So Reed and I went over to Luray Caverns today. Really impressive and a very nice presentation even though it was $50 for the two of us. Here's a couple pics: After we went over to Fredericksburg and looked around at the Battle of Chancellorsville and others. On the way home we stopped and saw the Jennings House and the 300 year old tree which sheltered wounded soldiers during the Civil War. Reed didn't take one and I couldn't find a picture on the net.

A week later and not much to report. I've been playing golf all week. No trips this weekend as Reed wanted to spend time in the studio with his big project.

OK home after an interesting weekend with Reed. Saturday night cousin Ry invited us and his daughter Stephanie to meet his nephew John Murray who was in town as the announcer for the Harlem Globetrotters. John comped us tickets and gave Ry a basketball with a bunch of autographs. Great guy and we had a great time at the game. This group of Globetrotters were very talented and they even had a female Globetrotter and, OMG, a white Globetrotter. The "Sweet Georgia Brown" routine was the best I'd seen. This is John Ry took a pic of us waiting for the game. Today Reed and I did the Washington Monument. Here's Reed's pic of the White House. Here's some more pics that Reed just sent me. And Steph just sent this pic of John & Ry

OK so we headed down to the Mall after Reed got up as he wanted to do the Washington Monument and a couple of other places. WM was full up to us as you evidently need to be waiting at their ticket place at 8:30 in the morning when they pass out tickets. Decided we'd do next Sunday as we're coming back to see a cousin we've never net. Went then to the American History Museum for awhile and then finally to the "Newseum" dedicated to the news and news gathering. Great time and good presentation but a private museum and a bit pricey at around $20 each. That is good for 2 days however. Here's a pic of the theater where they have a "4D" presentation. Good 3D plus they make the chairs move at appropriate time.

Ok So it was cold as hell yesterday and all we really planned to do was go to the Heat Wizards basketball game at Verizon Center. I did walk to the store and we did get the cars from under 8 inches of snow. And the Wizards did win 99-97. However on the train on the way to the game at one of the stops they decided to take our train out of service. Reed and I were in this little cubical in our car and couldn't here what was happening until the last guy in the car other than the two of us told us. As I went through the door it closed on me and there I was, hundreds of people on the platform watching with my head on the outside of the car and my body on the inside and my son offering the support of laughing his ass off. It took about 15-20 seconds or so to get me out of my predicament but it was funny. Almost as funny as the Heat coming back to almost beat the Wizards who had had a 35 point lead earlier in the game. Duane Wade didn't play. WASHINGTON (AP) — After pointing out what Washington did wrong in nearly blowing a 35-point lead on Friday night, Wizards coach Randy Wittman was able to celebrate a rare victory. "I ain't giving it back," he said. "I'll take it." Nene scored 20 points, Marcin Gorat added 14 points and 17 rebounds and the Wizards lost all but one point of a 35-point lead before holding off the short-handed Miami Heat 99-97. Bradley Beal added 17 points for the Wizards, 2-7 in their last nine games. Washington's other win in the stretch came after they blew a 21-point lead against Detroit. "Something that seems like it's supposed to be a blowout becomes a nail-biter for us in the last three or four minutes of the ballgame," Drew Gooden said. "We've just got to find a way to be able to step on the team once we've got them down..." Miami played without starters Dwyane Wade (sore right hip) and Luol Deng (right thigh contusion). Goran Dragic had 18 points, but left the game after a hard fall late in the third quarter. Shabazz Napier added 16 for Miami, and Michael Beasley had 13 — all in the fourth quarter as coach Erik Spoelstra stuck with the smaller lineup that ignited the rally. "It wasn't even about the scoreboard at that point. It was about trying to reveal your collective character. That's all it was," Spoelstra said about the rally. "It shows just what unmitigated effort, passion, connection can accomplish in a short period of time." Miami had a chance to take its first lead, but Henry Walker's corner 3 rimmed out with 5.9 seconds left and Nene snared the rebound. Beal made one of two free throws with 1.6 seconds left. Miami inbounded in the frontcourt after a timeout, but time expired before Beasley's jumper — which fell short — left his hands. Washington led 83-48 midway through the third quarter after Gortat's driving dunk off a between-the-legs pass from John Wall, but Miami cut it to 88-73 after three. Dragic scored 12 points in the quarter. "I just think when we get those leads sometimes we get complacent," Wall said. Beasley's driving layup made it 98-95 with 1:47 left, and Tyler Johnson's tip-in pulled Miami to 98-97 at the 1:08 mark. Washington led 40-18 after one quarter. Miami got to within 17 early in the second, but Beal's jumper made it 67-39 at intermission. "We didn't start the game well," Dragic said. "But the only positive thing about this game is that we came back. Unfortunately in the end we did not make those plays that we were hoping for." RESTING WADE Wade didn't come up during Spoelstra's pregame media session, so it was bit of a surprise when the Heat tweeted that the star guard was out with a sore right hip. "It was sore. He wasn't able to go through shoot-around today," Spoelstra said after the game. "It was sore yesterday and didn't really loosen up today the way we thought it would." Miami hosts Sacramento on Saturday night. "I'm good," Wade said. "Coach just wanted to rest me tonight. So, I rested." CONTROLLING THE GLASS Gortat has 10 or more rebounds in his last seven games, which marks his longest streak of the season. Washington outrebounded the Heat 43-37. Miami's Hassan Whiteside, who had 25 rebounds against the Lakers Wednesday night, had two in 20 minutes Friday, and didn't play in the fourth quarter as Spoelstra stuck with the smaller lineup. TIP-INS Heat: Are 5-21 when trailing after the first quarter. ... Miami has used 24 lineup combinations this season, the second-most for a single season in team history (30 in 2007-08). ... Hassan Whiteside picked up his eighth technical foul of the season. ... Miami picked up a team technical in the fourth for having too many players on the court. Wizards: Won the season series with Miami 3-1. Set season highs for points in a quarter (40) and in the first half (67). ... Forward Kris Humphries missed his fourth consecutive game with a strained left groin.

