The Storm Of Dogs Tour: Alexandria, VA
The Storm of Dogs Tour has well and truly started. I flew into Boston on Sunday! I’m writing this with an exclamation mark because – Boston! On Sunday! My flight was (of course) cancelled due to the incredible amounts of snow, but the brilliant Olivia at Harper Collins arranged for me to take a train to Virginia early Monday morning, so I stayed overnight in Boston – and was able to marvel at the amounts of snow in the city streets. Apparently several more feet of the stuff fell after I left – how Boston coped I don’t know, but my admiration knows no bounds. (A LOT more fell after this photo was taken.)
Luckily I did make to to Alexandria, though – and I’m so glad I did! I love Virginia, and Alexandria is such a beautiful town. On my first day I discovered the Amazing Trolleybus that would take me up and down King Street as often as I liked, so I was able to visit the waterfront and explore lots of the beautiful streets.
I was excited the next morning to start the tour proper and visit my first schools, Stratford Landing and Belle View Elementary. Thank you so much to Karen, the librarian at Stratford Landing, to Sue Capper of the PTA and all the staff at Belle View, and to my media escort Paul Borchers. A special hello to Reese from the 3rd grade, who came along to the Stratford Landing 4th-6th grade event by special request!
In the evening I was thrilled to realise that I was revisiting an old favourite bookstore – I’d had a previous event at Hooray For Books when I visited Washington DC. The store is still as wonderful and friendly as ever (I still drink my evening cup of tea from my Hooray for Books mug!), with a thriving Book Club that was happening as I arrived. It was terrific meeting Ellen again, along with her staff, and exciting to hear that Hooray For Books is actually expanding! I loved meeting the Erin fans who came along – it was great fun chatting to you all, and to see some familiar faces from the day’s schools (hello, Maya and Lorelei!).
Sadly I had to leave Virginia early the next morning, but I so hope I’ll be back soon. I knew I was going to enjoy my next stop, though – I was off to Ohio. And I LOVE Ohio!
I’ll report back on how it went in Dayton… soon! Meantime, Pack-howls to you all!
Gillian/Erin
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