Gettysburg

Wednesday, July 30th

Today we visited Gettysburg. After stopping at the Visitor's Center (and the gift shop!), we decided to purchase the driving tour cd. It was very informative, giving us lots of background on the wonderful soldiers who fought and died for our freedom. It was very humbling to realize we were actually walking on the very same ground that many men fought and died on so many years ago.

While I was here with my family years ago, I don't remember much about it, so I took lots of photos this time at each stop.

A farm that played a prominent role in the battle, still working today (I took this picture as much for the beautiful scenery as for the history of the area):



Aidan at Devil's Den:



At the stop just before Devil's Den, I was preparing to take a picture of Bob & the kids, when a nice gentleman asked if I would like to be "on this vacation, too!" and offered to take the photo. Yes, contrary to the what the photos say, I was on this vacation, too!



View of Devil's Den from up on Little Round Top (or was it Big Round Top? Note to self: check this!)

Baltimore Aquarium

Thursday, July 31st

When we visited the Whitakers last Saturday, we mentioned we might like to visit the Zoo and Aquarium in DC. They suggested the National Aquarium in Baltimore, instead, thinking it was more impressive. So we followed their suggestion today. They have a "behind-the-scenes, swim with the dolphins" program, but in researching it, I found out it would cost $200 just for Morgan to participate, so we didn't think that would be in the budget this time. We went with the regular admission, though, and it was very nice. Aidan's favorite part was the 4-D theater experience. During the 3-D movie, it also sprayed water on us, poked us in the back, and swished against our feet in accordance with the scenery. Very cool! Morgan's favorite, of course, was the dolphin show:




For dinner, we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe right next to the Aquarium on the harbor:



Other photos from the Aquarium:

Bubbles!

Photo shoot with Puffin the Penguin:

Mt. Vernon

Tuesday, July 29th

This was breakfast this morning:

Bob had stopped at the store last night and bought eggs, cheese, bacon, and sausage, but we had no pan to cook them in, so he improvised! The foil worked quite well! The cheesy eggs were delicious ... mmm.

After lots of indecision about what to do today, we finally decided that Bob would stay at the cabin for an "alone" day, and the kids and I would experience Mt. Vernon, the home of George Washington.

We had no problems getting there. The George Washington Memorial Parkway is a beautiful drive with little traffic (at least when we went through). But when we got parked and I went to make sure I had everything before locking up the car, I found I had my Canon camera but no card for it, and I had a memory stick but no Kodak camera. Grrr! So our first stop was at the gift shop to see if they carried camera cards. Of course, they did not, so I had to buy a disposable digital camera. So I have no photos of Mt. Vernon to post yet, until I get them developed. Ugh.

The house and grounds were breathtaking. It's so interesting to me to see how people lived in the 18th and 19th centuries. Things were so different then. I did think they tried to squeeze too many people into the tours, and most guides spoke too fast, but when we came out of the house, I realized why. There had been no line when we arrived, but now there was a huge line. We toured the grounds on our own, seeing the buildings where the slaves would have worked, the stables where the horses and buggies were kept, and the old location of the graves of George and Martha.

Then it was back to the museum and gift shop. The museum had lots of exhibits and photographs, but the thing we liked best, and had originally decided not to do, was the "4-D" theater! The movie highlighted Washington's role in the Revolutionary War, and the theater even "blew" when there was wind, "snowed" during the part about crossing the Delaware, and the seats "rumbled" when the canons and shotguns rang out! Just one more way history is brought to life for our children.

After the movie, it was getting close to closing time, so we hit the gift shop again. I found an owl puppet that can turn its head all the way around, a Washington DC ABC book, and a dice game with letters on the dice - there I go, buying more things for school! I also bought a beautiful porcelain Christmas tree ornament as a memento of our trip. Morgan got a sweatshirt, and Aidan got a toy shotgun (ugh...) and a tricorne. Ever since, he's been using the gun and hat to pretend he's the soldier guarding the Tomb of the Unknowns, complete with clicking his heels together!

