:::sigh:::: So I am back at work after a glorious week of vacation! Andy and I had a BALL in Washington, DC. Couldn't have asked for a better trip. I could write a book, but I will keep it as short as is possible for Rhonda.
MONDAY: Flew out early from Dothan. Boy, was it great to fly out of town versus having to drive a couple hours – THEN get on a plane. Our plane to DC was delayed out of Atlanta, so we were a little later than we planned. By the time we got to our hotel (via a CAB – my first!) it was around 3:00 p.m. So, we jumped on the metro and went to the Smithsonian area. I was just so excited to be in the middle of everything. We went through the Museum of Natural History, which was great. I hadn't seen a good dinosaur exhibit since kindergarten. (I have a wild picture of me with another little boy that died in the fifth grade in front of a T-Rex skeleton.) I LOVED the dinosaur stuff. And, of course, since it was the Smithsonian, it was a great exhibit – they had everything, brontosauruses, T-Rex, stegosaurus, mammoth, triceratops, pterodactyls (sp?), etc. (Better stop before I can't spell them anymore!) So much fun. Then we went into the Chinatown/Gallery area on accident and ate at a great place called Clyde's. Andy got some crabcakes that he said were to die for, and I got a good steak (took a small break from weight watchers! Haha)
TUESDAY: Got up later than planned and dawdled getting to Union Station to take the Old Town Trolley Tour. By the time we got there, we realized we wouldn't have as much time on the tour as we wanted so we decided to postpone the tour. Instead we walked toward the Capital and toured the Supreme Court (very cool). They did a nice talk about the history of the building and justices. I didn't realize that President Taft later became Associate Justice Taft. They told a funny joke about Taft making fun of his own weight saying that one time he got out of his bus seat and three ladies sat down.
After the Supreme Court we walked through the mall area and looked at things. We went to the Nat'l Botanical Garden Conservatory and took some great pictures. They had a neat exhibit of miniature replicas of all the major buildings in the Capital area made from plant materials. (Imagine the columns on the buildings as small brances, and you will get the idea.) We ate lunch at Bullfeathers – a restaurant inspired by Teddy Roosevelt. The story is that since Teddy knew that he couldn't say Bull____ in civilized company, that he would instead say "Bullfeathers!" After lunch we went to the Nat'l Air and Space Museum – Andy had been anxious to do that, but was disappointed to find that the flight simulator was unavailable at that time. I don't know why. But we saw a bunch of other neat things there and got some cool pictures. That night we walked through the sculpture garden and planned to go ice skating Wednesday, but it ended up raining.
WEDNESDAY: Alas, did it ever rain! It was COLD and WET and NASTY on Wednesday. Had we had more time we would have stayed in the hotel. It was awful outside. We went downtown anyway, since our tour of the White House and Capital was scheduled. We toured the White House, which was fun, even though they wouldn't let you take pictures. (I downloaded mine off the internet.) The rooms were very elegant. So much so, that I wondered if the house could possibly be a comfortable place to live. But maybe upstairs is different. Who knows….
We ate our lunch at the Old Ebbitt Grill. Yum!! But we had to eat so fast that we really couldn't enjoy the atmosphere, so we ended up going back. They had an AWESOME clam chowder.
After the White House we went to Capital Building. We actually met our tour guide, a staffer for our representative, Terry Everett, at the Rayburn Building. Then we got to walk underground to the Capital Building. Turns out that all the Senate/House buildings are linked via an underground tunnel system to the Capital Building. That was cool. The Capital was really something to see. There is a Crypt underneath that they planned as a tomb for Washington, but his heirs refused to disturb his gravesite, so now it is just a place to learn more about the architecture of the building itself. The Rotunda is really something too – absolutely gorgeous. (BTW, this was where Ronald Reagon laid in state.) The ceiling of the Rotunda - - WOW. Probably the most striking thing I saw all week, and that is REALLY saying something.
After the Capital we went to the Nat'l Archives and saw the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, along with other historical documents. Andy had to make sure that the gift shop, was indeed the same gift shop shown in the movie National Treasure (with Nicholas Cage). He says it is. I can't remember, which is par for the course with my memory. They had a really nice exhibit called "Eyewitness" that details information about eyewitnesses to history. One of the coolest (but saddest) exhibits showed the video of a POW during Vietnam that was being forced to make a tape condemning the actions of the US government and stating that he was being treated humanely. (It was obvious that this was NOT true.) He stated everything that he was told to, all the while, he was BLINKING the word "T-O-R-T-U-R-E" in morse code with his eyes!!! Unbelievable. Short video, but very, very powerful.
