Lucy makes friends wherever she goes. At Grammy's "school," she met eight-year-old, Melissa. Melissa was coming from West Palm Beach, traveling 16 hours to be with her mom two days after Christmas. Melissa's dad brought her and her grandmother. Melissa's 16-hour drive didn't compare to the journey that her grandmother made from Cuba.
Melissa's mom had a red lanyard, which meant she was in prison for a drug-related charge. (The black lanyard means there was a white-collar offense). Melissa's mom was young. She looked very nice, I could tell she spent a lot of time getting ready for this visit. She was wearing bright red lipstick, which, I have to say, looked pretty good with her Khaki uniform. I couldn't help but watch Melissa and her mom embrace that morning. Both sets of eyes filled with tears of joy. The interactions between young children and their mothers are painful to watch.
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| Melissa's note to Lucy. |
For the next two years, we'll be visiting Grammy at the Federal Prison Camp in Alderson, WV. It's also referred to as "Camp Cupcake" but we call it, "Grammy's School." (She's teaching math so there's some truth to it.)
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| Photo of FPC Alderson |
Top four tips summarized:
Arrive early, claim your spot, hit the vending machines and grab Monopoly!
What to bring
- The Visitor Information Form and the Inmate Register Number: It's best to print this out and bring it with you. They require this form for each adult visitor. Alderson has extra copies available onsite.
- Clear plastic bag of money: We were good with $25-$30 in $1 bills or quarters. Sometimes the change machine is broken so bring plenty of quarters! For this visit, there were four of us and two children so my sister and I brought $100 - which was more than enough.
- If visiting with kids, wipes, diapers, sippy cups, and kid-appropriate drinks: They have changing tables in the ladies restrooms. The two times I've been there, the vending machines didn't have milk and the apple juice got stuck.
My mom has been at "school" for two months now, and I've been twice with our kids, Lucy (almost 4) and Hazel (almost 2). The visiting center is made up of four spaces: the children's room with games, crafts and a play kitchen; the main room with chairs and tables; the outdoor area with swings, benches and picnic tables; and the vending area.
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| During our visit, Hazel napped on Grammy for about two hours and Lucy made three projects. Grammy got to keep the penguin but we brought home the two glitter projects. |
After our visit ended, we drove 30 minutes to downtown Lewisburg and found the cutest children's store: Love Child on Washington Street. They don't have a website but if you're ever in the area, highly recommend Love Child. Here were a few of our great finds!
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| We bought this for Lucy's friend's 4th birthday. Her friend just got a big-girl room makeover, and Lucy thought this froggy coin bank would be perfect! And, for after-Christmas birthdays, this is probably better than another toy! They also had the goldfish coin bank but we're a big fan of frogs in our house. Here's the Goldfish Pictorial Coin Bank and the Frog Pictorial Coin Bank on Amazon. |
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| Aunt Betsy bought Lucy and Hazel these Bobux shoes, they were 20% off! They can be found at Nordstrom: Bobux Mary Jane Shoes. |
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| Look at the Koko-Nut Kids dress and le top tights that I got for Hazel -- both 50% off. I've never heard of the Koko-Nut Kids brand but it's top quality material. Excited for Hazel to wear this dress with her new tights. These tights wear well, and they were only $6! Amazon has ivory tights for $10 Le Top Ivory Tights. |
You can be sure that after our visit, I settled in with a glass of Pinot in the hotel's Styrofoam cup!