It was our intent when we left Mt. Vernon to find the southernmost metro station and park, and ride the metro to the National Air & Space Museum to finish what we didn't see before. However, I misinterpreted my map (imagine that!), and found myself in the center of Alexandria at rush hour. Can you say parking lot? Or gridlock? I probably spent an hour trying to find the metro station. Finally I gave up trying to find the one I was looking for when I saw the sign for King St. I remembered that we had ridden the metro to King St. to see the Washington Masonic Museum, so there must be a station on this street. I finally found the station, but spent another 20 minutes trying to find a parking place. I'm so glad I don't have to deal with this every day! I'll take the ease of small-town driving and parking any day!

Anyway, by the time we made it onto the metro and started on our way, we decided it was getting too close to closing time at the Air & Space Museum, and we really wouldn't have any time to see the exhibits, so we decided to do a little more walking around town again. We hiked to Ford's Theater and the house where President Lincoln died. The house is not open to the public, and the theater was closed for renovations, but at least we got pictures from the outside. Then we walked back to the White House and took pictures from the back, which you can get closer to than the front.

During our tour, part of G street was closed to traffic by police and secret service - they look just like they do in the movies - dark suits and sunglasses! There was a tented walk-through from the hotel to the area where a limo was parked, but we never saw anyone come out of it. Aidan and I had to use the restroom, so we went into the bookstore on the corner of that block, and Morgan kept lookout for us, but to no avail.

Speaking of the restroom in that bookstore, that's the first restroom I've ever had to "pay" to use! To get in, you had to get a token from the checkout counter, and insert it just like money.

Well, it was getting late, we hadn't had dinner, we knew Bob would be starting to worry, and we still had to ride back to King St. in Alexandria, then drive the half hour to the campground, so we didn't wait around to see who might emerge from the hotel.

On the way home, we picked up Popeye's Chicken (similar to KFC) and took it back to the cabin. We ate on the picnic table in the dark - what fun!

Return to the City

Monday, July 28th

It was back to the city for us today. We drove to the New Carrollton (Orange Line) Station and found a parking garage, catching the metro to King St. in Alexandria, after a transfer to the Blue Line at L'Enfant Station. We were headed for the George Washington Masonic Museum. The last tour was scheduled for 3:00, and that's the exact time we arrived at the King St. station. We had to leave the station, walk up the street a block, and climb the stairway that seemed to reach for heaven! I was literally panting by the time we reached the top, but we made the tour before they left the first room.


I found the Museum to be very interesting. One room is dedicated to George Washington, and has some of his personal belongings in it, including a piece of his luggage.


The other rooms in the museum are each dedicated to one of the Masonic Bodies (Knight's Templar, Scottish Rite, Tall Cedars, etc.). Although there was no room dedicated to the Order of the Eastern Star. Hmmm. The most intriguing part I found was that the rooms are in the formation of an arc, with each subsequent one becoming smaller as you near the top. The elevators even travel at a 7.5 degree angle from the side on the first floor to the center on the top floor. There is an observation deck at the top, which we looked out from, but the day was very hazy. I could just make out the Washington Monument and Capitol Buildings way across the river, but I don't think they came out well in my pictures. This is the best I could get. Washington Monument is on the left, the Capitol Building is on the right.


After leaving the Masonic Museum, we hopped back on the metro. Bob wanted to see the Pentagon and Pentagon City. Pentagon City was first. It's a mall under the Pentagon. However, our tummies only allowed us to make it to the first store on the right, which happened to be a restaurant called "Johnny Rockets." It was a 50's style diner - very cool. The workers were even dressed in white with boat hats. We ordered sandwiches, and this is how our fries came:


That was the only place we saw in Pentagon City because it was getting late, and we still wanted to see the Pentagon and the National Air & Space Museum. We hopped back on the metro to the next stop, the Pentagon. Bob was surprised to find that the metro stop is right under the Pentagon. This is the view when we came up.


Back to the metro we went, riding to Smithsonian station again. The kids had lots of fun in the hands-on section of the Air & Space Museum.


We also got to tour inside a Skylab, seeing how the astronauts eat and shower in zero gravity! The history section showed a cool setup of the Wright Brothers' lives and planes, and even had Orville's diploma from Centerville High School.

