I arrived a day early for the New Jersey Romance Writers Conference so I could spend the day in New York City. I had a great day visiting Time’s Square, wandering through the Garment District and just taking in all the city’s energy.
MB took the train in from NJ to the city.
Here I am with fellow VRW writer Natale Stenzel at the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum.
Coffee in Times Square.
Times Square
A great slice of pizza!
I can’t visit any town without checking out the local bookstore. Sunday I was in Lexington, Virginia and had the chance to stop by Books & Co. It’s a great little store and I wandered for nearly an hour in their stacks. I finally settled on a cookbook.
I travelled to New Market, Virginia yesterday and watched Virginia Military Institute’s freshman class (aka “Rats”) recreate the Battle of New Market. In May of 1864 VMI students fought and died in the Civil War’s Battle of New Market and the school annually marks their sacrifice with a charge across the battlefield as well as with a parade in the town of New Market. VMI is the only school in the nation’s history to send its student body to fight in battle.
The charge across the "Field of Lost Shoes".
VMI's Freshman class march down Congress Street.
Saturday I braved weekend/vacation traffic on I-95 and drove up to Old Town Alexandria. Back in the day, I lived in Alexandria and my next two books Senseless (January 2011) and Merciless (February 2011) are set in the old port city. I am always looking for an excuse to drive up to visit the city and see friends. On this trip, I took an historic walking tour of the waterfront area. The day was hot, hot, hot but the tour was great!
The rains didn’t arrive as predicted yesterday so Buddy, Bella and I decided to mix it up and take a walk through Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery. Its a large, sprawling cemetery that overlooks the city of Richmond and the James River. Opened in 1849, it’s layout is garden style and it was named for the holly trees dotting the property. Hollywood Cemetery is the final resting place to U.S. Presidents James Monroe and John Tyler, Confederate President Jefferson Davis, generals, soldiers and countless Richmond families.
The Pyramid was build as a memorial to the Confederate dead.
This black iron dog overlooks the grave of a little girl.
The flowers were in bloom!
This site overlooks Richmond's skyline.
A view of the James River.
An iron gate.
President James Monroe's grave.
Today felt like the first sunny day in months. It was so beautiful I had to stop on my way home to snap these photos from the overlook on Afton Mountain (on I-64 East).
