University of Virginia

We headed off from Tunkhannock after a stop in Wilkes Barre to have the power converter (which converts 110 to DC and runs all the lights in Snoopy) replaced. We had an unpleasant experience with the service provider, but they had us and we had to pay more than we had agreed to. We went down to Kendal (near Philadelphia) to visit my Aunt Allie (94) who is still very sharp. She told us some more things about the Cottage (which was built in 1908). I had remembered a huge washing machine made out of a barrel in the basement. She said it was a commercial washing machine purchased by Louis and Caroline since there were 3 kids in diapers. Then we headed to Newtown Square to visit Albert Fletcher, the father of our Corvallis vet. When we got there, the Volvo refused to start. Bob spent a long time dealing with AAA to get a tow, etc., but when he finally went out to meet the tow truck it started again (Yeah!!!!). We took off towards Gettysburg, where we arrived about 10 p.m. (the latest we've arrived anywhere on this journey). We ended up stopping in York PA at Sal's Italian restaurant for really good pizza.

The next morning we took off towards Skyline Drive in Virgina via the back roads. Skyline drive goes right along the narrow spine of a mountain range. It was designed as a national park in the 1930's specifically for cars, so it has multiple viewpoints. It was intended to give East Coast residents a taste of the outdoors. Over the years, it has grown more wild.

We arrived in Charlottesville, VA where my friend Madelyn Wessel (a fellow higher ed attorney) and her husband (a fellow MD/PhD diabetes expert) and their two dogs (Penelope the Springer Spaniel and Keppler the beagel) live. Madelyn had a wonderful dinner for us when we arrived and gave us a tour of the University of Virginia on Friday. Here we are in the back of the gardens along the Academical Village. The gardens are behind the Pavillions where VPs, the Provost and other high-ranking administrators live. They are open to the public and anyone can go in and sit down to eat or enjoy the space.

Thomas Jefferson designed the Academical Village. This view shows the Pavillions (with the tall columns) and the Student Rooms (behind the smaller columns). Seniors, chosen by their peers, live in the Student Rooms, each with its own fire place and no bathroom. The Rotunda was closed for Board of Visitor meetings, but we went up to the dome room.

This is a picture of the walls that surround the Academical Village. They are all serpentine. When Madelyn went back to work, we visited the Special Collections. One was on North American Maps from 1500-1800. The other was the Albert H. Small Declaration of Independence Collection. It includes one of the first 25 Broadsides of the Declaration of Independence distributed to newspapers and elsewhere the day after the Declaration was agreed to, various letters related to it, examples of various reprints of the Declaration and various takeoffs (including one promoting temperence).