Over the past few months, we have mostly been trying to fit in visits with as many friends and family as geographically possible. Our first stop was to Fredericksburg, Virginia to visit with Jen’s parents, grandparents, and large extended family. Jen’s dad has thousands of movies and theater seats in his basement so we spent a lot of time together catching up on movies. There is also a huge board game/card game room and we spent a lot of family game nights at home.
One beautiful afternoon was spent in the Rappahannock River. During the summer the water gets so warm that it’s almost like bath water. I’ve never spent any time in a river before and it was fun to explore. The depth went from over your head to your ankles without warning which made for a very interesting swim. We tried to go back a couple weeks later but it had been raining a lot and it was already into September so by then it was too cold to swim. You aren’t going to be able to pull me out of there next summer though!
I can’t take photo credit for this one because I didn’t take the camera to the water.
We spent a few days exploring downtown Fredericksburg which has lots of cool antique shops, a really old drug store and a cozy used book store. It was the kind of area you could spend a long time wondering around. One night we went into a bar called the Capital Ale House. They had probably 40 different taps so naturally Jen wanted to go and I’m a sucker for bar food so I was in. Jen’s favorite thing to do when we get to a new area is to sample as many of the local beers as possible. She says it helps her get to know a place better. I don’t really like beer so I got a cider. I couldn’t resist trying out the cool strip of ice they had spanning the full length of the bar to keep your beverage cold the entire time you’re drinking it. If you go, you have to get the Crispy Artichoke Sandwich. It was amazing! How could you go wrong with breaded and fried artichokes hearts?
That’s Jen and her Dad. It was about to pour the day we went but we are very serious about our ice cream so that didn’t stop us!
If you are into ice cream, which Jen and I always are, then you have two great options in Fredericksburg. If you want soft serve you should go to Carl’s Ice Cream (the link is for their Wikipedia page because they don’t have a website) because they are an institution that’s been around since 1947 and is listed on the National Register Of Historic Places. Their soft serve is unique because its hand scooped into your cone instead of straight out of the machine. My favorite part about Carl’s is the strawberry soft serve! Where else can you get that?
If you are into more interesting and creative ice creams like I am, then Wally’s Homemade Ice Cream is a must. I think we went there three times in one week! They are famous for their fresh peach ice cream during the summer. My favorite is their ice cream called Arbuckles (I was not able to determine why it was called that). It is a vanilla ice cream that has hot chocolate added in the middle of the freezing process. It creates these great tiny pieces of chocolate heaven throughout the ice cream. It was so good that after I tasted it I didn’t want to get anything else!
We had pretty good timing in Fredericksburg because while we were there Jen’s extended family had some pretty good stuff brewing. Before we got there, Jen’s cousins Melissa and David had been fostering two adorable brothers, ages 4 and 6, for about 6 months. We got to Virginia just in time to go to the adoption hearing that officially declared them part of the family. There were at least 30 people crammed into that little court room to witness this momentous occasion and I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house. After the judge made the official ruling he let the kids come up and sit in his chair and everyone posed for pictures laughing and crying all at the same time. It was one of the most beautiful events I’ve ever been privileged to witness. Melissa and David are angels to take in these two little boys who may otherwise have been split up or worse, remained in the system their entire lives. They went from a family of 2 to a family of 4 practically overnight and that can’t be easy. After spending some time with them I think that they are the perfect couple to take on this challenge and I wish only good things for their future.
All in all it was a good trip to Frederisckburg! We laughed, we cried, and of course we ate a LOT!
Home Sweet Motorhome 