Alexandria, VA ~ Where are the Jays

Jeff and I chose Alexandria, VA for our Christmas visit with Cierra this year. It was partially planned and partially a last minute decision. The trip was totally dependent on accommodating weather and Covid numbers. Jeff and I drove there - straight through. It was 13 hours each way with 2 to 3 of those hours being through the mountains which is tiring to us flatlanders! We stayed in a Residence Inn - 2 bedroom with a kitchen that included a full stove and a family room. Jeff and I got there the day before Cierra did. We arrived tired so we unpacked, relaxed and went to bed.

The next day was Christmas Eve and we needed food! There was a Whole Foods grocery store right down the street so off we went. After debating the easiest way to fix a couple of dishes in the unit and double checking lists, we got our food and hurried back to the hotel since it was starting to rain. We dodged the snow getting there, but it was supposed to rain hard all day Christmas Eve. Happily it did not pour right away so Jeff and I got a little walk in around town before Cierra joined us. We had chosen Alexandria because: it was billed as a USA city that felt European, it was listed as a top Christmas destination and oh it was close to where Cierra lives. Then it was time to decorate our Christmas tree. When we packed up our house in Missouri, we kept out a little Christmas tree and some other decorations and marked them in a crate called "Beach Christmas". Well it wasn't the beach but it was Christmas!

Cierra arrived in the afternoon, got unpacked and we all started to catch up some. Then it was time to pick up our Christmas Eve dinner. We had ordered a meal from Brabo Brassiere. It was an Amish roast chicken dinner that we augmented with some veggies we had picked up earlier and some homemade Christmas cookies and wine. The dinner was wonderful. We spent our evening watching Christmas shows and then midnight Mass before we went to bed.

Christmas day meant presents, exploring Alexandria and food - great food. We had picked up a quiche for breakfast at Whole Foods, so that with fruit Cierra had brought was breakfast. Later in the day we picked up a to go Christmas dinner from Magnolia's on King. We had a lot of food and it was very good. We had a salad, mac and cheese, collard greens, ham, turkey roulade, green beans and dessert plus 2 bottles of wine. It turned into several meals for us- all of which we enjoyed. Then we went out exploring - we needed to work off all of that food!

Thinking we might need some entertainment, I had bought 2 gingerbread house kits and brought them along. Cierra and I worked on the kit that was 3 row houses. For a first time effort for both of us, I think we did pretty good.

We drove around 2 nights looking for Christmas lights. The first night we kept relatively close to Alexandria and saw very few lights. We did enjoy one neighborhood that was on a hill and close to the George Washington Masonic National Museum. It had narrow winding streets with lots of architecturally neat houses. The second night we drove out to a park close to Annapolis and saw the "Lights on the Bay" for SPCA of Anne Arundel County at the Sandy Point State Park. Since it was supporting an animal related organization, a lot of the the lights had a dog or cat included. One of the displays they listed as a must see was the naval graduates throwing their caps in the air.

In addition to eating in our suite, we did eat out (literally outdoors) on Sunday on King Street which is the main road of Old Town Alexandria. It was a nice restaurant so we had a nice brunch and were warm enough with our own space heater.

In addition to gingerbread house building and football game watching, we walked around Alexandria a bunch. We went down to the water front and strolled along the river. In warmer weather, they have boat rides on the Potomac. By the waterfront was an old torpedo factory that is now an art center. We found it at the perfect time - we were all cold and happy to go inside some place for awhile. Cierra and I looked at shops and Jeff read all the displays they had on the history of the factory. Then we were all ready to go back outside and explore some more. Below are some pictures we took while out and about.