Day trip to Alexandria

We decided this morning that we wanted to go into Alexandria, Virginia to see the replica of the Godspeed that is docked on the Potomac River. The Godspeed is one of the ships that landed at Jamestown on May 13th, 1607 to establish the first American settlement. In preparation for the 400th year anniversary celebration this exact replica is sailing from Jamestown to several East Coast ports this summer. This is the only time we were going to be near it so--off we went.

Alexandria and Washington DC are only about 75 miles from us so we dug out the maps and plotted our course through the notoriously bad traffic. Actually it was not too bad until we go into Alexandria with it's old narrow streets and frequent stoplights. On the way, we got quite a laugh at this truck next to us on the freeway. Do you want to buy an "antique" table from them? Mmmmmm-bet they are quite genuine!!!


Anyway we reached the waterfront and docked ship. We got in line to board the ship for the tour. Although the line did not seem really long, it soon became apparent to us and those around us that it would be quite a wait because group after group of school children were showing up and being escorted right onto the ship in front of all of us!. Apparently the people running this neglected to let the public know that they would only be accommodated in between school groups until 1pm. It was only 11 am!! This matters because it was sunny(little or no shade), 90+ degrees with 90% humidity!! Ugh! It was a 2 1/2 hr wait! Not sure you can see in this picture just how pleased Karen looks--oh what she would have given for a bottle of ice cold water!! You can see the main deck of the ship however. It sure was not very large to be crossing the stormy Atlantic. It certainly was not a pleasant experience for the 40 or so passengers that made the crossing in the tightly cramped spaces below deck. All in all we were glad we got to see the ship.

After that we dashed over to one of the Metro stations and picked up a dear friend that lives in DC and had lunch with her before heading back home. What fun.