Note: It was bound to happen and frankly I’m surprised it wasn’t sooner. I’ve committed the unpardonable sin of telling Pam that I’d downloaded pictures when in reality I hadn’t. I somehow got 90% of the way through downloading our Fri/Sat/Sun events and then got short circuited somehow and I can’t find them anywhere on my computer. The folder I d/l them in to was created but no pictures. I thought Pam was going to have kittens but luckily they weren’t HUGE picture days (Monticello, Mt. Vernon, and Arlington Cemetery) so overall she was fairly understanding. I feel bad for you guys though because they were great stops and a lot of fun. It just means you’ll have to come out here yourselves and see those. I’ll still recount the days and throw in some links for those who are interested.
We just got in to Chadds Ford, PA (about 45 minutes outside of Philly) tonight and we’ll be staying with my Uncle Elliot and Aunt Pat. He is my fathers older brother. Great great people and a real pleasure to spend time with. We’ll stay here 3-5 days depending on what else we want to see and how we’re feeling. On the docket is a trip or two to Amish country, Philadelphia for a day or two, and a day to catch our breath a bit. When we leave here we’ll be cutting across all of Pennsylvania and up in to the very Western edge of NY to see Niagara Falls. At that point it’ll be the beginning of the end of our trip as we’ll make our way back across upstart NY (church history sites and Baseball Hall of Fame), up through Vermont and New Hampshire, over in to Deer Isle Maine (cottage overlooking a bay, some lobster, and a scheduled boat ride), and then down to Boston (a history tour and taking in a Boston Red Sox vs Texas Rangers game with a friend). We’ll fly home out of Boston on May 15th for those of you keeping count.
I’ll have some time tomorrow to get the pictures from the last two days posted (All of our DC stuff). We’re still having a ball although I’m getting the bug to get to work.
Saturday April 29th
Monticello and drive to Washington DC (3 hours)
Monticello link
We got up pretty early on Saturday as we wanted to make our way over to Monticello which is in Charlottesville, VA. It was a little bit out of the way but I thought it’d be really interesting to see. We had Mt. Vernon on the schedule so I figured that we should pay respect to Jefferson as well.
Thanks to our handy navigation system we didn’t have much trouble finding the place. It was a beautiful drive and we were again impressed with how beautiful the state of Virginia is. We ended up getting there at about 1:00 and the place closed at 5:00 so we promptly bought tickets and took the bus up the hill to the “mansion”. This was really our first encounter with “hills” since we started the trip, in fact Monticello means “small mountain” in Italian. Interesting huh?
Anyhow, the tour of the house was amazing. You’re not missing much because I lost the pictures due to the fact that they didn’t allow pictures inside the house. We did have some fun pictures of us outside and around the plantation but you’ll just have to use your imagination. During the tour I was blown away by the sense of history that we encountered in the house. Specifically when we went in to the bedroom and they stated that “Thomas Jefferson died in this room and in that bed…oh yeah, and there are his riding boots.”. The house itself wasn’t overly impressive other than the fact that it was Thomas Jefferson.
After the tour we wandered around the grounds and saw the different buildings. We saw the slave quarters, the kitchen, and the gardens. The garden was probably the most impressive. It was about 100 yards long and 20 yards wide full of vegetables. Brent would have been in heaven.
We also were able to see his grave which was pretty cool except for the fact that the US government tore out his gravestone he’d designed and they put a big Presidential monument over it. I figured they should have let him be buried however he wanted. Oh well…guess that’s what you get when you’re the writer of the Declaration of Independence and one of the fathers of our country.
We finished the day by talking a nice walk back down the hill to the car and enjoying some ham sandwiches courtesy of a little refreshment shack by the car. We then made haste to Washington DC as it was already 4:30 or so and we were eager to get there and get settled in to our hotel. Fortunately I missed the turn that we’d made to get there and we ended up getting detoured through the back roads of Virginia. You should feel bad about me losing the pictures in this instance because it was truly gorgeous. We drove on the backroads for a good hour or so and finally ended up in DC.
As we were arriving in DC the first impressive building we saw was the Pentagan followed by the Washington Monument. Both Pam and I couldn’t believe that we were in our nations capitol. Getting in to DC wasn’t a problem but getting around DC proved to be rather intimidating. Even with the navigation system I was constantly missing turns due to construction barricades, traffic, and crazy round-a-bouts. Once we arrived at our hotel I took the car straight to the valet and vowed not to drive again in the city.
The hotel we stayed at was the Omni Shoreham up near the National Zoo and the National Cathedral. It’s a beautiful old hotel. with a lot of interesting history. The Beatles, Elvis, and numerous Presidents, stayed there back in the day. Anyhow, we ended up with a nice king size bed on the 7th floor. It was top class.
To finish up the day we had a bad burrito at a Baja Fresh wannabe across the street and made our plans for the next day. We dropped by the concierge to ask him for any tour information and he let us know that the National Mall would be crowded with Breast Cancer Awareness groups and that it wouldn’t be a good day to go down. We decided to do Mt. Vernon and Arlington and then plan for the city for Monday and Tuesday.
Sunday – April 30th
Mt. Vernon and Arlington National Cemetery
We woke up rather rudely on Sunday to a nice little fire alarm. It actually started going off about 8:30 and we were up for the most part already, however we were all in various stages of being ready. It went off just as I’d just applied shaving cream and was about 1/3 through the shave. We hurriedly got ready and ran down the stairs and ended up in the front parking lot. Serra and Sophia were in their PJ’s and I had a poorly done goatee but we made the best of it by walking over to McDonalds and grabbing a quick breakfast.
By the time we’d finished up we made our way back to the hotel and all the excitement had cleared up. I was a bit surprised that we never heard any word from the hotel as to why we were cleared out. No big deal I guess.
Mt. Vernon Link
We headed the concierge’s warning and drove down to Mt. Vernon for the first part of the day. Like Monticello, the history in the home was overwhelming. One thing that was more impressive about the home than Monticello was the fact that much of the furniture, and all of the paintings except two, were original from Washington’s day. It was great to think about walking the same halls as George Washington and it sent a tingle up my spine as I thought about it.
The highlight of the visit for me was the chairs on the back porch overlooking the Potomac river. They had 15-20 chairs on the porch so that you could just sit there for awhile and take it all in….very cool. After the house tour we again walked the grounds checking out all the different buildings, including slave quarters/kitchen/saddlery/blacksmith shop/etc. George Washington is also buried at Mt. Vernon and we made the hike down the hill to his and Martha Washington’s Tomb. It was great to see and I again needed to pinch myself that I was within feet of the great George Washington (albeit his dead body but cool nonetheless).
The only other noteworthy event that happened there was that I accidentally stomped one of the poor bushes on the property. I was carrying Serra on my shoulders and we were walking down a steep path down to the riverfront. Serra was really whining about her poor legs hurting or I would otherwise have had her walk down the hill. Anyhow, long story short I ended up taking out a three foot bush while regaining my balance. Pam had a great laugh and took pictures but I felt bad about defacing a national treasure. I’m sure George Washington will understand in the hereafter that it was an innocent accident.
Arlington National Cemetery
We ended up leaving Mt. Vernon after a few hours and made our way towards Arlington National Cemetery. It is a little bit out of town so we figured it wouldn’t be affected by the huge group in town demonstrating on the National Mall. We made our way to the visitors center and then purchased some “Tour Mobile” tickets. It ended up being a bus tour that was a welcomed relief for poor Serra V after all the walking she’d been subjected to. We told her that we were going to ride a bus to which she quipped “My legs are tired. I love the bus.” I couldn’t agree more.
The bus took us first to the Kennedy grave site and the “eternal flame”. I may be ignorant to Kennedy’s influence but his grave didn’t stir the same emotions in me that Washington and Jeffersons did. We stayed for a bit reading the various quotes attributed to him and paying homage before getting back on the bus. Our next stop was the “Tomb of the Unknown Solider” where we were fortunate enough to witness the “Changing of the Guard”. We were both very impressed with the solider’s ability to remember each step and his consistency in performing his duty. It was truly impressive. Other noteworthy grave sites that we saw were Thurgood Marshall and the astronauts of the Challenger and the latest disaster.
I really enjoyed seeing the cemetery and it reminded me how fortunate I am to have never been asked to sacrifice my life for my country and how thankful I am for those that were and who answered the call. Both Pam and I were amazed with the history of the cemetery and how the government came to own the property. The property was actually owned by Robert E. Lee and was taken by the government during the Civil War due to Lee’s siding with the Confederacy. The government wrangled it from the family by passing laws that made it near impossible for the Lee family to pay the taxes on the land and subsequently was taken by the government. It was later, after a long court case, that the government eventually paid the Lee family $150,000 for the land. Anyhow, interesting history and a great great experience.
We made it back to the hotel much easier than the day before. We parked the car back at the hotel and again made our way across the street to find a place for dinner. As we were at a crosswalk I looked over and saw an older guy who from a distance looked like Donald Rumsfield. I mentioned to Pam half kidding, “Hey look, it’s Donald Rumsfeld” to which Pam replied “Hey it is!”. As the light turned we started walking across the crosswalk towards each other. It was confirmed to me that it was him when I saw the secret service agent following 2 steps behind him. I tried to make eye contact with him but he looked at Pam pushing the stroller and he had a big smile and mouthed “Hi”. It was an interesting experience and we’ve wondered what he was doing walking around on the street.
We had a bad dinner with horrible service at a steak place. We made our way back to the hotel to rest up as we knew the next day was going to be our big day in touring DC.
Monday – May 1st
Washington DC.
We knew that this was our big day to see DC see how woke up early and made our way across the street to catch the Old Towne Trolley Tour Bus. We’ve found that with the limited amount of time that we have to see stuff that using the Trolley’s is a great way to catch the highlights, learn a little bit of additional info from the tour guides, and conveniently and cheaply get around the city. We were running a little late this morning to catch the first trolley run and get breakfast so we forgoed the most important meal of the day to catch the trolley.
Our first stop was the National Cathedral and all I can say about that is WOW! We walked in expecting what we saw in the Savannah Cathedral and this thing absolutely dwarfed it. The tour guide in Savannah who said that the Savannah Cathedral was the second largest (in front of the National Cathedral and behind the one in NY) must be on drugs because there’s not much in the way of a comparison between the two. Anyhow, we walked in and made our way around the church looking at the beautiful stained glass and awe inspiring architecture. We saw Woodrow Wilson’s grave site (within the church) and wandered around a bit much to the dismay of some worshipers there who Serra kept talking to. We stayed for about 45 minutes and made our way back to the trolley stop.
Our next stop put us out near the White House. By now everyone was starving so we got off the trolley and made our way back to a sandwich shop a block or so away that I’d seen a sign out front “Breakfast Served”. Unfortunately by the time we got there (11:15) breakfast was doing being served and we were stuck with sandwiches. It ended up being alright since they ended up being delicious. It was a place called Potbellies and it reminded us of the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld the way they treated you. Anyhow, it was fun mingling with the locals a bit and listening to the guy perched on a platform playing James Taylor songs. After brunch we walked a block or so to the front of the White House and then sat on a bench enjoying the park and letting Serra run around a little bit. She had fun throwing pretzels and cookies at the pigeons and squirrels while Pam and I just stared at the White House and pinching ourselves. I wish we could have gotten a tour but neither of us were overly disappointed as it was great just seeing the place.
Next stop; Washington Monument. Apparently you can go to the top and it’s no doubt a spectacular view however they sold out of tickets well before we showed up. Again, not a big deal to us as we were just happy to see it and there was certainly other things on our list to see. If you look closely you’ll notice the monument is lighter near the bottom and changes color about 1/3 of the way up. That is because the monument initially was being built using private funds. When the funds ran out the monument sat unfinished for 20 some years before the government stepped in to finish it. By then the quarry that the original marble had been pulled from was closed. Similar marble was used however it has weathered differently over the years, thus making the colors not match. Interesting.
The second shot of the monument below is looking from the Lincoln Memorial in the approximate location of the “I Have A Dream” speech, countless other speeches, and also the scene from Forest Gump.
After seeing the Washington Monument we started towards the Lincoln Memorial and it takes you through the various war memorials. The first one pictured here is the World War II memorial built in 2002. I’m surprised it took them that long to honor the veterans of that war. It’s a great monument and fitting. There was also a family of ducks living in it.
Next stop was the one I’d heard about all my life; the Vietnam Memorial. It was indeed sobering to see all of the names on the wall but it was much different than I’d pictured in my mind. I didn’t know that the wall was actually below ground level…anyhow, just nice to have actually seen it after hearing so much about it.
I gave my father a call while we were there and I looked up a couple of people he’d known who went and had died. There are approximately 58,000 names on the wall.
