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Great Lakes Trip 2019 Day 1

Fredericksburg VA to Buffalo NY

Before we start hitting the Great Lakes, we made a few stops on the way to Buffalo that we crossed off our bucket list.

Flight 93 National Memorial
Shanksville PA

This memorial honors and memorializes the 40 people who were killed when Flight 93 crashed in this field near Shanksville on September 11, 2001. This was a very solemn, quiet, peaceful and poignant museum.

This is looking down the flight path toward the crash impact site.

This view is looking back at the flight path.

From the end of the flight path sidewalk, looking out in the distant field at the impact site.

The Visitor Center had a great display of many items from Flight 93’s hijacking and crash, as well as all the other events of September 11, 2001. It was very sobering. Here are recovered items from the crash site.

This is a mockup of the inside of Flight 93. The phones play actual audio of three phone messages left by people on the flight. This was very emotional, and a parental advisory was provided.

One of several display panels. This was very informative and thorough.

Kleenex were provided. I can see how emotional this can be.

Walking out toward the crash site Memorial Plaza, this is a meditation area. Memorial ceremonies are conducted here at different times.

This is a memorial Wall of Names with the name each of the 40 victims engraved on a panel.

Todd Beamer was the passenger who organized and apparently executed a counter-attack against the terrorists to prevent them from flying the plane into the US Capitol in Washington DC. He is famed for telling his fellow counter-attackers “Let’s Roll.”

Behind tis gate is the final approach path leading to the actual crash site impact point, which is marked by a boulder at the end of the path. No one is allowed past this gate except for family members of the 40 victims.

This boulder marks the actual impact site.

This is the Tower of Voices, and it is still under construction. The tower is built, and the plan is that it will contain 40 chimes (one for each victim), and they will be built and placed such that a special sound will be created when the wind blows them.

Punxsutawny PA, “Weather Capital of the World”

This is the site of the center of the weather world on every February 2 – Groundhog Day!
This is where the early morning nationally-televised ceremony is held.

Here is the trunk where Puxsutawny Phil, the groundhog, “lives”.

Actually, during the rest of the year, Punxsutawny Phil lives here, in Phil’s Burrow, which is located within the town library. There are Punxsy Phil statues all over town!

This is downtown Punxsutawny, Pennsylvania.
Incredibly, this small town in deep (I mean deep!) rural Pennslvania welcomes over 30,000 visitors each year for the February 2 holiday celebration!

Oil well in Bradford PA

One of the earliest oil discoveries in America was in Pennsylvania (think Pennzoil and Quaker State). There is an oil museum in Bradford. This oil well is just outside of town.
I used to see a lot of these in Texas and Oklahoma.

Buffalo NY

This is the grave of Millard Fillmore, 13th President of the United States.
We will tour his home on Saturday.

Replica of Michelangelo’s David, in Delaware Park.
It was surprisingly imposing.

President William McKinley was shot at this spot on September 6, 1901, and he died 8 days later in Buffalo.

This house was designed and built by famed American architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
This was built in the early 1900s, and is a private residence. This is his prairie style.

The Dwight D. Martin House, designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1903-1905. It is open as a museum. It is very impressive from the outside.

The Anchor Bar, the original home and creator of Buffalo Chicken Wings (1954).
This is basically a biker bar, but very popular in Buffalo!

This is a Buffalo specialty, the beef on weck. It is roast beef on a kimmelweck (caraway and salt) roll. Mary Jean wasn’t feeling well enough to have the wings.

New York City 2019

Freedom Tower

The Mets won the World Series 50 years ago – 1969 – and the Mets are celebrating that championship this weekend. That is why we planned this trip.

We decided to see how much we could do in only two days in New York City!

First stop: Freedom Tower – One World Observatory

One World Observatory.
The elevator ride to the 102nd floor was amazing!
The four walls were a video of what the area looked like throughout history, and from the viewpoint of the elevator altitude – from just trees, then Colonial buildings, then 19th, and 20th century buildings, then the missing World Trade Center.

Empire State Building.
We went to the Empire State Building observation deck 2011.

This is the “Jenga Tower”, completed in 2017.
It is 54 stories tall, and the top penthouse, at 5500 square feet, sold for $28.5 million!
The lower penthouse is 6400 square feet, and sold for $32.5 million.
The views from the top penthouse are licensed, meaning you can’t take pictures from there!
(If you ever got to visit!)

