McLean, VA

Leaving Wilmington, DE and arriving in McLean, VA Sunday morning last week, Frank surprised me with an early birthday present, tickets to see Beautiful, The Carole King Musical at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. 

Getting to go to the John F Kennedy Center was a treat itself

but getting to see this show was perfect.  It was SO good.

I could relate to the lyrics in the songs, they touch deeply.

1.  So Far Away

2. Some Kind of Wonderful

3. Take Good Care of My Baby

4. Will you Love me Tomorrow

5. You've Got a Friend

6. Pleasant Valley Sunday

7. Up on the Roof

8. Natural Woman

9. Sweet Seasons

10. We Gotta Get out of this Place

and so many more

The actors were incredibly talented and the story was interesting as I was a pre-teen in 1971 when Carole was at the peak of her fame with the release of Tapestry . . . but I sure remember the album, and that we played it over and over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8SJ_3tACA0&index=8&list=PLG0W27j3Wle3UPTQfPJeys9K2h5q0gUJQ

The next day I took a trip to the Enoch Pratt Free Library in downtown Baltimore to check out their genealogy department.

 As part of the family history research I've done I've made a possible connection to Baltimore in the early 1930's relative to my Father Bob Taylor and his Mother Thelma Hassley, so I was able to pull some books and do a bit more research on that, and some of the history of the area in general.

And then I had a great lunch near the library and back to McLean.

 

Then the last day of my vacation and a great way to end it at Great Falls National Park in Virginia.

I had no idea it would be so spectacular. 

The Potomac River builds up speed and force, then as it falls over a series of steep jagged rocks it flows through the narrow Mather Gorge. 

As with most national parks it can get really crowded but we went early one morning and it felt like we had discovered the place, we had it nearly to ourselves.

Few ventures were dearer to George Washington than his plan to make the Potomac River navigable as far as the Ohio River Valley. In the uncertain period after the Revolutionary War, Washington believed that better transportation and trade would draw lands west of the Allegheny Mountains into the United States and "...bind those people to us by a chain which never can be broken."

In front of the Patowmack Canal

Beautiful place I look forward to exploring it more some day.