long live the queen

Queen Elizabeth is on vacation in the States. On Thursday and Friday she visited the former sovereign colony of Virginia. She landed in Richmond where she spoke to the General Assembly and then rode to Colonial Williamsburg. Yesterday she traveled to Jamestown to mark the quadcentennial of the first English settlement there before heading off to the Kentucky Derby today.

I wonder where the Queen slept during her trip. I doubt she stays on a friend's Futon. If she had spent a night in Richmond, she might have chosen to spend the night at the Jefferson Hotel, which has played host to many famous people over the years. Charles Kuralt thought the hotel was so nice, he went there twice. When I was in Richmond last weekend, we went to the Jefferson for Sunday brunch. I found a display case that boasted about the celebrities who have stayed at the Jefferson over the years.



One name stood out among the list of actors, singers, athletes and newsmakers. In the far right hand column, directly under Richard Simmons, it says "Sulu (Star Trek)." Could they not go to the trouble to look up the name George Takei? Or did they think we wouldn't know who that was? A close look at the list reveals some misspelled celebrity names like "Daryl Hanna," "George Thoroughgood" and "Katie Courek"