Brooklyn Bridge

This is the view I wanted to capture:
New York City on the East River.

CitiField

This is the reason for the trip – the 1969 World Champion New York Mets!

It was kind of sad to see how old these guys are, and so many couldn’t attend because of health problems, and quite a few have died.

Of course, my hero Tom Seaver couldn’t make it because he no longer makes public appearances due to dementia. His family represented him at the ceremony. His four grandsons threw out the ceremonial first pitch, each to a 1969 Met player. Pretty cool.

126th Street at Roosevelt Avenue in Flushing was renamed Seaver Way, and the new CitiField address officially changed to 41 Seaver Way.

This sign was unveiled this weekend as part of the celebration.

There was a nice video showing scenes from the 1969 season.

Seaver’s plaque in the Mets’ Hall of Fame.

The Seaver display in the Mets’ Hall of Fame.

The stage for the players who were able to attend.

1986 World Championship trophy.
The 1969 trophy was being used for the weekend ceremonies, so I didn’t get to see it.

Last year’s Cy Young Award for Jacob DeGrom.

Oh, and there was a game, against the Braves. The Mets lost 5-4 after a rain delay.

Flushing

We stayed at a hotel in downtown Flushing, which is extremely Asian! We ate at a Chinese restaurant where the workers understood very little English! The food was good, though!

Fox News Headquarters

We planned to go to Fox News headquarters Sunday morning before church, hoping that we could make it on national TV with the Fox and Friends Show.

We met and spoke with Gordon Chang, who is an expert on Chinese and North Korea nuclear issues. He is a frequent guest on Fox News and Fox Business. We actually saw him on Fox News earlier this morning at our hotel before we left! He was very nice, and even gave me his business card!

Me with Ed Henry. He was very friendly and offered to take a picture with me!

After our national TV debut, we walked 18 blocks to church. Along the way, we saw…

This is an interesting one. It looks like it is only 3 rooms wide!

6th Avenue, aka Avenue of the Americas – empty at 9 AM Sunday!

Before he became president, Donald Trump almost single-handedly revitalized Manhattan for the last three decades. His name is very prominent – because he had the visions and made them become realities! Here is Trump Parc, a high end group of shops on 6th Avenue near Central Park.

We walked through a part of Central Park to get to church. Tim Keller started Redeemer Presbyterian Church in the 1970s with the desire to reach the unchurched in New York City. It is very multi-ethnic, and there are now multiple churches throughout the city. His son is the pastor at the one here at Lincoln Square. We sang traditional hymns, and an Andre Crouch spiritual! The preaching was very Christ-centered, and was refreshing. The people here were very welcoming and friendly.

After church we walked to Trump Tower, along the way we saw…
Greystone Arch in Central Park.

The “tower” of Trump International Hotel and Tower.

I thought this was pretty funny – this side of a Central Park monument is covered with pigeons, in the shade. The other side, in the sun, had no pigeons!

Columbus Circle, Christopher Columbus statue.

Trump Tower

This was another major goal of our trip – Trump Tower, another building built by Donald Trump, and his name is prominently displayed all over this magnificent building!

This elevator was prominently in the news after Donald Trump won the 2016 election. Many people were filmed getting on these elevators to meet with President-Elect Trump as he began building his transition team.

Donald Trump leaves an elevator at Trump Tower in 2016.

We ate lunch at Trump Grill:
Shrimp Scampi for her; Trump Burger for me!

This wall is a four-story tall waterfall – simply beautiful!

This is the famous hallway to the Trump Tower restrooms.
At the end of the hall, women to the left, men to the right.

I really wanted to recreate this scene from Trump’s escalator ride in June 2016 to announce he was running for President, so…

Fifth Avenue

Leaving Trump Tower, we strolled down Fifth Avenue, window shopping and soaking in the famous buildings. We had over three hours to spend on our way back to our bus.

I never knew there were so many flavors of Lindor Chocolates!
It will take several months for me to go through them all, but I’m working on it!

The interior of St. Patrick’s is incredibly beautiful and impressive.
The Neo-Gothic architecture, stained glass, statuary – almost breath-taking.

Atlas is across the street and facing St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

“Behind the Walls”, by Jaume Plensa
Sculpture on 5th Avenue in front of Rockefeller Center.

Leaving New York, I was able to snap this skyline shot from the bus.

