted the children to see because of all the history they had been exposed to in school. I still have a brass replica of a candle holder by the bedside of Martha. It is the only souvenir I bought. The house is set in such a beautiful place to view the river where guests and supplies traveled. It was fun to sit on the front porch and imagine life as it was at the time….days past that would never be the same again. I remember seeing George’s wooden teeth on his bed table. He tried many different ways to find a substitute for all of his teeth that he lost. Little known stories about the man that stuck with me.

We went back into D.C. before leaving for home. Just one last day to visit the things we hadn’t had time for earlier. By now we were getting used to the routes to take us where we wanted to go. By the time we finished we had seen the Capital, White House, Treasury Department, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Washington Monument, Smithsonian, and all the rest. We spent our last night visiting with aunt Inabelle and uncle Tom and left early the next morning. We planned to go to Milwaukee on our return to Kansas to visit Louis and Gail.

We took the Pennsylvania Turnpike as far as we could and then headed North to Milwaukee. We found their house with the instructions they gave us over the phone and we spent a couple of days with them. Louis wanted me to fix taco’s for their friends who had been in the wedding party with us. The Mexican food craze hadn’t hit yet so it was a curiosity kind of thing….especially in Milwaukee where German or Polish food is more popular. It was a mammoth job as there were quite a few people counting the children. They all agreed it was good food and found out how to make them. We had a good visit with everyone and the next day Louis took us on a tour of Allen-Bradley where both he and Gail worked.

While we were visiting them a sad thing happened. Their home was on a hill overlooking Lake Michigan with the jetty down below. We noticed a large crowd had gathered and ambulances were at the scene. We found out later that a teen-age boy saved his cousin from drowning but was so exhausted he then drowned himself. None of the relatives noticed him as they were all giving the other boy all their attention. Divers found the body and we saw him pulled from the water into the boat. It was a very sad thing and really impressed our three kids who weren’t too much younger.

We drove home to Shawnee….a pretty tired bunch of people. We had a wonderful time and now it was time to go back to work and to school. No matter how much fun a trip is it’s always good to get back home.

Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther