Washington DC- vacation

The week of June 28th -July 5th we travelled to Washington DC with Michael and Kevin. Sort of a "last hoorah" with Michael since he graduated from Capital and will leave on his mission by the end of the year. It was an amazing week, with walking, museums, humidity, walking, roller-coasters, heat, walking, the metro, humidity, walking, sight-seeing! Did I mention the walking and humidity!!!
We started out on the 29th, planning to go to church, but we arrived at the hotel around 3am and just couldn't get going that early. So after having a wonderful lunch at "Armond's" pizza( thanks to the Cutler's recommendation), we were off to ARLINGTON cemetary. What a beautiful, serene place. We watched the changing of the guard at the "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier" and that was SPECTACULAR! Then we were off to see some of the monuments. We ended up at the Lincoln Memorial at dusk and it was breathtaking. Looking at the other end of the reflecting pool you can see the Washington Monument. The Vietnam Memorial was so humbling. As I walked along looking at the many names on the wall I was struck by a picture of a handsome marine. A loved one had left it at the base of the Memorial. There was a boy, all of 18 years old. At the bottom of the picture it read " Eighteen Forever". I glanced ahead at my own 18 year old, and couldn't help shed a tear. All of the war memorials were so humbling. We are so blessed to live in a country where we have liberties and freedoms. So many have given their lives for us to enjoy so many priviledges.
Can I just say that George is the "MASTER" at planning and using time to it's fullest. His itineraries are legendary!! I will hire him out, but it will really cost you!!!(Just kidding dear!)
Monday was "Smithsonian Day". As we got off the metro at the Capitol Mall, we looked up and there was a big banner that said, "TEXAS". There was a folk- festival all week that featured a state and country. So Melissa, you were with us!!! Our first stop was the Air and Space Museum. Can I say from the second we walked in, George was like a kid in a candy store!! The first exhibit was the space capsule that his hero John Glenn flew in. From that point on, he was gone! It was such an interesting place. We loved all the space exhibits but one of our favorites was the Kitty Hawk/ Wright Brothers museum. AMAZING what they were able to do with practically toothpicks and cloth!! We had lunch at a nice cafe' there on the Mall and then went to the Museum of Natural History. We finished the day with a tour of the Kennedy Center. I was interested in this because I enjoy watching the various "tribute" shows that are held there, that air on TV. It is a huge facility with large theaters/halls. I would love to go to a show there someday.
Bright and early Tuesday morning we were off to the airport to pick up a rental car. It was the filthiest thing we'd ever seen!!! But at 7am, no one was around. So we were off to Monticello! Things were going along pretty smoothly, the countyside was breathtaking and we were making pretty good time. We had tickets for the tour starting at 10am and needed to be there 30 minutes early. We took the "slight left" and continued on our way. Pretty soon we realized our slight left was more like a "hard left" and we were not headed in the right direction. George went into a gas station and the clerk gave us new directions, saying it would take about 30 minutes to get there. It was 9:40! Well, we made it with NO time to spare and had a great time touring the home of Thomas Jefferson. The land was amazing, the stories fascinating, the slave quarters humbling. The next part of our day was probably, no was definitely, the greatest part of the trip for Michael and Kevin. We were off to Busch Gardens!!! ROLLERCOASTER city! We rode 5-6 awesome rollercoasters and then sent Michael and Kevin to conquer them again. George and I went the quieter route and watched the entertainment show, and the fireworks. I can't not share our "Log Ride" story. It is a tradition to always go on the log ride. Of course you risk getting a little wet! Kevin and Michael had it all planned out. If they sit in the front, where the weight will be, their dad and I would get the most wet. Guess what? They were right. George got wet...I got SOAKED. There was not a dry spot on me! My new jean capris dripped blue dye and left stains on my legs I was so wet!!! All in fun, right!?! It was a blast.. the "Griffin" rollercoaster was a RUSH! Check out some of the pictures. After climbing to the top it teases you by letting you drop a tad and then leaves you hangin! Then... a 90 degree drop! It was FANTASTIC!!!
Well we closed up shop at 11pm and made our way back to the hotel. It was about a 2 hour drive, so it had been a very long day. Thanks to our driver for getting us back safe and sound.
