Posts Tagged ‘Fredericksburg’

Every summer for a week, I take my mom and two youngest
nieces to the Wilderness Presidential Resort for a summer get-away. We stay in
a trailer, grocery shop every day, swim, eat out every night, and just have a
great time. It is fun, but not very relaxing as there is ALWAYS something to
do.

This year is the first one where I’ve been completely
disconnected from the internet. The Wilderness is isolated as cell reception
isn’t the best, and the only wifi is at the reservation lodge at the very
entrance of the park. There’s absolutely no opportunity for someone like me
with two busy little girls and one impatient mom to stop playing and check FB,
Twitter, and god forbid check email.

Also, this year we tried something new, we did activities
off property. The most memorable for my nieces may have been the lunch theatre
performance of The Little Mermaid. However, for me and my mom, it was the
Trolley Tour of downtown Fredericksburg, VA. My mom was completely fascinated
by the civil war history as told by our trolley tour guide. He showed us battle
scenes that have lived over the course of 140 some years. It was absolutely overwhelming
to hear stories about actual battles, and to walk through the battlefields
where men gave their lives in a war that nearly divided the country.

It gave me a new appreciation and deepened my fascination
with this horrific war fought, in part, to afford me the freedom I have today.
It amazed me to see a slave auction block still standing in the central part of town.
Would you allow your child to play on this?

So, while we are a united nation
there will always be signs of our divisions.