The day before the Crawl...

We had been planning the trip to Alexandria for months, we not months but weeks at least. Finally the day arrived!! Leafcutters and I bid farewell to Cactus (he was studying for exams) and hit the road. I figured that a few drive-bys on the way down might make the trip go faster. So we settled on two boxes that were located on I-95. Our first stop was I-95 Drive-By: Chesapeake House by Hikers & Hounds. We thought, 15 minutes tops- we'd use the potties, get some more coffee, find the box and be back on the road- WRONG!! Well it seems we don't know what a persimmon tree looks like. We wandered around for 30 minutes trying to find the box, until Leafcutters said-- "it looks like it should be right there", and it was.

Back on the road, our next box was to be at the Maryland House rest area, but it was missing and there were too many people milling around to make sure it was missing. So back on the road.

We drove straight through to Alexandria. We were there on Friday, a whole day before the Pub Crawl so we could enjoy the town and do a little sight seeing in the process. Since our hotel room wasn't ready, we set out to find the Lyceum.

If you have never been to Alexandria, Virginia I would suggest that you go!! It is truly a gem of a town, fantastic to walk around. We arrived at the Lyceum, a great building which once served as a hospital during the Civil War but is now a charming little museum on local Alexandria history.







Our next stop was The Torpedo Factory. The building was an old Ford plant that manufactured Torpedoes during WWII, it has since been turned into a delightful art center. There are three floors of artisans creating and selling their pieces. It was amazing to see! I wish I had brought my checkbook :)




We then headed over to the Carlyle House which was the historic home of John Carlyle and his family. Mr Carlyle was a contemporary of George Washington and the founding fathers. Much work has gone into restoring this home. When we arrived they were having a special exhibit commemorating the death of John Carlyle, including a fake body lying in his bed and a coffin laid out in the formal parlor. Very creepy but also very interesting.

By this time we were tired, and decided to get some Chinese food and head back to the hotel. I swear we fell asleep before 7pm.