Visiting Uncle Joe in Virginia

On the weekend of September 21-22, I was supposed to be speaking at a parish about mission work and Maryknoll, but that had to be canceled. Since I was free (our meetings don't start until Tuesday), I decided to run down to the Washington, DC area to see my uncle Joe Dittmeier in Alexandria, Virginia. Because I was buying my ticket on United Airlines outside the USA, I was able to add on a side trip to Washington quite cheaply.

21 September 2002 Saturday Uncle Joe Dittmeier (far left) and his son John (far right) graciously picked me up at Dulles Airport at 8:30 AM, and then we took a tour around that area, noting the headquarters of Worldcom and AOL. Then we drove to Purcellville, Virginia, where another of Joe's sons--Allen--lives with his wife Jami. Allen and Jami run the Salvation Christian Shoppe in Purcellville, a store catering to the religious needs of the community around Washington. Quite an interesting enterprise which they have developed into a ministry as well. After leaving Purcellville, Uncle Joe, John, and I drove to Holy Cross Abbey, the Trappist monastery at Berryville. In the picture below, Joe and John are looking at artifacts of the Civil War battle at Cool Springs which was fought on the monastery grounds. 19 September 2002 Thursday This morning we went to mass at St. Mary's Church, the oldest Catholic parish in Virginia, and then after lunch Cousin John and I went for a walk in Hyde Marsh, a wetland area along the Potomac River south of Alexandria. The other photo is of a first cousin once removed, Andrew Dittmeier from Atlanta, who is staying with Uncle Joe while he checks out jobs on Capitol Hill.

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