Day out in Manassas, Virginia (Bull Run)

We always want to try and make the most of our weekends, and as we both love the outdoors, we thought we'd have a day out in the country -- so, we hired a car for the day and went over to Manassas, the site of the Battle of Bull Run during the U.S. Civil War.

You really have to use your imagination in a place like this - to try and put yourself in their shoes and picture what it was like over 140 years ago, North vs South. Now, it is all just lovely rolling hills and sweeping fields, but then, it was battlefields full of wounded men.

We followed a 6 mile walking trail around the major battles which took place, and it was so hard to grasp that over 5,000 troops (on both sides) died in such a serene location. Birds were chirping, the sun was shining, the wind was blowing through the trees - hard to believe a place like that hosted such a macabre event.
Manassas itself has a Old Town, just like Alexandria, a part of town that is deemed of historical significance and full of lovely little shops, galleries and restaurants. We popped in after our walk to have a spot of lunch and enjoy the atmosphere - we ate at a place called Philadelphia Tavern, more of a local haunt than a tourist place, which is what we like. The food was delicious!

We noticed we were running late (I had to catch an evening flight to SLC), so we hopped back in the car and drove home - yet again, another wonderful day out in Virginia!