After the Air & Space Museum closed, we walked around town and got refreshments, waiting for the sun to go down so we could get better nighttime pictures. These are the best of what I got. We even walked up to Pennsylvania Ave. in front of the White House (no traffic is allowed there anymore). There was a policeman on guard the whole time, making sure we were all being good citizens/tourists. The Lincoln and WWII Memorials, taken from the Washington:


The Jefferson Memorial, taken from a bridge:


The Washington Memorial, taken from the area just after coming off the bridge:


The White House, taken from Pennsylvania Avenue:


The Capitol Building, taken from the Mall:


It was a late night for us. Back to the cabin for our nice cold beds!

A Change in Plans

Sunday, July 27th

Happy Birthday, Erica!

Our plan for today was to sleep in, then visit the George Washington Masonic Museum in Alexandria, and the National Air and Space Museum downtown, and then try to see DC after dark again, this time walking. However, the man upstairs had different plans for us.

We hadn't planned to leave the cabin until 1:00, so I let the kids go swimming when the pool opened at 11. Around noon, we started hearing thunder off in the distance, and by 12:30, when we were ready to go back and change to do our sightseeing, the thunder and lightning was much closer. We didn't know if the storms would last all day, so Bob looked up the weather - Severe Thunderstorm Watch until 8 pm. We decided to switch our plans around a little, and use today as the "do laundry and study" day, which we had planned to do tomorrow. The forecast for tomorrow is sunny and 90! We went to lunch at a little pizza place down the road called Ledo's - the pizza and service were very good. We even decided we might go back later this week. While we were eating, the thunderstorm came, bringing quite a bit of rain. Luckily, it stopped about the time we were finished, and has only sprinkled once since.

We came back to the cabin, and I grabbed the laundry and my computer, and the kids headed for (where else?) the pool. While I was in the laundry room, a man came in and asked if I was having any luck with my internet connection. I told him about being able to connect with only a few problems if I was near the office, but that I couldn't stay connected at all at my cabin. He said he had asked the office to reset their router, but they wouldn't (or couldn't) until the maintenance person came in tomorrow morning. So maybe beginning tomorrow I'll be able to do this from the cabin instead of in the laundry area or sitting by the pool (where my battery doesn't last long at all!)

I finished my paper while the laundry was drying (grumble grumble - I'll be SO glad when I 'm done with this program!), and met the kids at the pool.

Since tomorrow is to be hot and sunny, I think we might choose to do the things we had planned for today. It will probably involve some walking, but we'll also be using the metro, and hopefully be in some air conditioned buildings, too.

When we met with the Whitakers last night, Kathy suggested we go to the Baltimore Aquarium, so we have added that to our list of things we want to do before we leave. I'd also like to see if we can swim in the bay - don't know if that will be possible or not.

A "Take It Easy" Day

Saturday, July 26th

After yesterday's long hot day of walking, we decided to take it easy today. We stayed around the campground, and the kids and I swam at the pool for the bulk of the day.

We had made arrangements to get together with some of Bob's online gaming friends, Don "Edd", his wife Kathy, and her son Dan, who live in the area, so we met up with them tonight for dinner. They live on the Virginia side of DC, near Dulles airport. Since we had wanted to see some of the DC sights at night, we drove to their area, and ate and chatted at Joe's Crabshack. Now, nobody in our family is much of a fish-eater, but this was Kathy's choice. On the way, I mentioned I hoped they served chicken or something, since I didn't care for fish. Morgan likes crablegs, and I figured we'd find something Aidan and Bob liked. As it turns out, I was the only gutsy one of the family - everybody else wimped out! I tried the Tilapia and actually liked it! Bob had steak, Aidan ate pizza, and Morgan chose a Cobb salad. We ended up eating and chatting for over two hours. We took a couple of pictures, but since it's after 1 a.m. right now, I'll post those tomorrow!

After saying goodbye to the Whitakers, we headed into the city to see if we could get some night pictures of the monuments while driving. Well, that didn't turn out so well. There's so much traffic on a Saturday night that you can't slow down enough to get a good picture. Bless his heart, Bob took us around the White House three times, but it just didn't work. So we decided to come back tomorrow evening and walk around a little.

DC, here we are!

Friday, July 25

Happy 30th Birthday Heidi!

