History is one reason I love living in Virginia. We have over 400 years of history. Only Florida has an earlier history with St. Augustine and Pensacola; two Spanish cities starting in 1533 or earlier. I remember a business trip to the UK. We were eating lunch in a tavern built before 1776 and could just imagine the people talking about those traitorous colonists in the Americas.
That is awesome! I have been fortunate enough to travel quite a bit in my 24 years of life. I've lived in Istanbul for a month and Rome for three months and I have been able to travel around a lot of the US! I always look for what a places "Claim to Fame" is in history! Im pretty sure my family and friends get tired of it haha.
T
My friend, Rene, and I would make plans to visit a particular historic place, mostly a battlefield and then on the way, when we saw a Virginia Civil Wars marker we would take off on a tangent. We planned on going to Yorktown Battlefield one Saturday. If you take I-95 South to Richmond and then I-64 East, it will take you about 3 hours. Not us --- 7 hours! We were on gravel roads out in farm land on the Washington-Rochambeau Route. We found King and Queen County and some of the old buildings that had been restored --- couple of old gas stations and country stores. We found the judicial center and the old courthouse and jail. We arrived in Yorktown at 1700, just as the visitor center was closing. But Rene played tour guide. Afterwards we headed to Richmond for dinner and beer tasting. We got home around 0200. That was a typical Saturday when he was stationed here. He works for Dept of State. But my health doesn't allow me to do this anymore.
Willi
Last edited by Panzer Crewman; 03-02-2016 at 05:16 AM. Reason: correct grammar
Willi that sounds like an awesome trip! I drag my fiancee to The American Civil War battlefields around me (Stones Rives, Fort Donelson) but she doesn't nearly get into it as much as I do. All she sees is fields and the occasional cannon but I see skirmish lines spread out and exchanging fire! I am sure she will come around one of these days lol
T
Sounds like you need a "Run Around Buddy", preferably a single guy interested in the same history as you. Then you can go out with 'the boys' on an occasional weekend with a plan in hand and go see history together. It's really much more fun to do this with somebody, especially if they are interested in it and enjoy it as much as you do. This works out great because the next time your wife wants to drag you off shopping, you can say that it is her thing and you're not interested. Of course use some diplomacy... you don't want a divorce lawyer beating you over the head. Tell her to go with one of her girlfriends. Women always have girlfriends! But you are not expected to have guy friends to do things with like take in a ball game, things the wife doesn't like.
Now my wife of 5-1/2 years (lost her 22 years ago to cancer) loved this stuff. She collected limited-edition signed and numbered Civil War prints. She loved to go anywhere with me, even militaria shows. She would accompany me around the show, see what I liked (and vetted) and would later use an excuse to go back to that dealer and buy my Christmas present. She was into cloth and sewing and spent hours studying my uniforms. She would look at cloth and construction and I would look at insignia. If either one of us shook our heads, we moved on. At some shows, she would be approached by collectors and asked her opinion. She is my soul mate and we were two peas in a pod. I was the envy of every militaria collector. My wife loved this stuff. I miss her every day!
I am sorry for yourloss Willi. It must be very tough without her. I am slowly bringing my fiancee around to the militaria table. For Christmas she asked what I wanted. I told her a Hinomaru Yosegaki (Japanese Good Luck Flag with all the signatures). She looked a picture of it up and says "Oh... I think I have one of these". I went to her moms house to see what she was talking about and sure enough, she pulls out two Imperial Japanese Army battle flags and one Hinomaru Yosegaki from her closet. Turns out that her grandfather was an Army infantryman fighting in the south Pacific during the war. Needless to say, she has started becoming more interested when I told her the significance of the artifacts. I told her that I would never take them though. They are part of her family history. Plus when we get married she can simply move them to wherever we live
T
Thank you for your sympathies. Grieving is a personal thing and it took me 20 years to get over her. But your fiancée's flags have some serious provenance! You can't dispute it when grandpa brings it home! Good luck with getting her interested in militaria. She might be more interested in the history. I was the envy of every militaria collector. My wife loved this stuff. She would follow me around shows and see what I liked and vetted. Then she would use some excuse to go back and buy it for a birthday, anniversary, Christmas, etc. She never bought anything I didn't see and vet.
That is amazing!
Similar Threads
Posting Permissions
.
Bookmarks