Ok so the Motel 6 I stayed at yesterday didn't have WIFI so I couldn't put the post up so you get a double dose today. Yesterday we took for Richmond and hit the Museum of the Confederacy which was Ok as we saw the Confederate White House along with it and had as our tour guide this cool ex-Sargent Major who gave a great tour of Jeff Davis' house. After we went to the Virginia Holocaust Museum which was much better than I was expecting and a very good presentation. Reed spent the night with his friend Marcel Crump. Got up this morning to bad weather reports so called Reed and got him over and we go out of Richmond about 10:45 and headed to cousin Ry's house in Reston - 2 hours away. It was raining, which turned to snow, which turned to a blizzard and we got to Ry's about 3 1/2 hours later and a lot of snow on the ground. There were times I was more than just a little apprehensive as the weather wasn't getting any better and the temp was forecast to plummet in the afternoon and evening. But we did make it and we're warm and safe. I'll put some pics up when I have more time so check back.

Went north today and hit the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in Winchester, VA and then after went over to Harper's Ferry, WV which is a cool little town and, of course, site of John Brown's infamous raid. The museum was long on building size and number of people working but a tad short on content but it was OK. Harpers Ferry is an interesting little town located where the Shenandoah River joins the Potomac. Ate lunch there at cute little inn. Reed didn't take any pics so let's see what I can find on the net.

So Reed and I were off to tour VA today. First stop was a town 20 miles south called Staunton. We got to the Visitor's Center just as a lady was taking out a tour out so we jumped on. Kinda slow but it was ok and we saw the sites. After we went to the town's main tourist site Woodrow Wilson's birth home and museum. That was OK and the tour of his father's house was cool. Wilson's father was a Presbyterian minister and an interesting guy in his own rite who made big money as a minister. Very nice looking guy. Even today he'd turn heads. After hit lunch and then on to Charlottesville and Thomas Jefferson's home Monticello. Reed enjoyed it and it was cool for me as Jefferson's library collection was the basis of today's Library of Congress. Biggest surprise was that Jefferson owed money his whole life and died with debts of today's equivalent of $2 million+. Reed took a bunch of pics. These are the 3 he wanted me to put up. The monument is TJ's grave.