Salubria

This is a hidden gem in Culpeper County on Route 3. The house was built in 1757. It is now an archeological site of 19 acres controlled by Germanna Community College Foundation. They rarely open this site to the public, but on Friday June 21, they opened it for 2 hours, and I had an opportunity to take a look.

Close-up of a south-facing window. Notice the Flemish bond brick laying – one long side, one short side, alternating. This style created a thicker outside wall than the standard bond of today.

At some point in the mid-19th century, the owners stoccoed over the brick exterior. Interestingly, they also “stamped” the stucco so it had the appearance of blocks. Over time, some of the stucco has fallen off, leaving an mix of stucco and brick appearance.

Apparently the stucco process was abruptly stopped when the Civil War broke out. The east side of the house has no stucco at all. There is an obvious color difference in the brick on this wall – there was an attached kitchen here until at least the 1940s.

This is an interesting landing at the south entrance. The bricks are laid out in a wagon wheel pattern, with river rock filling in the blank spaces.

This historical marker indicates that Salubria was built in 1742, but it has been discovered that 1757 was the actual year. When the earthquake hit in 2011, it knocked over the western chimney, and severely damaged the roof. During the reconstruction of the roof the type of beams used in the were determined to have not been around in 1742, but 1757. Further confirmation was that some of the bricks that had tumbled had the builder’s name and the year 1757 etched into them.

The northeast room is the only room with flooring original to the house.
This is heart-of-pine plank flooring from 1757.

The entire estate is a 19 acre archeological site. The site has been marked off (on paper!) into a grid of 50-foot squares. The archeologists are digging holes every 50 feet, and if nothing is found, the hole is filled in, and on to the next hole fifty feet away. There are no outbuildings on the site, so the professionals are hoping they can find foundations to map out the estate.

Paydirt! This find is yet unidentified, but they will keep digging!

They have not determined what this find represents.

There are several graves on the site. The Graysons were owners of Salubria in the 19th century. One Grayson who was born here grew up to be the White House physician for President Woodrow Wilson during the 1910s.

The house facing south from the family graves.

Hollywood Cemetery

Richmond, Virginia

I had never been here, but had always wanted to, so here is Hollywood Cemetery, one of three locations that contain the graves of 2 Presidents of the United States. Fun trivia: the other two are United First Parish Church, Quincy, Massachusetts (John and John Quincy Adams); Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia (William Howard Taft and John F. Kennedy). Amaze your friends with this fact!

A dog statue, which is listed as a “Visitors’ Favorite”

Grave of Confederate General George Pickett

There are over 18,000 graves of Confederate soldiers in this cemetery.
Quite sobering.

Grave of Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart

Grave of US Supreme Court Justice Lewis Franklin Powell

Grave of US Supreme Court Justice Peter Vivian Daniel

Grave of Matthew Fontaine Maury, known as “Pathfinder of the Sea”.
Maury (from Fredericksburg) was a highly regarded 19th century cartography.

Grave of James Monroe, 5th President of the United States, surrounded by a grove of beautiful, full-bloom cherry trees.

Grave of James Monroe, 5th President of the United States

This sarcophagus contains the remains of President James Monroe.

Monument and grave of John Tyler, 10th President of the United States.
President Tyler was the first president to ascend to the office of upon the death of a president (9th President William Henry Harrison). Since he was not elected President, there was uncertainty about how he should proceed in office. His decisive actions upon taking office set a precedent that such a presidency is as legitimate as the presidency of an elected president.

Close-up of the front of President Tyler’s monument

View from the west of President Tyler’s monument

Statue and grave of Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. Last year we visited his postwar prison cell at Fort Monroe in Hampton.

Monument of my relative Fitzhugh Lee, who had a varied and distinguished life. During his life, he was a Confederate General, Governor of Virginia, Brigadier General in the United States Army (Spanish-American War), and Consul General to Cuba.

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, from Hollywood Cemetery,
downtown Richmond’s skyline

Historic St. John’s Church

Richmond, Virginia

Historic St. John’s church, originally built in 1741, is the site where Patrick Henry gave his famous “Liberty or Death” speech in March 23, 1775, which helped convince those in attendance to begin preparing Virginia’s troops for war against Great Britain. The most famous lines from the speech are:

Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

This speech cemented Patrick Henry’s reputation as the premiere speaker in all the American colonies. He later became the first governor of Virginia after American independence. A fascinating figure worth further study.