field trip

This fall I've been taking a non-credit course through UVA on Historic Buildings in Virginia. I must admit that I was more interested in the "historic" part of the title when I signed up, and less interested in the nitty gritty architecture part that it turned out to focus on. But I learned a few things, and the best part of the class is the two field trips at the end. Today was the first field trip. We toured the Rotunda and Lawn at UVA (including the private upstairs portion of a pavilion), and then we visited three plantation houses that date from around the turn of the 19th century. Since I still can't tell you much about floor plans and brick bonding and saw marks, I'll just share a few pictures I took.

Halloween nerd

I didn't dress up for Halloween this year, but I did carve this gem (and I'll give you two views!):

leavin' the 505

Dad came home from the hospital on Tuesday. I was planning to fly out Wednesday but when Dad asked me with big puppy eyes "do you have to?" I decided to stay an extra day. So we spent his first full day back home watching TV in our pajamas.

This unplanned trip to Santa Fe included lots of time at the hospital, but I also enjoyed a Mexican dinner, an afternoon with my grandparents hearing about their cruise through the Panama Canal, my first visit to the new New Mexican history museum downtown, and a fancy dinner with Ryan at a new restaurant. He and I also watched the entire first season of Breaking Bad, which is a television show that takes place in Albuquerque. Oh! I also saw where Robert Downey, Jr., is filming a movie downtown (they completely transformed a burrito place into a coffee place). I didn't actually see Downey, but I did see the actor who played scary Magua in The Last of the Mohicans.

hangin' in there

The doctor is now saying that maybe my dad didn't actually have a heart attack, which is good. He's still in ICU but should move down today, and hopefully he can come home tomorrow! When I finally got to see him last night he looked a little harried, but that was because right when he was going to eat lunch they snatched it away from him and told him to lie flat and motionless for four hours. Misery. He finally got to eat and then his family (mom, Ryan, and me) came to see him and he had the Nascar race on the television, so he perked up quite a bit.

history holograms, and a change of plans

This evening I thought I was at Disneyland, but I wasn't. I was at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. It looks sort of like Disneyland on the inside because they have big fancy recreations of Lincoln's log cabin and the White House, plus lots of mannequins standing around, like the Lincoln family, Frederick Douglass, and John Wilkes Booth. The best and most Disney-like part, however, was the "Ghosts of the Library" presentation. I don't really know how to explain it, but they bring the work of historians to life right in front of you on a stage using the combination of a live actor, holograms, and what must have been magic.

But now for a huge change of subject...instead of flying from Springfield to Richmond tomorrow as planned, I'm now flying home to New Mexico. My dad had a heart attack today, and while things are going well enough considering the situation (he had the attack in the hospital, which is a pretty good place I would say), I'm still going home to see him. Thoughts and prayers are appreciated.

It's cold in Springfield.

I made it to Springfield, Illinois. I've also now worn my winter coat and scarf for the first time this season. I visited Lincoln's house, which was nice. It's the only house he ever owned, and he lived there for seventeen years before heading to Washington to be president. The tour guide made sure to point out, about a billion times, that Lincoln did really well as a lawyer and thus could afford a two-storied five-bedroom house with nice furniture and a fancy stove in the kitchen. No log cabin here.


This evening I attended a reception at the Old Capitol, which has been redone to look like it did back in Lincoln's day with the courtroom, senate chamber, etc. There are plaques and signs on every block of downtown Springfield with something-or-another about Lincoln. He went to church here, he worked there, a guy in this building repaired his buggy, he bought some candy from that store, his son was bitten by a rabid dog near here, and on and on. I think it's safe to say Springfield is a little bit obsessed with Honest Abe.

Lincoln Land

I'm catching a flight at six in the morning (eek!) and heading to Springfield, Illinois, for a work conference. After spending time in Charlottesville, the land of Jefferson, it'll be interesting to see what the land of Lincoln is like. The weather forcast says it will be cold and rainy, but I still plan to walk to Lincoln's house and maybe a Frank Lloyd Wright house tomorrow before the first session of the conference. I'll let you know how it goes...