Now it’s time to hit the road as we start the driving tour of the LBJ ranch, a place that served as a driving force in the life of our 36th president, Lyndon Baines Johnson, shaping how he viewed the world. The Visitor’s Center offers a car audio tour CD featuring information, soundbites and music, which really adds to the experience.

“Can you tell me where Dolley Madison’s dogs are buried?” asked the very direct woman at the Montpelier visitors’ desk. This is one of the strangest questions I have ever heard on a Nerd Trip, and it is part of why I enjoy them – you meet some kooky characters along the way. Who would know that Dolley Madison’s dogs are buried at Montpelier?

The grounds and gardens of Monticello are a living monument to Thomas Jefferson’s interest in nature, including his methodical study of the plants on his property.

After touring the house, we took a separate tour of Monticello’s gardens (offered April through October) where we learned that there are plants growing there today that descended from Jefferson’s time.

After touring the house, we took a separate tour of Monticello’s gardens (offered April through October) where we learned that there are plants growing there today that descended from Jefferson’s time.

We had neither a GPS nor smart phone, so we were relying on printed Internet directions, which didn’t work so well. We had a tough time finding the memorial. I recall thinking, “Poor William Henry Harrison, if he had been in office longer, his memorial may have been better marked.”

Yes, “nevermore” is a little obvious, but today is Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday, and the Poe Toaster did not show at Westminster Hall. So the “official” word is that the Poe Toaster tradition has ended.

As I wrote in my previous post, the folks at the Poe House seem to know that they are going to get some odd questions. In fact, they hand out a sheet listing some of the unusual questions visitors have asked. They include: Why is the paint peeling, why does the Poe House have that “old” smell and is the house haunted? (Poe’s grandmother died in the house, he did not). I think some (many?) visitors to the Poe House are hoping to discover something a little creepy; I suppose we all have a somewhat morbid curiosity when it comes to Poe. Another sample on the curator’s question list asks about the basement. The sheet reassures you that the basement is mostly used for storage and that “there is nothing mysterious or weird in the basement.”