ARLINGTON, DAR, LONGABERGER AND THE BUS

I finally found the courage to try this again. Maybe my "redo" will be better than the 1st post.

Arlington first: Simple grandeur and the quiet....that is what stays with you. We were able to visit the gravesites of JFK and RFK. JFK's grave, with the eternal flame faces the Washington Monument and Capitol; the tour guide told the story that in the spring of 1963 JFK stood at Arlington House and looked east and said something to the effect "This is the most beautiful place, I could stay here forever." Sadly, this statement came true 6 months later when JFK was buried at the foot of Arlington House. A simple white cross, also at the foot of Arlington House, marks RFK's grave. Both graves are so understated and even though you visit them specifically, it is the row after row after row of rod straight white gravestones and the Tomb of the Unknowns that draws me to silent prayer and reflection. Arlington Cemetary speaks volumes about peace ....and war.

DAR: Preservation, Education and Patriotism . I think this was one of my favorite places. Maybe because it was run by women..(does that qualify as a political statement?) It was very organized: the theme based displays, the state rooms with items from states that reflected certain time periods, the Library with its widow's walk on three sides, lamps with shades!! on the tables and ferns and greenery everywhere...(I am going to post my pictures because my words cannot do this room justice) and last but not least: The gift shop...I did my part to support the DAR in that shop! My favorite purchase was a DAR black on creme poster of the alphabet and it was on SALE. I think Debbie's favortite was the Waterford Crystal finial on the stair railing. She did NOT buy that. Julie liked anything that would amuse her grandkids! Hop back on the bus, Gus and get thee to the Capitol for your picture.

Longaberger Baskets: I really was not prepared for this event. I think I just expected a huge factory with expensive baskets, liners and protectors for sale. Well, I was right about some of it.
There was a factory and there were baskets, liners and protectors. It was so much more!!! There is huge shopping area with all kinds of retired Longeberger products....many at sale prices.
We decided to get our picture taken in the basket (no comments about basketcases, please) and then we hopped a cute trolley over to the factory and the store there. We found some treasures, not as much as I thought we would...thank goodness, our over head bins were getting full. Then back on the bus, Gus to the town of Dresden, which is more Longaberger deals and products. It
here that we found the liners and the protectors to the small serving basket that was given to us as a gift on the bus trip. Lunch at a cute diner...owned by Longeberger originally....Life is good.

The BUS: WOW! Everyday was an adventure in itself. Comfortable seats...a little cramped but ok for long drives. I wondered why many gals brought quilts on the bus, I kept thinking why carry that around?...well, I soon found out why as even I occassionally shivered in my window seat! Thank goodness I had my pillow...I could block the draft coming in through the window vents...in sharp contrast to this was the ladies who brought hand held battery operated fans. Without being indelicate, I think I can guess why! The bus driver, Smokey, was as sweet and as patient as can be but he clearly owned the temperature in that bus. He was surrounded by windows (that is a good thing for a driver, isn't it?) and he clearly was hot! We wanted him to be comfortable...he was driving, 50 chattering magpies across country and he was lifting suitcases and loading prolific carryons without complaint.
At the beginning of the trip, most of us had one suitcase and one carry on that we stowed under our seats or in the overhead bins. Somehow, by Wed, the suitcases and carry ons had" babies"....and overhead bins wouldn't close tight and they would fly open midway and objects would rain down on some unsuspecting quilter. Every stop, quilters would pull another folded, scrunched empty carry on out of the proverbial magic hat and voila!, new space to store recent purchases. Open the bin and PUSH, SHOVE and SHMOOSH; by now the bus was rolling and it was a challenge to stay upright, keep all the stuff in the bin and get the new stuff in. Somehow, this "bin duty "fell to Debbie...she was the tallest and she was on the outside and she knew how to climb and she was fearless...eventually, she had to stand on the seat to see if they could find an empty, open, unpacked space in the bin.
The funnest part of the trip was making new friends as we were bumping butts, elbows, boobs, legs, feet with our bus companions...I was constantly apologizing as I made my way down the aisle...and I have some bruises to prove it. The organizers arranged for sections to get off the bus so we appeared orderly...sometimes, ladies would stay back until the rush had passed because as our floor and seat area gained baggage, it was harder to get out of our seat...the highlight was every morning, Dorothy would make her way down the aisle and give out good morning hugs...cool...wish I'd thought of it! She may have just been going to the bathroom or to visit someone at the back of the bus, but it became a ritual that I looked forward to. Debbie and Julie and I traded seats to sit next our new friend Paulene...Julie and Paulene had a great time...talking about ...well everything...Julie is blessed with the gift to talk to anyone..Paulene, had some of that blessing as well, so they hit it off.
I have to mention all the activities on the bus....know this...no matter what time of day or night, there was a hum of conversation non-stop. My husband could hear it on the cell phone when we talked. Even when the movies were on, we could talk b/c the volume was so loud! We were louder after we ate or came out of a quilt store, we used our 6 inch voices (teacher talk) in the morning out of respect for our nappers, but we talked, laughed and giggled, and we never were at a loss for conversation. The trip organizers made multiple trips to the back of the bus and stopped and talked to everyone whether they were passing out treats, gifts, treasures, snacks, games, or collecting garbage...they checked with everyone of us...could they evey hear "thank you", "that was great", "I love it", "money and more money", "I wanted one of these!", "how did you wrap all of this?" "thank you" enough? We can never say thank you, enough. We also filled our time with sewing, quilting, crocheting, knitting, reading, playing games, tracking the stock market, and quilting magazines and patterns galore. I brought a map but gave up trying to see where I was after a certain point b/c I was on the wrong side of the bus to see roadsigns...it was hard to let go of that! I just had to trust that they would navigate w/o me. Julie and Debbie, thanks for being such great seat mates and entertaining me!