ALL TRAILS LEAD TO ICE CREAM

The third week of July has become one of my favorite weeks of the year.  It is the week that Robin and I celebrate our wedding anniversary...and the week that we continue a super cool tradition of surprising  each other with an anniversary trip.  This year, it was Robin's turn to plan the trip...and what a wonderful, lovely, (and nerdy) trip it was.  Robin put together an adventure that took us to central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley.  Our four day celebration included good food, tours of the homes of four U.S. presidents, one of the most beautiful hikes I've ever taken, and an excursion through the awe-inspiring Luray Caverns. David and Robin Raymond at the entrance to James Madison's Montpelier. -- July 20, 2019 We arrived in Charlottesville, Virginia just in time for the 100+ degree heat that was blanketing the East Coast last month.  Fortunately, the extreme heat didn't prevent us from doing anything that we had planned.  The first ...

1989.  It was the summer of BATMAN, INDIANA JONES, and (if you are really nerdy) Weird Al's movie, UHF.  It was the summer that Guns N' Roses, Milli Vanilli, Prince, and the B52's were played over and over again on my favorite radio station...GO106 FM out of Cumberland, Maryland.  I had just finished my Sophomore year of high school, my mullet was in full growth, and I had a dresser drawer dedicated to my spandex shorts.  The summer of '89 was also the year that my mom and dad drove my younger brother and I halfway across the country on a trip that I completely under-appreciated at the time...but now I would call nothing short of epic. This cool kid is a 15 year old me...standing on the Grassy Knoll in Dallas, Texas -- June 17, 1989 Mom and Dad were pretty brave...packing my brother and I into the back seat of our Ford LTD station wagon and driving hundreds and hundreds of miles in the summer heat.  The plan was to drive from Bedford to Denver, Colora...