We slept in Wednesday morning(8am)...later we would find out that we were off schedule because of it. The plans for the day was to go to Mount Vernon, Gettysburg and then into Baltimore for an Orioles game. See what I mean when I say our "tour guide" packs as much as possible into a day! Well, Mount Vernon was BEAUTIFUL. Ole "GW" really knew what he was doing when he lived there. The back porch view of the Potomoc was fabulous! Everything about the place was beautiful. It was amazing the whole trip, visiting the places of our nation's forefathers and the rich history that goes along with them. We were then off to Gettysburg. There are no words to explain that place. The amount of land the battlefields covered was mind boggling. I had always pictured a very large open field, but no. It went forever. Rolling hills, knolls, various elevations with rock formations used as battle fronts. There were the original rock walls that the soldiers layed behind for protection. And so many "markers/monuments" you couldn't begin to count. It was truly a miracle that the Union was able to defeat the Confederacy given the locations and numbers of soldiers. We took a car tour of the whole battlefield and ended up at the location where Pres. Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. The boys really enjoyed it and I was impressed with how much they knew about the history of that sacred place. They taught me well!! We were then off to Baltimore. It was about now that we realized we were a little behind in our original schedule. We had to hustle to Baltimore! Camden Yards was BEAUTIFUL! The Orioles put on a good show for us, hitting homeruns in the first inning and beating the Kansas City Royals 5-2. We had the BEST hotdogs but much to George's disappointment, we missed out on Cracker Jacks! We drove back to the airport,caught the last train to the hotel and collapsed in bed about 12:45am.
Thursday was our tour of the Capitol Building. We arrived at the Senator's office and met our guide. We made the connection that she was from Boise AND a graduate Capital High. Furthermore, we found that she had had a date with Jeffrey! Small world, heh?! The Capitol Building was so GORGEOUS! Rachel, our guide, told us before we entered the rotunda, that no matter how many times she goes in there it is always breathtaking and she was right! We had a great tour. It really is an amazing place. We walked to the outside of the building and had a few pictures and then we were on our way to the Holocaust Museum. Now we had been told on many occasions how solemn and intense that experience would be, but quite frankly, I was not prepared for how very intense it would be. The place was packed! For those who have not been there, the first thing you do is receive a little booklet telling you the name of a Holocaust prisoner/surviver. It gives you a little background of that person and then you enter the museum. The graphic pictures and displays were horrific and the stories told were beyond heartbreaking. The cruelty shown to those innocent people was unforgiveable. We left there so thankful for the land and freedoms we enjoy. We went into Union Station and had dinner and by then we were so exhausted from the last 48 hours that we called it a night and went back to the hotel. It felt so good to get a full night's sleep. Of course Michael and Kevin thought that meant staying up late and sleeping in late, but it was lights out by 10:45 and another early rise on the morning of the 4th.
I couldn't believe we were in Washington DC for the 4th of July! We headed back to the Capitol Mall, us and another 1/2 million people. There were people everywhere for the parade! The boys went off on there own and George and I headed off to the Art Museum. We have had the priviledge of seeing so many beautiful art museums. The Louve, the Met in NYC plus the other art museums in NYC and now this one in Washington DC. It is something we both enjoy so much. We were then on our way to the National Archives to see the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and the original Declaration of Independence. The streets and sidewalks were packed because of the parade and have I mentioned at all the heat and humidity. WWWOOOWWWAH!!!(how Christopher Walken would say it) It sucks the life right out of ya! After standing in line for about an hour and a half we made it inside the building. And then waited another 20-30 minutes to see the actual documents. It was very impressive to see the faded and worn signatures of John Hancock and John Adams. It was well worth the wait! We then hooked up with the boys for lunch and we were on our way to scope out a place on the West lawn of the Capitol to see the 4th of July concert and fireworks! It was about 4:00 by now. There was a risk of rainshowers but we had been lucky so far. Our luck wore out as we waited. It rained off and on for about an hour and a half. We had packed a waterproof blanket to sit on and we used it as a cover. An interesting tidbit... Kevin looked over at me and said, isn't that Hank Toone? Hank was Jeff's trainer on his mission. We had just had him over for dinner in June. Sure enough, there he was. His sweet little wife had been sitting about 8 feet away from us the whole time. But we didn't know it because we had never met her. Check out the picture of Michael and his cute umbrella we borrowed from Hank and Stacie! He's SOO darling! We visited with the Toone's for a while and then the concert started. Huey Lewis and the News performed, along with Taylor Hicks(he was horrible), there were other performers too. The best was listening to the 1812 Overture, with real canons, watching the fireworks behind the Washington Monument while sitting on the Nation's Capitol lawn! Talk about a cool 4th of July!!! That was the finale of our vacation! What a perfect ending!
We caught our flight out of JFK airport and headed home. The trip was amazing and I know we will not forget the sights we saw and the feelings we had while visiting all those wonderful places.