We boarded the shuttle at the campground at 9:00 a.m. This shuttle took us to the New Carrollton stop on the Orange Line of the Metro - DC's subway/elevated train. Seriously - it's an elevated train on the outer stops, and goes underground in the city! The New Carrollton stop is at the end of the line, so it was easy to remember where to return to so the shuttle could pick us up!

Our first hurdle was to figure out how to navigate the subway system! It took us a few minutes to decide which tickets we needed - we decided to purchase full-day tickets for each of us so we could ride as many times as we wanted. They were 7-something a piece, so about $30 for the four of us to ride all day wasn't too bad. Then we had to figure out where the train we needed would be loading. Somehow we first ended up at an Amtrak dock. A really nice lady there helped us get to where we needed to be. Next came the hurdle of figuring out how to get the machines to read our tickets - I'm sure we looked like the four stooges trying to shove those tickets in any which way, until Morgan had the bright idea to watch somebody else! Once we figured that out, we were set for the rest of the day! By the afternoon we were pros - sort of. Except for the time when we got on the orange train, changed our minds about where to go, and got off, intending to switch to the blue line - turns out we were already on the blue train!

I was very impressed with DC's subway - it is very clean, and I was not afraid at all, other than the "any one of these people could be a terrorist - you never know" feeling. We didn't see any homeless people or otherwise questionables in the stations at all. The closest we came to that was seeing a man take a whiz in a corner as we were figuring out the train system - Aidan got a good look - I had to turn his head away and tell him not to stare. After that, all was well. Even walking on the streets, we saw just a couple of men with signs and cups, but nothing like I remember when we were here in the 80's. At least not yet - we haven't been everywhere yet, though.

Aidan was so excited to ride the Metro (subway) for the first time - can you see it on his face?!


Our first stop was at Smithsonian station, which we knew would bring us close to the monuments. We had not eaten breakfast yet, and with the sun shining so brightly, were starting to get thirsty. The first thing we saw when we came up from the station was a Farmer's Market at the Department of Agriculture. Some girls behind us screamed "Farmer's Market?! No way!" and ran to it. Bob said, "I wonder if you've really made it in the Farmer's Market world if you make it to the Department of Agriculture's Farmer's Market!" We found some tasty fruits to enjoy as our breakfast (there were breads and vegetables available, too), but nobody had any drinks. We sat in the shade of a tree next to a group of adorable pre-school children on a field trip, eating our fruit.


After eating, we walked up Jefferson Drive toward the Washington Monument. As we walked, we explained to Aidan the significance of the Washington Monument, specifically who George Washington was. His reply was, "He's probably dead now, right?" Near the base of the monument was an outdoor cafe selling refreshments, so we stopped there for our drinks. It was during this drink break that Aidan asked, "So when are we going into the George Washington Dead Guy Memorial?" We decided not to go up inside today, leaving that for another trip to the city. So we began walking. And walking. And walking. Did I mention how much we walked? The temperature was only in the upper 80's, and the humidity wasn't too bad, but that sun was just beating down on us! But don't worry, Mom, we stopped for drinks and shade every so often, and I did fine!

Here is the Washington Monument from the street, just before we got to the cafe:


And from the monument, here is the view of the White House (with my zoom lens, of course). This was as close as we got to the White House today. We'll try again another day.


Not too far from the Washington Monument, between it and the Lincoln Memorial, is the World War II Monument. It was absolutely breathtaking to take in. There are pillars on each side labeled "Atlantic" and "Pacific", and smaller pillars for each state and US Territory form an oval. In the center are fountains, and all around are several impressive quotes about the War carved into the concrete.

Here are the kids at the entrance.


The fountains in the center. You can see the "Atlantic" pillar on the left side.


The Ohio pillar.


One of the center fountains, with the Washington Monument in the background.


The view of the Lincoln Memorial from the World War II memorial.



A closer view of the Lincoln Memorial as we walked toward it.

In the Lincoln Memorial, we made a restroom break, and hung out inside for a while. Being open, it's not air conditioned, but it was quite a bit cooler anyway. And sitting a spell on the cool marble/tile floor felt really good!

