Let's catch up!

Time has gotten away with me.....what does that mean exactly...well, maybe I have been a bit lax (a rather less condeming word than LAZY).  So, here is an attempt to begin to catch up to the here and now while I still Remember....

One of our goals on this adventure was to attend church each Sunday.  We also wanted to attend churches that had interesting history, or ones where we had either heard the pastor preach or heard of the pastor.  Of course, our first Sunday was in Kure Beach and we attended First Baptist.  What a wonderful service but, their history was not remarkable, and we heard an interim pastor preach....didn't matter tho as we felt very blessed to have been there.  Our next stop on Sunday was a church with much history and a  pastor Paul respected and admired.  We made it into DC and found a good parking place and got to church on time....it was packed and we were in the balcony....the sanctuary was almost a complete circle and when the congregation sang, well, the acoustics were amazing.  I really enjoyed just listening to everyone sing!  Mark Dever, the pastor, was not there that morning...oh well....again, we

just enjoyed being there!

After church and a picnic lunch in a lovely park nearby, we drove a short distance to the National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian Art Gallery(not the official name, sorry).  We were there just in time for a lovely guided tour that lasted about an hour, then we wandered around for another couple of hours, then headed "home"

Above...National Portrait Gallery

This is the closest I got to A Nationals Game....ha ha, they were playing the Yankees and it was a totally sold out series....I think they lost all games to the Yanks....

We drove past the Capitol, such a pretty place and pretty day too, the folks in the red shirts were playing soccer.

The next day we traveled to Manassas to tour the battlefield.  There were two separate battles fought here, the first battle of the Civil War and about a year later the 2nd Manassas.  The South calls these battles "Bull Run"  after the river that runs through the area.  The site is very well maintained and we got an excellent tour from a very knowledgable park ranger who looked 18 (but was not! these days everyone looks 18 to me!) 

See how peaceful and serene the countryside?

Paul and Stonewall Jackson....this battle is where Jackson received his nickname, Stonewall.

 While in the area we also were able to visit with dear friends who were stationed with us in Idaho over 30 years ago! Time flies, but friends remain and we had a lovely evening of visiting and good food on the waterfront of Alexandria, VA.  perfect!

 

Well...that catches you up thru DC....next post will be our adventures in New York.
Tally-ho,
Cathy