Cousin June, daughter of Aunt Ivy, paid us a nice, long, visit in June (no, that’s not a misprint–it was June in June). We had met her in London last year, and she took us up on our offer to show her a good time in the US. And in doing this, she also knocked four items off her bucket list:
- Visit the US
- See family members she hasn’t met before
- Pan for gold
- Visit the Blue Ridge Mountains
Numbers 1 and 2 are a given, but what about 3 and 4? Read on, and that will be explained as we hit those events.
Week #1
Penny Lane 
June and Pattons 
June refuses to give up 
Chicken fried steak and Frito pie
We started with a tour of Richmond, hitting the Jefferson Hotel and Hollywood Cemetery, with, of course, lunch at Penny Lane Pub. We spent the next day in Carytown, with lunch at the Galaxy Restaurant, where I introduced June to that great Oklahoma specialty, chicken fried steak. The Virginia version, of course, but she says it was pretty good.
And then we come to bucket list #3, panning for gold. June has a passion for old cowboy movies, where prospectors are frequently panning for gold. Virginia is not known for that particular activity, but I reasoned that there’s no reason why we couldn’t do it. After all, we have the largest river in Virginia, right here–the James. So, off we went, to look for a proper pan. Well, you can guess what we found–nada. But, we did manage to find some ultra cheap salad bowls that looked like they would be a good substitute. You just need something to hold water, and a lip, where you can slosh the water and lighter material over the lip. June couldn’t resist asking the cashier on the way out “Can we bring the back when we’re through?” English humor.
We managed to convince the Patton boys that this would be loads of fun, so we picked them off and headed to the Pony Pasture. That lasted about three minutes. But, check, #3 done.
Crab cake at the market 
Farmer’s market 
Hot tub after Tres Machos 
Megan’s newest, Liam
Of course, no visit to Virginia is complete without feasting on Blue Crab, so we had that one night, with family.
Liam and Amelia 
The aftermath
Week #2
Washington, DC, of course. In one day, we hit the Washington Monument, Lincoln, Jefferson, Viet Nam Wall, Korean Wall, and followed up with the Captain White Market, an outdoor seafood market. All the vendors are actually floating on barges in the Potomac River, and they’re docked to the market, which is on land in a big square. They have stalls of all kinds of fish (and crab), and will cook it up on the spot. We had some fresh oysters, too.
Outside Lincoln Monument 
Lincoln Monument 
Jefferson, with mall in the background 
Captain White market 
Playing Chicken Foot
We headed to the beach, Virginia Beach, that is, and dipped our toes in the Atlantic and strolled the boardwalk. We stopped at the landmark Virginia Diner on the way down, and couldn’t pass up their famous fried chicken. And the absolute necessity of a blizzard at Dairy Queen on the way back.
Week #3
Cancun, with Linda and Jill.
Week #4
Richmond has a very impressive Holocaust Museum. We wore ourselves out without even hitting the second floor. Then, off to the Blue Ridge Mountains, bucket list #4. Why the Blue Ridge Mountains? June had always wanted to visit them, referring to a song I’d never heard of, “The Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.” Which I, nor any of my friends, have ever heard of.
Proof we were there 
She is definitely MAGA material 
She had to wear my cowboy hat and boots 
Another crab feast
Although, strangely enough, when coming back from the mountains, and stopping at the Michie Tavern, we met some people from New York, and when June mentioned the song, they started singing it! I couldn’t believe it, and made a note to look it up on YouTube when we got back home. I did, and there’s a hilarious version of the song, pantomimed by Laurel & Hardy. You have to see it–it’s hilarious.