Day 2 - Sun 28th Aug 2016 - Fairfax Virginia

We awoke to another very warm summers day. We arranged to meet Pat at his campus at 10:00, and it's about 10km away. After a good hotel breakfast where there appeared to be a lot of young faces getting ready for the first week of lectures. Freshman orientation was last week, and most new and returners were moving in by this weekend. Pat had been in his room since Monday, after his trip over via Dallas.

After finding our way to Pat's residential college, we decided to take a drive over to the other campus (Info Technology & Medical Science) at Manassas, where he would have two night lectures. It's about a 45 min bus ride.

Next stop was our first visit of the day to look at Walmart to get Pat a soft cover for his mattress. We bought some supplies for lunch, AAA batteries and a T-Mobile mobile phone starter pack (US$36). Lunch was back at the motel room and I also got the sim activated on the Walmart 30day plan (100min talk, unlimited data (5Gb at full speed) and Unlimited texts. It's the same plan we bought for 2015 Yellowstone trip and Simon can use it when we leave him behind for a week with Pat at the end of our trip.

We then had a walking tour of the campus near Pat, as well as looking at his room. We also delivered his ski gear and boots. The campus is very green, with rows of trees waiting to lose their leaves in the soon to arrive Autumn. The building all look either new or well maintained. Pat has two lectures with in walking distance and the others at the Manassas campus. Three lectures are in the evening and one at midday on Friday.

We enjoyed an afternoon coffee at the campus area, even with the day getting hotter. By 17:45 it was 32deg. It was busy with young students.

Pat had a residential building meeting at 17:00, so we walked around Fairfax City, saw the historic court and the spot where John Marr was the first confederate soldier to die in 1861 at the start of the civil war.

Another trip to a different Walmart was planned, where were bought a bed cover for Pat's bed.

Dinner was at an Italian chain, Olive Garden. The food was very good and we all enjoyed the big salad- (US$74 +$11 tip).

After dropping Pat home, we ended an enjoyable day in Fairfax, Virginia.