Well, on Wednesday, I was supposed to be making a trip to Maryland with my Mom and two sisters, where we were going to take a trip on the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. That didn’t happen. There were mechanical issues with the train, and we found out the trip had been canceled after we made the four hour trip to Cumberland, Maryland.

Don’t feel bad for us. First, the trees were stunning, especially in Ohio, on our trip. We weren’t counting out the gorgeous colors because of the drought. But, Ohio was breathtaking. Then, we decided to make the best of our trip.

Wednesday night we went to dinner, and then played pinochle as we do in the evenings when we’re together.

Thursday was supposed to be the train trip. Instead, we did a couple things we wouldn’t have done otherwise. We went to Fort Necessity National Battlefield in Farmington, Pennsylvania. My family has been to a number of battlefields, but we’ve been to Revolutionary and Civil War ones. Fort Necessity was from the French and Indian War, and I had no background about this one. This was the first battle of the war, really just a fifteen minute skirmish, and the only time George Washington ever surrendered. But, it kicked off the war. There are fascinating stories, including the one that Washington signed the surrender document that was written in French, and his translator, who was Dutch, translated it wrong. When he signed it, Washington admitted he was responsible for the assassination of a French officer, and he didn’t know he was making that admission.

Fort Necessity was much smaller than I expected. It was hastily built and the fort within the fence is quite small, really just a building for storing supples.

We also went through the Mount Washington Tavern. It had been a large, active tavern on the National Road. It’s a fully furnished museum, with a self-guided tour.

From there, we went to a collection of shops with over 100 local artisans. Those are the kind of shops that have been lost over the years, especially during COVID. But, we bought some very nice pieces, and enjoyed our time there.

It is a four hour drive back to Columbus, though, so we arrived back at my sister Linda’s house about 5:30, where her husband had dinner for us. Her son came over, and we played UNO afterwards. Mom and Christie stayed overnight at my place Thursday night, and we went to breakfast Friday before they headed home.

No, we didn’t take the train trip. We did get credits for next season, because this one is over. But, really? We probably enjoyed our time together more with our alternate plans. (And, in my family, history and battlefields are always interesting.) The trip was wonderful because we were together and enjoyed our conversations and laughter.