At this time, we were getting pretty hungry for lunch, but we hadn't a clue where to find food. Bob thought we might head toward George Washington University - surely there would be food around the campus, and it was only a few blocks' walk. We did, and found a nice smoothie & wrap place inside a wonderfully air-conditioned building. Ahhh... {choke} 2 wraps, 2 burritoes, and 4 drinks cost $41!

This little restaurant was on the second floor of this building, up an L-shaped flight of stairs. Coming down after we ate, Aidan reached the landing, thought he was all the way down, and turned to say something to Morgan, promptly tripping down the last 3 steps. He was ok, just a bit shaken up.

Next we walked to the nearest Metro station (Foggy Bottom / GWU) and caught the train to Arlington. On our way to Arlington, we got separated. We were getting on the Metro, along with several other people. The subway doors don't stay open very long, and only about half the group made it on. Aidan and I were in the half that got on, but Bob and Morgan didn't make it. As the doors closed, Aidan asked in a very worried tone, "What about Daddy and Morgan?" I assured him that Daddy and I both knew where we were going and we would meet again at that stop. It was several stops down, and he seemed to calm down as we traveled. When we got off at the Arlington stop, we looked at the sign that tells when the next train will come - 20 minutes. So we walked around the stop a bit (we couldn't leave the station because Morgan was in charge of Aidan's Metro ticket!), took Aidan's picture next to the Metro route sign, and waited for them to come. Finally their train arrived, and we were together again.


When we got separated, apparently Bob and Morgan felt a little sad, too!


Arlington National Cemetery

We saw Kennedy's grave, with the Eternal Flame, and then walked on to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. While we were there, they held a service honoring all military service men and women. The kids were impressed by the formality as dad explained what the guards go through while on duty. It must be such an honor to be chosen to guard the tomb. We also saw the grave of a serviceman who had served in both WWI and WWII. I'm sure there were others - we happened to see one that was near the service road.

The Armed Services ceremony.


Taps.


A view of some of the grave markers.


After Arlington, it was dinner time. We decided to return to the campus of GWU. There was a sandwich shop on the opposite corner from the place where we ate lunch, so we went there - "Potbelly Sandwich Shop." Prices here were a little better, and food was just as good (both places were yummy!) Then it was back to the Metro station to catch our shuttle back to the campground. Apparently we wore the kids out!



When we got back to the campground, the kids both wanted to swim. You're kidding, right? Oh, I remember now, they both had NAPS on the way home! So they swam for a while, and then we went in to Millersville (the nearest town) for ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery - mmm!

A crude drawing of the route we walked today (minus Arlington Cemetery):


Funny stuff from today:

On the shuttle on the way home, I was typing some notes to remember into my iPod Touch, which is notoriously hard to type on. As I attempted to type the word "shuttle", it came up "shitt" and then I realized what had happened! Morgan and I had a good laugh.

As I got undressed for the night, I hung my bra on the bedpost and said, "Now THIS is class!" Bob promptly started using it to sling things across the room (child that he is!)

As I was laying on the bed, the computer cord was draped over the end of the bed. Bob said, "You better move that cord before you trip over it." I hate it when I trip over something while I am IN BED!

Our First Day

Sitting by the pool, which is close to the camp office. Internet signal is MUCH better here!

Our day started when we woke up and mosied around getting showers and just relaxing. Finally, around 11:30, we decided we should probably do the shopping we planned to do so we would have something to eat! Since it was lunchtime, though, we found a place to eat first. It was a little pizzeria called Squisito.From the looks of it from the road, I thought it was going to be a hole-in-the-wall, but it was actually pretty nice. Bob and Aidan had slices of pizza, Morgan had manicotti, and I had some kind of chicken sub that was stuffed with chicken, melted cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and banana peppers (I took off the onions and peppers). It was so big, I could only eat half, and Bob's slice of pizza wasn't huge, so he ate the other half of my sandwich.

After we ate, we found a grocery store, then came back to the campsite (by this time it was 3:00), and the kids and I decided to swim, and let Bob have some "alone time" at the cabin. Here are some photos from the pool:

And of course, the day wouldn't be complete without Bob making the kids work for their food!


They managed to get in some game time while the coals were heating up.


Tomorrow we'll see DC!