The original purpose of visiting Fredericksburg was to see my cousin Laura, who's currently in summer session at Mary Washington. We met up after her morning class ended and walked downtown for lunch. While the consensus between Taylor, Laura and I was J. Brian's (quesadillas! burgers! a nice porch on which to sit on such a lovely day!), we changed our minds at the last minute as we walked past Old Towne Grill, a hidden gem on Caroline Street. I always forget it's there. They don't have much in the way of veggie options, but I really love their spinach salad. AND sitting two tables over was Dr. Stephen Hanna, the chair of Mary Washington geography! I was ecstatic when Taylor noticed this and subtly pointed it out. We didn't get to speak for long as he was leaving, but I enjoyed the coincidence that lead to me seeing my all-time favorite lab instructor (cartography).
We walked all over town after lunch, first down to Carl's, a frozen custard stand slightly outside of the immediate downtown area, then up the canal path to campus, then over to the new Eagle's Landing area on the other side of Route 1 (Mary Washington people totally know what I'm talking about, except who knew that it was called Eagle's Landing?). I don't feel like I've been gone long enough for there to be so many changes, but Laura was patient enough to give a tour and at least pretend to ignore my constant shock and amazement. Those places are nice. It's more like a hotel than a dorm. The apartment kitchens are lovely and there's a nice lobby area on her floor and there is a ROTUNDA. Why does a dorm need a rotunda? With glass windows all around it? And a fireplace with columns and a big ol' flat screen TV? It struck me as excessive, but definitely nice. I hope the students respect it. Laura seemed happy to be living there. I don't blame her.
Taylor and I parted ways with Laura and walked back down campus. He wanted to stop by the bookstore, which I didn't think was super necessary but didn't really mind. However, that little stop lined us up to be walking past Trinkle Hall at the exact moment my beloved undergrad advisor/general mentor, Dr. Melina Patterson, was walking out the front door and down the steps. And she said it was her laziness in taking the elevator that put her out the door at the exact moment too. So many coincidences. So awesome.
So we stopped to talk for a while on the lovely, lovely day, when off in the distance, Taylor spots a third Mary Washington Geography professor, Dr. Joe Nicholas. Joe offered to take us on a tour of the almost fully renovated Monroe Hall, where the Geography department was housed when we were there. Turns out it's not as near completion as it's scheduled to be; they're supposed to move in in three weeks, but there aren't floors and there's a lot else that's still woefully incomplete.
It's looking great though! The Geography department is quite different, with offices where there used to be our main classroom, and the old cartography lab split into two halves with a pollen lab where the work room used to be. It's going to be awesome. Also, there's a fourth floor where storage used to be! It's got nice skylights and you can see some of the original brickwork. I thought it was nice to kind of embrace the history of the building in that way.
After this we hit the road; we were meeting friends at the Sculpture Garden at the National Gallery of Art for Jazz in the Garden, a free thing that happens on Fridays in the summer. It got packed and became difficult to hear the music, so the group of us that assembled went out elsewhere for food and drinks. The second place we went to smelled like a dudes' locker room, so Taylor, Emily and her friend Alyssa peaced and went for a walk around the National Mall instead.
The Mall is pretty at night, and very peaceful. We walked up to the Washington Monument, through the WWII Memorial (which remains one of my favorites), up to Lincoln before parting ways to head home via Metro. Busy day, very wonderful.
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