April 19, 2017 Boston Marathon

Hi everyone.
Our trip has finally come to an end and it's great to be back home.  Grammie was glad to see some flowers breaking through the ground and Tom was delighted to put away the snow shovels that were left "at the ready" when we left.
We did, before coming home, make one final planned stop to see Tom's brother Bob in the running of the Boston Marathon.
The race starts with the fastest going first.  The winner completing the course in 1 hour 18 minutes,

We were at mile 17, a popular spot to see the variety of entrants going by.   The fastest runners are preceded by a vehicle announcing the approach of the fastest runners.

On the right, in white top and red shorts, the eventual winner with a time of 2:09:37 is Geoffrey Kirui.

The course starts to get crowded, but not before some other runners pass by.

At the end of the race this handicapped runner is pictured carrying his guide across the finish line.

Early on, many soldiers were seen making the walk.

Some entrants had a little bit of help along the way.

If you were expecting to see a particular runner, you had to be on the lookout as the field at times was still crowded at mile 17.  Tom caught Joe, #2006, with barely time for a shoutout as he was going by.

Finally, Bob stopped for a quick hi, doing fine, and then gone.

He looked good and was happy for the brief rest.

Bob and Tina

One last hug, and then on the road again.

Finally, with a time of 3:57:09, the cooling down..or rather warming up time takes over.

A celebratory meal at the Jacob Wirth that features a 26.2.

Congratulations to Bob on a tremendous effort.

April 13, 2017 Morgantown, WV

Hi everyone.
On the way to Morgantown WV, Grammie was in Accident.  Don't worry a bit, Grammie is fine.

Morgantown is located on the Monongahela and is an area of steep hills.  If you are standing in a road that goes up and down, chances you are you are in someone's driveway..  If the road is curvy, you are following along a river or a lake.  The major lake in the area is the Cheat Lake.

Cheat Lake

 Also in the area is Lynn Lake where there are many nice homes with an excellent opportunity to do some fishing.  This pic shows some of the steep hillside behind the house.

We took a trail walk along the lake where there was muck coal taken out years ago.  At the end of this portion of the trail was a dam used for hydroelectric power.  We didn't know that if it wasn't for a locked gate, we would have walked all the way to Pennsylvania.

We were being watched.

A couple of pics showing the built up housing areas on hillsides

 So many hills that even the golf coursed hardly had any flat areas.

On a trip into town, population 29,000, boosted by about 22,000 West Virginia University students, you will see a lot of students walking to and from classes as this is a downtown campus.

If you look carefully at this picture, you can get a glimpse of Grammie.

 Grammie next to a statue of Don Knotts, born in Morgantown.

Morgantown has many historic sites.  For a quick list visit the following Historic sites.

Grammie is fine and yes she was in Accident.  Thanks for keep an eye out for Grammie

One more day in town and then on to New England...Home to the Patriots, Red Sox, and many Boston Marathon runners.  Hey Sis, and Bro, we will see you soon.

April 8, 2017 Monticello

Hi everyone, today we left Virginia Beach and headed to Harrisonburg, VA with a stop at Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson.
If you take out a nickel and look at the back of it, you will see a resemblance of Monticello.  Jefferson was a person that kept written details of things in his life and was very meticulous in the details of his house.  The details were about many things in his life, not only of Monticello, and its revisions-remodeling, but of his gardens, crops and his management of slaves.

Monticello is said to be the  masterpiece of Thomas Jefferson.  He designed and redesigned and built and rebuilt for more than forty years and its flower gardens were an obvious show of the love for flowers.The food gardens were not only a source of food, but also an experimental laboratory of ornamental and useful plants from around the world.

In a later remodel, Monticello is said to be the first house to use a dome in its structure.
On the tour, pictures were not allowed in the house but the link may help to see the inside.

Monticello home

Grammie outside Monticello

Jefferson thought that education was very important so he founded the University of Virginia.  From Monticello, you can see the dome at the University of Virginia, also known as just Virginia.

Monticello was built on the top of a mountain, but it was not the highest in the area.  Altus mountain, which Jefferson at one time owned, overlooks Monticello and is now privately owned.

 A wide view of his garden area today.

To the east, Jefferson could look out a distance of 40 miles...and to the west a distance of 25 miles to the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Jefferson's house featured a bottom cellar running the width of his house which included a wine cellar, a beer storage area, storage for his garden crops as well as many winter supplies.  There were 2 staircases as well as dumbwaiters that servants used to bring up supplies.  The supplies were kept cold using ice from a 16 foot diameter by 12 foot deep ice house located outside on the north side of the house.

Also outside, at the cellar level were storage areas for horses, carriages, and other supplies.

The top of the mountain was flattened to make an area for his flower gardens.

The tulips were in various colors.

A visit to Monticello is highly recommended, whether of not you visit presidential homes.

Thanks for keep an eye out for Grammie

April 7, 2017 Virginia Beach

Hello everyone,
Today we went to the Virginia Aquarium.  It was a great place with a lot to see...and kid friendly, of any age.

Well, there may have been a part that wasn't quiet as friendly, but still interesting.

  The Komodo Dradon was really quite active, moving about in it's glassed in area.

There was a neat exhibit that featured a walk through part of the aquarium. This Manta was overhead.

 The Egyptian Cobra may grow up to 9 feet.

 Probably the best part for the kids...of all ages was the outdoor area that was set up for even the younger kids.  One can travel from tree to tree either by zip line or a variety of stepping obstacles.

 There were some parts the the older crowd wasn't planned to go.

Thanks for keeping a lookout out for Grammie.  Did you see her up in the trees?

April 4, 2017, Masters

Hi everyone,

Today we visited Augusta National Golf Course to see a practice round in preparation for Thursday's start. The weather was great after the Monday practice round was washed out.  When we were getting close to the course, there were many people beside the street looking to either buy or sell tickets even though Augusta National prohibits doing it.

 The free parking lot was already full with very few places to spare.

  After a little bit of a walk, we went through security and had our tickets checked.

As we walked on, there was a huge line of people waiting to get into the gift shop.  We were thinking that people wanted to get items before they ran out.  Practically no chance of that as there are web sites still selling 2016 merchandise.Over the course of the tournament, Augusta National hires about 1300 security people as well as many high school students to help guide people through certain areas.

We had not seen some of the front 9 the last time we were here so we walked past the clubhouse to the 1st Tee.

Right nearby is the 18th green, where it all will end on Sunday.

This is looking towards the 18th fairway.  When watching the tournament on TV it really doesn't show how much uphill and downhill the course has.

We saw Phil coming up towards the 2nd hole where he easily made a birdie.

Phil's caddy, Bones Mackay taking a rest.  This was after we watched several people skipping golf balls across the pond on the 16th.

After enough walking, Grammie and her best friend stopped 

for a pic in front of the leaderboard and then called it a day.

Thanks for keeping up with Grammie's golf activity.