Woke up this morning thinking I’d be with my cousin in Baltimore, but wound up travelling without parents from Medford to Dulles, now back with them driving to Shenandoah Valley for the big Glick reunion at Bridgewater College.
United told me delays would make me miss my BWI flight this morning *unless* I could rush in and board an earlier flight. In my haste I forgot my wallet which my son quickly retrieved and brought back, but not in time to board the first flight. But the really helpful United ticket guy rerouted my via Dulles which matched up closely enough with my folks schedule that we met up at Dulles.
The excellent guy at Alamo / National was super helpful and now we are at Super 8 in Manassas with a nice car and only a short distance to the family reunion. I don’t think I’ve ever had so many twists in a trip, but it seems to be working out OK.
Manassas is quiet now, but was the scene of one of the deadliest battles of the civil war and now home to Manassas National Battlefield Park. If you are a civil war buff you’ll find several battlefield parks with excellent interpretive exhibits. Antietam MD, Gettysburg PA, and New Market VA to name a few more.
Joe Duck 
Usually those who say ‘civil war’ refer to it as the Battle of Bull Run whereas those who say ‘War of Northern Agression’ refer to it as the ‘Battle of Manassas’.
Either way, its still a beautiful area of the country and I’m glad such battle sites are being preserved.
Ah that’s the site of that old par-tay thrown by homie P.T. Beauregard (Manassas the rebel’s name; Bull Run the unionist). PTB had the Feds on the run, but sort of wussed: most historians agree he could have made it to DC, if not into yankeeland.
Hey Joe – give a wave to Sterling while you’re there – I spent most of my teen years there, and I miss that area from time to time.