History on Tap

Malinda (6th grade at Churchland Elementary) and I were selected to attend a weekend seminar at James Madison’s Montepelier, in Orange, VA.  This weekend we are focusing on the founding of the Constitution. 

The drive up was pretty uneventful, although we got quite hungry.  This of course occurred after we had passed any halfway decent place to grab food.  We finally happened upon a Tastee Freeze and that had to do.  (I had a hot fudge cake, Malinda actually ate lunch.)  The Tastee Freeze in itself was an experience, it wasn’t a culture shock exactly, but we are definitely out in the country.

After Tastee Freeze, we headed down the curviest road I’ve ever been on, and eventually made it to Montpelier.  I’ve never been here, Malinda has been several times.  We had to check in, then they showed us to our houses.  (Everyone is staying in Constitutional Village, which is made up of 4 or 5 restored farmhouses.)  The view from our front porch is quite pretty. 

The houses have full kitchens (they provide snacks) and nice living rooms.  All of the furniture is pointed at a wall, there are no televisions.  Some of us have to share rooms (I do, but we also have a private bath, which is nice.)  I’m not sure if it’s just our room, or if it’s all of them, but ours has quite a collection of lady bugs on the ceiling.  I’m afraid I may swallow several of them in my sleep. 

Dinner (as well as lectures and all meals) was held at Lewis Hall, down the road from the houses.  Dinner tonight was BBQ.  Four different types of BBQ.  I’m not a big fan of BBQ, but I did alright.  (I did manage to restrain myself from getting dessert, since I had that hot fudge cake already today.  And I’m not running this weekend at all.  Didn’t even bring my shoes in fact.)   We met a couple of people from Hampton at dinner, as well as a gentleman from Raleigh. 

After dinner we had our introduction/opening lecture.  I had quite a hard time paying attention, as I think most people did.  We were all tired from working, then driving.  I did jot down some notes, but it was difficult. 

There was a group that went up to the mansion tonight, I wanted to but I think I’ll go tomorrow evening instead.  I didn’t bring my camera to dinner, and I’m rather tired, but before bed I have to do quite a bit of reading to prepare for tomorrow.  So several people asked if the guy in charge would take a group tomorrow night as well, to which he agreed.  I am excited to see the mansion after hours.  (Although I don’t think this means the inside of the mansion after hours, just the grounds around the mansion.) 

Now I’m going to read and hope I don’t swallow any bugs in my sleep. 

Our room!                                                                                                         Our living room, sans TV.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 6th, 2009 at 10:30 pm and is filed under Seminars and Workshops. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.