Over those weeks, I travelled with many different staff members and pretty thoroughly explored Loudoun County and its environs. My first trip was just an overnight trip and I barely had time to do much other than my job. However, during my second week, my friend Jeff and I taught in and around Leesburg. Megan and Dirk were also in the area and came to hang out on one of our first afternoons. We went to Harper's Ferry one day and wandered around quite a bit. It had been a while since I'd been there (ten years, or so?) and I enjoyed wandering the streets and seeing a lot of the little shops. We actually ate dinner in the Secret Six Tavern, named after the secret six Yankee backers of John Brown and his raid. (photos: The John Brown wax statue in the window of the John Brown Wax Museum (sorry, it just brought back memories of the manchild...); the armory building, focal point of John Brown's raid, with Harpers Ferry in the background; Dirk, Megan, and Jeff overlooking the junction of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers, with Jeff too busy with his camera to socialize; Megan's face of disappointment when the train didn't come on the track immediately next to her, thus crushing her dream to reenact a scene from "Stand By Me;" and the sun about to set behind Harpers Ferry.)
Later that week, Jeff and I heard rumors that Barack Obama was having a rally in town, though we thought it wasn't until the weekend. Come to find out, the Obama for America campaign staffers that were staying at the hotel were actually there prepping for a rally the very next day. Luckily, we made it out of the school, back to the hotel to change, and to the park where the rally was to be held (via walking, luckily avoiding the standstill traffic!) in time to wait in line to make it in to the rally. We didn't have front-row positions, but the rally was held in a hollow between several small hills, so we had a close and elevated position that gave us a great view. The rally itself was fantastic, though also just what I'd expected based on when I saw him in Virginia Beach and from what I'd seen on television. (photos: Waiting in line for the rally; looking back over the hill at the crowd waiting for the rally to begin; Barack Obama comes on stage (my camera didn't have a great zoom, sorry!); the back part of the crowd with those that didn't make it into the rally watching from beyond the security checkpoint; and a different view from the rally.)
The next week, it was Megan and I up in Loudoun. We had a few things up our sleeves, though also trying to lay low and save as much money as possible. One day we went to Harper's Ferry again to finish visiting what we'd missed the last time. We also visited a place just west of Leesburg called "Dinosaur Land." It's an amazingly tacking and enjoyable tourist trap (dubbing itself as an "educational prehistoric forrest") of lots of cement-ish dinosaurs in a wooded area, though complete with a giant shark, octopus, praying mantis, king cobra, and King Kong. Genius. (photos: More fall colors in the return trip to Harpers Ferry; the octopus (from behind) that strangely lives by a cactus; me and my new friend the pteranodon; and a very frog-like protoceratops.)
(photos: Some dinosaurs in their habitat, including some battling in the background; more battling dinos, though we think that the big one was just broken and they added blood to the carnivore to make the "battle;" yup, it's pretty epic; and me with the King Kong, terrified, of course.)
Megan and I finished out the week with pie and dinner with her parents. The following week, I was back traveling by myself for the first part of the week, including on election night (though I enjoyed myself by being able to watch it all and keep tabs on friends and family all over the country). I also found a little British tea shop after teaching one day, complete with British proprietors, delicious British tea, and wonderfully authentic bangers and mash. Once some of my coworkers arrived for a different teaching assignment, Mark S. gave us a tour of Leesburg from his former tour-guiding days at the Loudoun County Museum. Like anything he does, the tour included tales of duels, Revolutionary rebels, and Civil War anecdotes. I didn't go with Mark S. and Jeff to Dinosaur Land the next day (the stories of my and Megan's visit spread pretty quickly), and instead explored Middleburg, a small (and very wealthy) town in southwestern Loudoun with a distinctly British feel. However, despite how much I enjoyed my time in Loudoun, I was very ready to travel someplace else and to get a bit more variety by the end of my final week in the county. (photos: Jeff and Mark S. outside the courthouse in Leesburg on our walking tour of town; downtown Middleburg; I had fun taking pictures of leaves around Middleburg; and more leaves.)
(photos: Famous Americans from Loudoun County (in some way); Oak Hill, James Monroe's house designed by Thomas Jefferson and the place where Monroe conceived of the Monroe Doctrine; and another scene of leaves.)
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