Old Town Alexandria...

On 14 August 2014, I Amtrak'ed from Richmond to Old Town Alexandria.  Thank you to my friend who gave me a ride to the train station.

Let's see the Amtrak was scheduled to arrive and leave Richmond about 12:30 pm.  Well....work on the tracks before Richmond caused our train to arrive around 3 pm.

I settled into a seat and as I looked around and listened to the sounds, I realized I was in the 'kid' car.  Next to me was seated the grandmother of her two grandsons (9 and 7 years old) who were seated across the aisle from us.  Then in front of us were two young children.   Across the aisle from them, were the two young mothers. And they had two young children with them as well.  Young meaning 10 years or less!  Oh well...as I stared out the window!

Was glad to finally arrive in Old Town Alexandria around 5-ish!  And take a walk down King Street.  Was hungry and found this great Happy Hour deal -- $1 oysters!  YUMMMM. Local oysters for a snack!

And then I ate Thai food for dinner!

And it was a beautiful evening!  Warm not humid, so I walked to the end of King Street which dead ends into the Potomac River!

And stayed at Hampton Inn on King Street.  Thank you to my local friend for the recommendation and the two-night gift certificate.  As importantly, I was happy it worked out to see her on Saturday night.

The hotel is so convenient--four blocks for Amtrak station.  Two blocks from Metro subway and bus terminal.  Four blocks from Whole Foods...and on King Street which is filled with shops and restaurants.

And so happy to see these four on Sunday night.....the wife I met when I lived on Court Place in Charlottesville (1984-1988).  We were neighbors on the same street then.  And what fun we had.  I will never forget the night we decided to experiment with what proportions of tequila and triple sec make the best margarita!  When my next door neighbor drove up, we asked him to try our latest version.  Killer Margaritas were born!

The husband I met when they came to San Francisco the first year I lived there.  He proposed to her during that visit.  The last time I saw them and their two kids (now 21 and 18) was at my 5-0 birthday celebration--when my friend surprised me and my guests with her tribute to me sung to the tune of My Favorite Things!  I have such good and creative friends!

Northern VA was my old stomping grounds after I graduated from college since I had friends living in Northern VA.  Was fun to see it again after all these years.  A lot has changed as is the case for any place!

More in another post....