Forgot to put up the post but the Royals lost to Randolph - Macon 67-57. Kids played well. Randolph-Macon also ended up winning the tournament 81-74 in OT over Virginia Wesleyan. VW did managed to get an at large invite to the championship tournament. Here's the Recap. No. 1 Randolph-Macon controlled the final minutes of the first half in Saturday's ODAC Semifinal game, and made the stretch stick as they ended Eastern Mennonite's season, 67-57. After leading by 10 early in the game, it was a disappointing end for the senior-laded Runnin Royals as they close the year with a record of 17-10. EMU came out ready to challenge the nation's top-ranked team, scoring the first six points. RaShawn Latimer (Warrenton, Va./Kettle Run) later hit a three pointer to cap a 10-0 run, blowing open a 16-5 lead just nine minutes into play. Randolph-Macon settled down, but the lead was still in double figures at 20-10 after an offensive putback from David Falk (Madison, Va./Madison County). Back-to-back three pointers sliced the edge down to four, however, and triggered a 21-4 run for the Yellow Jackets, flipping their lead to 31-24. Each team hit a three pointer before the break leaving R-MC on top 34-27 at halftime. The Yellow Jackets kept their slight edge for much of the second half. Eastern Mennonite got within 54-51 at the 5:55 mark when Ryan Yates (Alexandria, Va./T.C. Williams) converted a layup after a steal from Falk. Moments later the men had a chance to start a run with another steal, but Falk's full court pass sailed out of bounds to hand it back to R-MC. A Marcel Crump (Richmond, Va./Highland Springs) layup got the men back with four at 57-53 with 5:05 left, and two Falk free throws did the same thing at 59-55 with 3:25 to go. But after an EMU timeout, the Yellow Jackets answered with a full court inbounds pass for a breakaway dunk, pushing the lead back to six. The Royals missed a pair of free throws on their next possession while Randolph-Macon made their two charity tosses to push it to 63-55. Crump hit a floating jumper, but the Yellow Jackets kept their edge at the free throw line. EMU was forced to push over the final minute but missed all five of their shots as R-MC won by their largest margin of the day at 67-57. Eastern Mennonite Coach Kirby Dean said the first 20 minutes had two wild swings, with Randolph-Macon hitting some three pointers in transition to get the leg up. "I thought we put on a clinic over the first 10 or 11 minutes of the game," said Dean. "But that final eight minutes of the half really changed the landscape of the game, and that is really where we lost it." The Royals shot a fraction better from the floor, 42% to 41%, and even with similar percentages from long range the Yellow Jackets made eight three pointers compared to five for EMU. But the men committed four more turnovers and struggled from the free throw line. Eastern Mennonite was 6-14 from the stripe compared to 13-17 for Randolph-Macon. "We did a lot of things well today," explained Dean, "but when you play a team that's that good, and that well-coached, you can't make any mistakes. And there were just little things here or there that made the difference." Falk finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds, including making 3-of-4 from the free throw line. Yates added 13 points with seven boards and three steals. Crump charted 12 points while Jerome Jones (Charles Town, W.V./Washington) canned a trio of threes for nine. James Williams (Capitol Heights, Md./Archbishop Carroll) had the game high with seven assists. Joe Hassell had 13 points and six rebounds to lead the Yellow Jackets, they extended their winning streak to 22 games and move into the ODAC Championship game on Sunday. Marcus Badger added 13 with seven assists. Chris Hamilton scored 11. EMU Seniors David Falk wraps up his collegiate career with a number of records and other marks in the EMU's history books. Late in his final season, Falk became Eastern Mennonite's 22nd men's basketball player to score 1000 career points. He finishes 21st all-time, passing former teammate Andrew Thorne in his final game to chart 1058 career points. Falk also took over EMU's career blocks mark with his first swat this year, and finished with 214 in his career. His 82 blocks as a junior is EMU's single season mark. The rebounding machine also broke the EMU and ODAC record for rebounds in a game, grabbing 28 against Lynchburg in the ODAC quarterfinals last spring. Falk has 952 rebounds in his career, landing him third all-time at EMU. Point guard James Williams handed out 246 assists over his four seasons, putting him 12th in EMU's career assists list. Ryan Yates finishes with 955 career points. Marcel Crump played just two years with the Royals but racked up 867 career points.