Our trip to VA: days 1 , 3, and 4

Besides, of course, visiting Ben at Jamboree, we had two other people to see while in the DC area: Karen and Stephanie.   The three of us had been together 23 years ago at a language school in Dortmund, Germany, as part of an exchange program for young professionals.  I've seen Steph a couple of times since, as she used to travel to CA on business when we still lived there -- but not in the last 10 years.  I've seen Karen only once since Germany -- and, again, it was more than 10 years ago.

Here we were in 1986:

Left to right on bottom row: Steph, Karen, me (the girl above is Kim); this was taken in Amsterdam, if I'm not mistaken.

And here we are having dinner together on the sidewalk of a Virginia restaurant last week:

Karen and I are holding little bottles of Jaegermeister schnapps that Steph gifted to us!  (Sorry for the blurry photo -- it was very dark!)  We had a lot of fun catching up that evening -- for about 4 hours over drinks, appetizers, dinner, dessert, and a waiter who had just about given up on us ever leaving!


I also had a chance to visit Stephanie at home with her lovely family:

Her husband, who is a blogger and writer, cooked paella for dinner!  It was awesome!  Here's the happy family...they also have a son:

Karen lent us one of her cars for the week -- we tooled around in her Prius Hybrid, and it made a believer out of my husband!  The day she picked us up at the airport, we had a lovely lunch in a small, historical town near where she lives.

These condos are new, but look old.  They are on a street with lots of little shops and antique stores = bliss! 

The city, Occoquan, has restored all of its gas lamp streetlights.  Very cute.


They're real proud of them.

I saw this pink bike on the wall and sent my husband to investigate while Karen and I checked out another store.

Aha.


Karen and I also got together for some antiquing mischief a few days later:  my pal Jenni, who used to live in Fredericksburg, VA, told me about this place and I knew I had to go!

(Unfortunately, I really did need a restroom, so this sign was a bummer!)

The store gets its name from being at a railroad junction -- if you ask at the cash register, they'll give you a penny squashed by the train that goes by next to the store!

I must say, if you are claustrophobic, this is one store you might want to skip!  Tiny, crowded, winding aisles.  Dark and dusty, too.

I had to photograph this kinda cool set of catalog drawers; it's mounted on a turntable and the drawers are on all sides -- it was at least five or six-sided.

I also really liked this improvised holder for every size of paper bag -- probably from an old general store.

If you are an ephemera lover, you would love this store for sure.  This is a bunch of old seed packs, and they had some that were printed and unfolded, too.  Plus every kind of notepad, game piece, receipt, booklet, bag, tag, etc.  The prices were a little high, though -- it is the east coast, after all.  I'm waiting for the sun to come out here so I can photograph what I purchased myself, but that's going to have to be another post!

Another shelf full of stuff -- interestingly, the blue bowl on the top left is full of the squeakers that used to be built into dolls, antique of course.  I set one next to the bowl so you can see it.  Fun!

They have a lot of cool artsy pieces on display outside of the store.  If you want to visit this place, it's the only thing (besides a convenience store), I think, in Doswell, VA. 

Another fun part of the day was riding in Karen's mini with the top down!

We had to stop here on the way back to F'burg -- it was junky, though.  Man, I really learned the meaning of the word "junking" when I was in this neck of the woods!

Comments

Angela said…
Looks like lots and lots of fun! It is so great that you got to get together with those friends after all these years! Good for you!
Deborah said…
Sounds like fun!
Christine said…
What a great day (or days I gues) you had!!!! So wonderful to catch up with your old friends. So many wonderful antique stores. Did you buy anything! Would love to see it!!!

xx

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