Virginia, Alexandria - Sunday, August 24, 2014 - Old Town Alexandria, VA

We met up with Robyn, Jason and Maddie to stroll through Old Town this afternoon.  This morning started out cool in the mid-60’s but by this afternoon it ended up getting pretty hot.

Alexandria was named for the family of John Alexander, A Virginia planter who acquired the tract in 1669.  George Washington frequented the town.  Robert E. Lee claimed it as his boyhood home.  In 1946 Alexandria created the third historic district in the United States to protect its 18^th and 19^th century buildings.

We basically stayed on King Street this afternoon.  A lot of other people had the same idea and it was pretty crowded today, but I did manage to get pictures of some interesting buildings.

 

The temperature was a little bit cooler around the fountain.  Maddie was disappointed that none of the grown-ups had any change for her to throw in the fountain.

I thought this was interesting – the sign, not the guy running.

This cobblestone street is a block off of King Street.  It runs right to the river so I think a lot of the ship’s captains had homes along this street.  I'm sure this view would be a lot better without the modern day cars.

The harbor was a destination for a lot of people today.

 

 

Maddie has a birthday coming up and the theme of the party is "pirate princess".  So, she has been practicing her pirate lingo by placing a spoon up to one eye (for her patch) and growling "arrrrrr Ladies".  She doesn't have the concept of mateys down yet.  As we are walking around the harbor today a lady is coming toward us wearing a black eye patch.  Robyn and I are just holding our breath waiting for an "arrrrr Ladies" to come from Maddie.  Luckily she was looking the other way when the lady passed us.

Obviously, someone more important than us was at the harbor.  We couldn't tell what flag they were flying, but we know it wasn't a U.S. flag.

There is a wedding going on in the gazebo to the left.

There was a good breeze for this sailboat today.

We stopped at a Mexican restaurant in Old Town, food was good but I can't remember the name of the restaurant.  Maddie's kids menu item came with ice cream for dessert.  When the waitress came to ask if she was ready for her ice cream she said, "no, I want to see the menu".

We were parked in front of this house which was built for investment by George Washington in 1797.  I think this was on Pitt Street.