Wednesday night we had tapas for dinner. It is a Spanish appetizer, basically. You order several of them among a group and share. I ordered some pork spare ribs and some potatoes with a tomato sauce and garlic mayonnaise (sounds gross – but ohhhh – SO good!). Andy got a Spanish-style shrimp scampi, which I ended up liking better than my stuff! He also got a cold shrimp dish with an avocado puree. For dessert we got a simple strawberry ice cream with fresh strawberries on top, but it was anything from simple-----absolutely DELICIOUS. I don't know what was in it, but it was definitely something than we usually have in strawberry ice cream! This was definitely our favorite meal of the week. Unfortunately there are only four locations in the US and all are near DC. L
THURSDAY: Thursday was just as nasty as Wednesday, if not colder. We got on the metro to go to Mount Vernon, like we had planned all week and everything was fine until we tried to catch the bus. The metro bus system sucks. You can't figure out anything and you have to be absolutely brilliant to discover how to get where you are going! Evidently we were not brilliant. Following the direction of TWO DC natives, we got on the WRONG bus and it took us 3 hours to make a 35 minute trek to Mount Vernon. I eventually started to cry when I realized that another bus would not come for an hour and it was raining and we STILL didn't know how to get to Mount Vernon. (Yes, I know, I am a baby.) So, Andy called a cab. I have never been so thrilled to see a cab. I would have paid him $100 to come get us on Thanksgiving. Thankfully, it only cost us $12, considering that we weren't but ten minutes away, tops.
Once we got to Mount Vernon, we really enjoyed it. Neat place to visit. Probably one of the best historical homes I have been to. Didn't get to see much of the grounds though, because of the weather. The tour definitely gave you a better understanding of George Washington, the man, however. They showed the sweet relationship that he and Martha shared as well.
Unfortunately we could not get in to the Mount Vernon Inn for Thanksgiving Lunch. We what fine fare did we enjoy???? A personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut. Usually one of my favorite things, but NOT ON THANKSGIVING. So we thought, we will eat something nice later. By then, however, everything was closed and we had to order take-out Chinese. I learned that even though it is not mandatory that you eat turkey on Thanksgiving, it sure doesn't feel like Thanksgiving if you don't!!! We ordered "Click" on pay-per-view at the hotel and chilled out.
FRIDAY: Beautiful weather, and boy, were we ready for it! We knew this was our last day so we really hit it full speed first thing. We went immediately to Union Station and joined up with the Old Town Trolley Tours. We visited the Jefferson Memorial, looked at the Washington Memorial and briefly viewed the Lincoln Memorial (VERY VERY busy since it was the day after Thanksgiving). We visited Arlington Nat'l Cemetary and the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Saw JFK and Jackie's gravesite with the eternal flame and the cityscape located nearby. The coolest part of Arlington, by far, was the Arlington House. The Arlington House was originally owned by General Robert E. Lee. He, obviously, decided to serve the south and his wife came upon hard times and could not pay the taxes on the house. It was taken by the Union and, for spite was turned into a Union cemetery. After the war was over, he wanted to come back to it, but out of respect for the thousands of graves already established, he allowed it to be kept by the government. Believe it or not, the house is now a memorial to Robert E. Lee and his work, post-Civil War, to reestablish a unified government and to reintegrate the South back into the Union. I never knew any of this.
We ate again at the Old Ebbitt Grill, which was good for the second time. We also toured the National Cathedral, which was splendid – I love Cathedrals. This one wasn't as breathtaking as the ones in Savannah or New Orleans, but you can't help but have some awe in that kind of sanctuary. They had an unusual stained glass window that was patriotic – showing scenes from American history, i.e., George Washington, Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation, etc.
OH – we saw something extra unusual AFTER the cathedral. A BLACK squirrel. I have never seen one before. Nobody I have spoken with had ever seen one either. And boy, was he bold. He walked right up to Andy. (Andy said he was a little afraid the joker was going to attack him. haha)
The touring trolley was great though – we got to ride through Georgetown and Embassy row and look at the beautiful architecture and scenery. The funniest sight was a 7 FOOT WIDE home in Georgetown that sold in the last couple of years for $450,000. They say that Georgetown is very exclusive and I surely believe that now.
Friday night my old youth pastor and dear friend Adam Osborne picked us up at our hotel and took us to his home in southern Maryland for the night. His wife Karen fixed Thanksgiving, which, believe me, we were VERY thankful for!! We got to see two of his daughters and do some catching up, which was great fun. Then Saturday they took us over to Dulles to fly out of Washington.
Okay, well that's enough. There's lots more of course, but these are the highlights. I am going to post a bunch of pictures too. I hope everyone else had a nice Thanksgiving. We are now officially into the holiday season!
P.S. Looks like I wrote a book anyway!
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