Northern Virginia - day 3

W: Tuesday was another one of those errand and busy-ness days. Started the morning with a prescription run to Wal-Mart. After filling out the on-line forms and picking a store in Manassas, off we went. Only one problem, it was the wrong store. But a short drive later we were at the right store and medications picked up.

A quick trip to the Costco for foodstuffs, it was back to the RV and company. Kathy and Gary came for dinner last night – salmon on the Barby – along with a couple of bottles of Virginia wine. A nice evening.

Wednesday, Kathy and Gary drove us to Harpers Ferry, VA. I have to admit my deficiency in American history and the events of the Civil War in northern Virginia. Harpers Ferry is a fascinating place, even without historical events. The Shenandoah and Potomac rivers join – the Potomac then flows eastward to Washington, D.C. and the Chesapeake Bay.

Reading the history of Harpers Ferry is like a who’s-who of American history. Among the notables visiting here: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Meriwether Lewis, Robert E Lee, J.E.B. Stuart, Gen. Stonewall Jackson, George Custer, Gen Philip Sheridan, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and W.E.B. DuBois (helped start the NAACP). Of course the most famous “visitor” was John Brown who tried to capture the arms and ammunitions at the arsenal in his fight to abolish slavery. He was hanged in Harpers Ferry.

The Chesapeake & Ohio transportation company built a shipping canal along the banks of the Potomac. Lock #33 (across the Potomac from Harpers Ferry) seemed so small in comparison to the Champlain Lock we visited just a few weeks ago. The tow-path beside the canal is now a bike / hiking path.

Today’s photos (of 157 taken!). Our first stop was a local farmer’s market with a beautiful display of pumpkins and a bundle of corn stalks.

The in street / shop photo is High Street in Harpers Ferry. The church over-looking the Potomac is of St. Peters Roman Catholic. The last is of the C&O rail bridge across the Potomac to West Virginia. There is also a pedestrian walkway across the river which we took.

Lots of photo ops. Hard to pick a few, so I’ll probably include some more in the coming days.

Thursday morning – it is supposed to rain (and storm?) today and tomorrow – the front of the system (currently off the coast of NC) is about 100 miles south-east of us and moving this way. So we’ll try to do some sight-seeing this morning in a little “antique” town close by and hunker down this evening.