Delenda Est Carthago: Picture Day visits the Southlands!

Last time, Krys and I had made a pilgrimage back to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving. Later on during the visit, we drove down to Winchester, Virginia, to see my sister and her husband. And I took pictures!

We took a trip to Luray Caverns, which is near Winchester. It's a nifty underground cave with many stalactites and stalagmites. If you don't believe me, prepare to be confronted with photographic evidence!

That last picture is of a rock formation called the "Fried Eggs," for obvious reasons. Rock formations are neat-o.

Then we went out and about in Winchester. It's a nice town, actually, but it's an example of why I won't live in the South, even though my sister says it's wonderful in Northern Virginia. In the visitors' center, they sold beautifully painted portraits of Civil War veterans, including Nathan Bedford Forrest. I pointed this out to my sister, who dismissed it. I know they're honoring his contribution to the Confederate war effort, where he was a very good cavalry officer, but you can't ignore that he helped create the Klan. It's like honoring Hitler for his meritorious service in World War I and then saying, "Yeah, he had some issues later in life." Little things like that would keep me from really enjoying the South, as nice as some parts of it are. The actual town of Winchester is nice, though.

We walked around town and I took some pictures of the local businesses. They just made me laugh. Here's the music shop/barber ...

the place where you can satisfy all your colonial wig needs ...

and finally, proof that Winchester is a Commie town!

A peoples' barber shop AND a peoples' cleaners???? Lenin would be so proud.

Here's another reason I don't want to live in the South. Anyplace that has this has a major chain is not for me.

Here's a nice picture of me, Krys, my sister Barb, and her husband Mark. Mark looks strangely like a cardboard cut-out in this photo, but it's still nice!

Finally, I thought I'd show a picture of our poor dead cat Zoe. This is not staged, by the way - she loved climbing up on the back of my neck. I was a bit annoying, in case you're wondering.