Ingram Chronicle
Volume 2 Number 8
Well, here we are, back in Yuma from our wide travels to the "ends of the earth"! Gerry and I have just returned from our short cruise to the Western Caribbean Sea (Cozumel, Mexico), our visit to Chichen Itza in Yucatan, and ten days with Harold and Monika and their kids in Virginia. I will have to include some pictures of sights and sites along the way.
We went to Fort Lauderdale, FL, to visit Fairfield Resorts, to listen to their 90-minute presentation on the beauties of their program--actually ending up as a 7-hour ordeal! We (I) bit and bought a small unit (share) of their program--hopefully, we will be able to use it in the future.
We saw a bit of Ft Lauderdale and Pompano Beach before going to the Port of Miami to board the M/V Fascination--Bahamian registry--to cruise to the Western Caribbean Sea to Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico. The sailing was very nice, seas of only 2 to 3 feet--almost a millpond smoothness. Our cabin was on the Riviera Deck (4), way down in the interior of the ship. Some of you have had the experience of an ocean liner, but it was radically different from my experience with the "luxury" of a US Naval Vessel! Imagine a large hotel--with space for about 2600 guests--all on a large platform that propels it through the sea! With two large restaurants, seating about 650 to 700 at a meal. A large theatre for musical shows and dramas, seating about 1000! Shops, cafes, bars, a casino, and an internet café--all the various things to entertain you in almost every way--and a crew drawn from about 50 nations--to care for you hand and foot!
We really enjoyed the voyage to and from Cozumel. Then, we were able to take a bus ride through the peninsula to Chichen Itza with a very knowledgeable guide, Freddy, whose English was more than adequate to explain all that we were seeing on our trip, although he was apologetic for his "limited English".
We were allowed to climb up on the monument known as "El Castillo" the highest remnant of the Mayan construction at Chichen Itza. The stairs are "STEEP"! But with only 91 steps up and 91 steps down, we made the climb to the top and then had to make the "DESCENT" of the steps--thankful for a guide rope to hold on to on our way down--polishing each step as we carefully slid down from step to step!
We sailed back to Miami, arriving on Friday morning at the same pier we left from on Monday afternoon. Having successfully passed through US Customs inspection (Grandmother's bag got searched for contraband!), we retrieved the rental car and made our way to Ft Lauderdale International Airport to fly on to Baltimore and visit Harold and Monika and their children. The flight took about 2 1/2 hours, and Harold's drive from Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) to Fredericksburg, VA took another 2 1/2 hours--DC Traffic!!
It was very special to see all the Virginia Ingrams--particularly the little ones! We had a good visit there--with tours to historic sites around northern Virginia. On Monday, we took the Virginia Rail Express (VRE) Commuter train into Franconia to the Metro rail service into DC. We went past Harold's State Department Office Building to visit the Washington Mall and its monuments--particularly the Lincoln Memorial and the new World War II Memorial. We walked past the Vietnam Memorial to walk along the Reflecting Basin to the Smithsonian Museums--about a two-mile hike! We did visit the Air and Space Museum, the Old Castle, the new Museum of the American Indians and then we went through the Holocaust Museum--brrrr! DC is, of course, filled with Government Buildings and Government Civil Servants, but the Metro System does provide a rapid way around the major areas of the Powerful. We were able to really tire ourselves out with all the walking through so much history!
We rested up on Tuesday, then went to see the estate of Thomas Jefferson, Montecello, at Charlottesville, VA. The location is beautiful, with much to consider, as the mansion has been preserved much as Jefferson left it on his death on 4 July 1826--the same day that John Adams died in Quincy, Massachusetts.
After another long day on the road, we put off the visit to Orange, VA and the home of James Madison, Montpelier, until a later time. Grandmother and I took the two little ones to see the sights there--quite a place--the home had been bought by the DuPont family after the deaths of James and Dolly Madison, and was greatly altered. The Montpelier Foundation is in the midst of a great renovation and restoration of the place to the form known by the Madisons. They have carried out a ten year architectural archaeology research project, and are in the midst of a four year restoration project--removing all the DuPunt additions and restoring the old structure as James Madison would have known it.
We also toured the Virginia North Neck--that part of Virginia between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers, where the earliest of the Ingram Family settled in the 1630s. We were headed southeast down Virginia Route 3, when Grandmother had me turn off to visit Pope Creek, the birthplace of George Washington. We saw much about his first three years, before the family moved closer to Fredericksburg, at Ferry Farm.
We also visited Stratford Hall, the birthplace of Robert E. Lee, General of the Army of Northern Virginia in the Civil War. I was given quite a reception when I said that I was named Robert Edward Lee Ingram, for the General! His father, Henry (Lighthorse Harry) Lee, was one of the only brothers to sign the Declaration of Independence, along with his brother Richard Lee. We were shown the fine rooms of the mansion, and the service rooms on the lower floor. There were several outbuildings, including a large carriage house, with several old carriages and coaches, including the landau used by the French General, Lafayette, when he visited the country in the 1820s.
Harold took us down from Fredericksburg to Guinea Station, to visit the Stonewall Jackson Memorial, where T.J. Jackson, Lee's right hand aide and cohort died from pneumonia after being shot by one of his own sentries after the Battle of Chancellorsville. His death made the later struggle of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia more difficult for Lee. "Stonewall" Jackson was really of one mind with Lee in fighting against the Federal Army of the Potomac, whether that army was under command of Burnside, McClellan, Hooker, Meade, or Grant. This was a case of tragedy from "friendly fire."
Our flights on Southwest Air Lines from Phoenix (PHX) to St Louis (STL) to Tampa (TPA) to Ft Lauderdale (FLL), from Ft Lauderdale (FLL) to Baltimore-Washington International (BWI), and from BWI back to Phoenix (PHX), went smoothly, even with the short periods of rough riding over the weather fronts. The transits of the TSA security screenings were also interesting--my knee-brace drew some attention--but we didn't have to quite strip all the way for the searches! I had made sure that most of my armamentaria--knives, Gerber tool, clippers, etc.--were left behind or in checked baggage.





Here is Gerry in the loby of the hotel in Fort Lauderdale, before we took the cruise out of Miami to Cotzumel, Qintana Roo, Mexico.












Here is the MV Fascination at port in Miami, Florida as we were about to board her.













Here I am at the rail of the MV Fascination as we are sailing out of the port of Miami, Florida, headed for Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.












Here is Gerry on the steps of El Castillo at Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico, as we started to make the climb up the steps to the Temple on the top of the pyramid.


















Here are Gerry and Jocelyn on the steps of Harold and Monika's home in Fredericksburg, Virginia, with spiderwebs through the trees for decorations for Halloween.




Lincoln Memorial on the Mall in Washington, DC














And, here is the Washington Monument and the Reflecting Basin on the Mall of Washington, DC.
















This is part of the Birthplace of George Washington, on Pope's Creek in the North Neck of Virginia.













Here I am standing in front of Stratford Hall, the birthplace of Robert Edward Lee, for whom I was named. This is only a short distance from Pope's Creek, where George Washington was born.












Here are Gerry, Monika and the Ingram children at Montecello, the home of President Thomas Jefferson, near Charlotteburg, Virginia.

















Here is Gerry about to enter the back door of Montpelier, the home of President James Madison.












This is a view of the foundation of the Ferry Farm where George Washinton spent his teen years, living with his older brother Lawrence, where he began to become a land surveyor.
















The family gathered at the place where General T. J. "Stonewall" Jackson died after the Battle of the Wilderness, from gun-shot wounds, by "friendly fire," as he had ridden forward to observe the deatruction of Union Troops in that battle.