Chesapeake, Virginia

Once we left the kiddos, we drove to Chesapeake, Virginia, and visited with Tom's parents, Tom and Sharon. When they retired, they moved closer to where the kids are and they had asked us to come visit.

We arrived on Monday afternoon and after getting set up, we drove on over to their house. They told us to bring Duchess and she really seemed to enjoy some place new. She wiped her muzzle on all the carpets and scratched her back on the sofa, so Pepper will have something new to smell. LOL

Tom fixed dinner for us, shrimp and pasta, and it was outstanding. We really liked it and enjoyed the company.

Tuesday we met them at 1 p.m. and they drove us to Newport News to the Mariner's Museum. Several years ago, the Monitor, the ironclad from Civil War days, was discovered in it's watery grave. Many artifacts were brought up and they also recovered the turret from the top of the ship. We spent a couple hours touring the Monitor display and it was fascinating. We saw the turret, although there isn't much to see. They keep it submerged in a water bath as it goes through a desalination process. Tom said they bring it to the surface every couple years and you can see it then in its entirely, but the rest of the time it is submerged. You can see the rim and it still is exciting even though you cannot see much. They do have a display mockup that is supposed to look like it was when it was discovered underwater. Pretty cool.

After the museum, we drove back to Chesapeake and ate at an Italian restaurant. It was very good. We said our goodbyes then as they had meetings and we had to get back to Duchess. We left yesterday and headed on down the road to Florida. Good times ahead as well.

Till next time. . .

Dale