Day 2--DC

 After a good nights sleep and a hearty breakfast, we left the hotel for a full day of adventures.  We got off the metro at China town on our way to Planet Word.

Planet Word was the coolest.  It had this giant word wall and lite words up as they explained the origins--amazing!

They also had lots of room to explore, including karaoke.  I could have spent all day there.  And it was air conditioned!  And FREE!!!

The National Archives is where the original Declaration of Independence and Constitution are housed.  I was so glad we got to see them.  It always gives me a thrill to think that Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Hancock and so many more founding fathers actually touched them.

It was this photo that we decided that a different person would
choose the pose we would take.  Turned out
to be a fun thing to do.  Some got very creative, as you will see.

Across the street was a garden with lots of "interesting" sculptures.

The metro got us out of the city and down to Arlington National Cemetery.  We were able to catch the last changing of the guards for the day.  Such pageantry and grandeur.

There is no easy way without a car to get to Iwa Jima, so we walked a mile or so from Arlington.

Well worth the walk.  

This was one of my favorite reenactments!

We then had to walk another mile to Roslynn to get the metro back into the city.  There is one of the stops that just scares me to death!  My nemesis...the escalator from hell!!

When it's been several years between trips, I start thinking that it's all in my head.  It's not really that tall.  And then I get there and take a look.  Yep!!  It's that tall.  Thank goodness, they have elevators!

Anyway, back in the city, we found this interesting diner for dinner.  

  The burgers were really good, but they only took cash, had crazy dummies and mannequins all around, and we had entertainment by the cook when there was an electrical fire and he ran away instead of unplugging the toaster.  It might be my favorite meal on our trip!

During the day, in all of our walking, we came across a couple art installations that were pretty cool.

To end the day, we took a nighttime bus tour of the monuments.  As we were waiting in line, Todd stumbled and sprained his ankle pretty badly. But, being the trooper that he is, he didn't complain and kept up with us pretty well.

When we pulled up here, we moaned,
thinking of all the walking it took to get
here during the day.  It is pretty at night, though.

And I love Carson making the Washington Monument 
into a light saber!!

We were so late that we were very worried that we had missed the last train to our hotel.  We were the only ones in the station for quite a while.  Finally, one came and we made it home.

Total steps--22,672--yes, you read that right!!!

Day 1--DC

After a five hour flight, a short bus ride, and our first experience with the DC metro (including a change of trains!), we arrived at our home for the next five days.  It was absolutely perfect.  Right across the street from the metro stop.  And so fun inside.  I wish I had taken more pictures to show it's charm.

After unpacking, and exploring the hotel, we were off for our first adventure, a ghost tour of Old Town Alexandria.  The guide told some pretty fun stories.

 

On our walk back (did I mention that we did not rent a car and would be either using the metro or hoofing it most of the trip?!) we stopped at an ice cream shop that used liquid nitrogen to freeze the cream.  Pretty interesting and very tasty.

And then the sky opened up and we got drenched as we walked/ran back to the hotel.  It's hard to tell from Todd's hair, but we all got soaked!!  It actually felt pretty good, with the heat and humidity of the east coast.  Great memories are made up from all of the fun, unexpected stuff life hands you!!

Total steps--9,725--not bad, considering we spent a good deal of the day on a plane, bus, and metro!

 

 

 

 

East Coast Vacation

This is the trip that was almost two years in the planning!  We were scheduled to take it last summer, then COVID hit, and it was all scratched.  We cancelled hotels and airline tickets, trains and tours.  Luckily, everything was refundable, so no money was lost.

Then, we decided that we would try again this summer.  Somethings were not ready to come back from COVID yet, like Broadway and the White House, and the Canadian border,  but we thought we'd make the best of it and see and do what we could.  My biggest disappointment was the cancelation of the Hill Camorah Pageant.  Last year was the last pageant scheduled...then with it's cancelation, they said they would extend it for one year...then they cancelled again and said it would be no more.  Oh well, that's one thing on my bucket list that will not be happening!

Our original calendar centered around being in DC for the fireworks on the 4th and upstate for the Hill Camorah Pageant.  We decided to keep the same dates and Amy had a great time planning our itinerary.

Finally the day arrived and we were off!  Oh, you noticed that Wyatt wasn't with us?!  Well, his VB team was playing in Nationals in Kansas City, so he flew out early and joined us in DC on the 4th.