4 posts tagged “anniversary”

20.

10 X 2.

4 bundles of tally marks.

A few shy of 2 dozen.

2 decades.

2 decades?

How can that be?  I mean, I know that there are a few more lines in my forehead and a few more gray hairs frosting your jet blank strands, but...

20 years?

How could 240 months...7304 days...438240 minutes have passed since that phone conversation, the two of us some 2300-plus miles apart, fumbling our way toward a life together?

"I'll be gone a lot.  Training.  School.  Out to sea."

"I'll wait."

"It won't be easy or fun."

"I know.  I'll wait."

"You'll wait?"

"Yes.  I'll wait."

And here we are, 6 states, 12 homes, 3 kids, 15 jobs, and at least a half a dozen or so pets later.  That chaplain was right.  We have grown up together.  We've been with one another longer than any other person was with us.  You know me better than I know myself sometimes.  And I, you.

Would you have it any other way?

Me?

I am looking forward to 20 more.  And then some.

All my love and kisses that come in threes,

Your 'Cloe

And now back to our regularly scheduled program...

(Or, in other words, here are some more photos from our anniversary trip.)

I think I mentioned that the hotel gave us one of their three deluxe rooms.  It was a corner room, so it had three big windows.  The hotel was also kind enough to help us remember the date and time, as well as current temperature at any given moment...

View from window

What day is it

Believe it or not, it actually cast an interesting glow into the room in the evenings with just the sheers over the windows (kind of reminded me of sleeping at Mom-Mom and Pop's in that windowed alcove when we were kids, Mar and Janie).

After breakfast on Sunday, we checked out and then headed to Antietam National Battlefield...

Antietam view1

 

Antietam view2

Antietam view3

Antietam view4

Cannons

Another interesting site, and difficult to imagine some 23,000 men losing their lives there in one day.  Yes, you read that right: 23,000.  In one day.

Dunker church

Across the street from the visitor center is this little church.  It was called "Dunker Church" because the congregants baptized by immersion.  It was in the middle of the fierce fighting, and it became the backdrop of the one of the first published civil war photos depicting slain soldiers still on the field.

War photo

As you can see, we were standing on practically the same spot as those men who gave their lives that dark day.  Sobering to say the least.

Rob mused, "Isn't it interesting that our government spends thousands of dollars to transform a place of violence into a peaceful memorial. 

I am glad they do.  That they did so at Antietam.  Beauty from ashes.

Battlefield tree

We drove through the rest of the battlefield slowly, drinking in the sites as we passed memorial after memorial.  We capped off our visit with a stop at the Burnside Bridge, site of some of the worst sniper fighting in the battle.

Bridge

Bridge2

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On stone wall

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Reading

Finally "historied out", as Rob quipped, we drove back down to the Baltimore area for a late lunch at Cactus Willies.  Then we picked up the boys and headed home.

Tomorrow I will try to post the last of the photos: my favorite flora shots taken at Antietam.

I never realized until this weekend that John Denver was really singing about a very small portion of West Virginia in that favorite song of my preschool youth.  But the Shenandoah only meanders through the very eastern part of West Virginia, the very area in which the tiny town of Harper's Ferry has sat for over 250 years. 

After enjoying typical continental breakfast fare at the hotel, Rob and I made our way over to Harper's Ferry National Historical Park.  I'd remembered a long-ago bus trip with my family and had wanted to revisit this area for quite some time.  Once in the park, we took the shuttle bus down to the town area and began exploring this quaint restored village and the river valley it calls home.

Town view1

We were pleased to learn that there were several living history demonstrations planned for the day.  But we had an hour or two to explore before they began, so we made our way over to the Shenandoah River and the trails running it's length.

Walking

Shenandoah1

Rob by river

Nicole by river

Shenandoah2

A walking bridge runs parallel to the train tracks and allows one to cross the river and climb down to the Chesapeake and Ohio National Historical Park and it's path along the Shenandoah.

Trestle

Tunnel

Trees in stone

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Part of an old bridge, these evergreens (above) have somehow found a way to flourish in the stone.

Thoughtful

One of my favorite photos from the weekend (above).

Shenandoah3

River and rocks

Bridge

Rob found a bench of sorts to rest on......

Relaxing

No mind that the drop off, should he roll to his right, would cast him upon the rocks and into the chilly Shenandoah!

Drop off

You can't really tell from the photo, but it was a straight drop down from his resting spot.

Along the way, we also found some time for silliness...

Emo

As we made our way back to the town area, the view changed a bit, but was still quite nice.  I love the way the path follows the river in this next photo:

Path

Town view2

We arrived back in the town area in time to watch two living history presentations: one on the militia and weaponry of the 1850s, as well as the reenactment of the marines' capture of John Brown after Brown's Raid.

Fire

Ragtag band

Lawyer

The volunteer playing the role of John Brown looked eerily similar to the abolitionist...

John brown photo

John brown

Marine and Brown

We finished up the day exploring the town area, including many of the buildings, which are now exhibits, and a lovely Roman Catholic church perched high above the town.  We shared a burger in one of the cafes and visited the creepy wax museum that I remembered having nightmares about after my childhood visit.  It was sorely overpriced, though Rob deemed it worth every penny for me to have closure.

Rooftops

Church

Nicole in churchyard

Three

I love the way these windows were designed (above).

Town view3

Town view4

Shenandoah4

Steeple

We returned to the visitor's center via the shuttle bus and the ranger told us we should visit Bolivar Heights before leaving the park.  This area also boasted some lovely views.

Maryland and louden heights

To the right of the valley is Louden Heights, which is in VA.  To the left of the valley is Maryland Heights, which as it's name suggests, is in MD.  Bolivar Heights, where we were standing is in WV.

Maryland and louden heights2

Bolivar Heights view

We drove back to the hotel and changed for dinner, with plans to feast at Olive Garden.  The wait was an hour and 20 minutes; Rob said, "It's good, but it's not that good!"  We went to Uno Pizzeria instead and enjoyed it quite well.  And now we still have a gift card for OG that we can hopefully use tonight!

I also took some photos of flowers and such, but will save those for another entry.

Last night, in honor of the H@llmark holiday, I decided to chill and open a bottle of wine that Rob and I purchased while on our anniversary trip in October. 

Big Creek Vineyard store in Jim Thorpe

We went up to Lehighton, Pennsylvania near the Poconos.  After attending the fall festival in Jim Thorpe, we ventured out to a family-owned vineyard - Big Creek Vineyard - a bit north of our hotel.

I am the one with the apprecition for vino, so to have Rob not only agree to drive around a bunch of country roads in search of this vineyard, but for him to then join in the wine tasting with me was one of the highlights of the weekend.  The staff was accomodating and knowledgeable; they took their time talking to us about each wine before we tasted it.

Big Creek Dulcinea

We bought two bottles (though now I wish we'd gotten more - isn't that always the way?): the Dulcinea, a sweet white dessert wine and the Vin Di Pasqualina, a nice rosé.  I opened the Dulcinea last night.

Over the past year, I've moved away from sweeter wines, but as soon as I tasted the Dulcinea, I remembered why we bought it.  It is sweet, yes, but not too much so.  I sipped it while I nibbled on some dark chocolate that Rob gave me that morning, and it was a lovely accompaniment.

The website describes it as "very well balanced, not overly sweet, with a nice refreshingly acidic finish".  I couldn't describe it any better.

Now I can't wait to open the rosé, though I hesitate because I don't know when we will get back to that vineyard.  Must plan a trip after the thaw.

So, if you are ever in the Pocono region of Pennsylvania, look them up; it is worth the detour - and the prices are good too.