A reenactment & a place to remember...

o/

This past weekend, my GF and I went out of town to celebrate her birthday. The weather was perfect, we ate some great food, and I wish we had more time to explore the area! Also, before anyone thinks the following photos are of things that wouldn't be appealing be to her, she all but planned the weekend out, asking me: 'Would you want to do this?' Boy would I!!!

The 'Battle of Buchanan.' In truth it was more of a rearguard skirmish on the Union Army's march on Lynchburg. The Confederates succeeded and delaying the Union army by burning several bridges (and most of the town of Buchanan by accident...).

Still, Who can say no to artillery duels, cavalry engagements, you could all but 'hear' the the fun they were having in their voices as they yelled their battle cries whilst charging each other!

...and of course infantry engagements. Playing up to the locals here in the South (which included a historically inaccurate cameo appearance of Robert E. Lee), the Southern troops were apparently zombies who continued to get back up and fight. Thus by the battle's end, almost all the casualties are Union troops. Not quite sure if that's what 'the South will rise again!' is supposed to mean...

This is a view off of the Blue Ridge Parkway between Buchanan and our lodge at the Peaks of Otter. This pic and the next are for John Lambshead, as he periodically posts beautiful pics of England which I always enjoy!

Our view of Sharp Top Mountain, and Abbott lake as seen from the balcony of our room.

The D-Day Memorial in Bedford, VA. Proportionally, Bedford suffered more D-Day losses per capita than any other town in the country. 19 on D-Day itself, with 3 more during the Normandy campaign, from a town of just 3200 people, which is why the Monument was located here.

An interesting map of the landings in a tiled mosaic above Eisenhower's head in his part of the memorial.

The use of air jets to represent incoming shots at the troops as they wade to shore is genius! Note: the granite 'Higgins boat' on the left.

The perfect pic were it not for the photo bomb...

A monument of thanks to Bedford and the United States from France, with the 'Overlord Arch' behind it.

As you can see it was an excellent time, and we hope to go back and see all that we missed sometime in the future...