Next stop was the Lincoln Memorial. It was awesome. I’m a big Abraham Lincoln fan and I really enjoyed seeing this great monument. It was much larger than I thought it would be and fitting for a man of his stature and accomplishments.
Speaking of Lincoln, I really wanted to see Fords Theatre and it was a stop on the trolley tour so we found the trolley stop near the Lincoln Memorial and hopped on. We were fortunate enough to catch it just in time as if we’d missed it we wouldn’t have been able to catch the Theatre before it closed. Anyhow, as it was we pulled up in time to catch the final presentation by the park rangers and spend a little time in the museum before they closed. I was bummed that Sophia started fussing during the presentation and I had to step out in the foyer but such is life on the road with a baby.
The picture is of the booth that Lincoln sat in when he was shot. The decorations are the same as the night it happened, including the picture of George Washington.
Here’s a picture of the girls…and on a morbid note, that is the pillow that Lincoln laid his head on when he died. Dried blood and everything. He was actually shot and ended up living till the next morning. They’d transported him across the street to a home where they could lay him down. He didn’t ever regain consciousness though so he probably didn’t even know what happened to him.
The before mentioned home in which Lincoln died in.
We caught the the last trolley of the day back to our hotel and made our way out to a nice Italian eatery. The weather was so nice that we ate out on the patio. We’ve had EXCELLENT weather the entire trip other than the one stormy day during our drive from Savannah to Williamsburg.
Serra loves pasta.
Tuesday – May 2nd
Washington DC continued and drive to Chadds Ford, PA (2 1/2 hours)
Pam had done some preparation prior to our trip in arranging several tours through our local congressman there in California. Unfortunately they didn’t come through with a White House tour but they did schedule us for an 8:25 AM tour of the US Capitol. We had a bit of a dilemma due to the fact that we were checking out this day and I wasn’t sure what to do with the car/luggage as we were going to be leaving early and getting back late. I spoke to the front desk and they were gracious enough to let us check out early and store all of our luggage behind the front desk until we came back that evening and got our car. Score! Anyhow, we got up super early, got gussied up, and caught a cab at about 7:50 in the AM.
The cab ride was and education in how easy the city is to get around when you know where you’re going. The guy got us there in about 15 minutes when it would have taken me at least an hour going the way of the navigation system and using all those crazy roundabouts.
We joined our tour just in time after wandering around for a bit looking for the appropriate building to enter. They made us discard of all of our food and water and go through metal detectors before letting us start our tour. Once we got inside it was very impressive.
This shot here is of the inside of the dome. The actual room where the dome is visible is a round room with various statues around it. Each state was commissioned to generate two statues of individuals from their state that made the largest contribution to either the country or their state. Also while walking around we found the desk location of Abraham Lincoln when he was a representative from Illinois.
Here are three interesting statues. First one is Brigham Young, sent by Utah of course. The other Utah statues was Milo Farnsworth, inventor of the television. I’d always thought he was from Idaho but I guess not. The second statue is of Juniperro Serra from California. He’s a father who founded many of the missions included Ventura. The last one is of a guy from Hawaii that Pam thought was very cool. I didn’t find the other California statue or either of the Nevada ones.
Also while in the Capitol we saw the House of Representative meeting room. We enjoyed seeing it however nothing was in session so we just popped in and popped back out fairly quickly. It’s nice to just say we saw it.
After exiting the Capitol we asked a security guard about where the best place to grab lunch was. He clued us in on the building across the street that housed a lot of the congressman’s offices. The foodcourt was in the basement of the building and we made our way over there. We enjoyed the food but got a lot of strange looks from all of the workers who were there. Serra and Sophia were likely the only people under 25 years old in the entire building.
As we were leaving we got some ice cream cones and started heading down Capitol hill towards the various museums. Pam and I were walking a little behind Serra as we kept looking back at the capitol and Pam was taking some pictures. Unfortunately our little Serra doesn’t always have the best balance and she took a faceplant on the sidewalk. She went one way and her ice cream cone went flying the other way. A nice guy in a suit helped her up and then she let out a shreik I’d never heard before. I quickly made my way over and picked her up and carried her over to a spot we could lay her down and look over the damage. She had a good chunk of skin scrapped off her nose and some pretty good skids on her elbows and knees. To add insult to injury some guy in a suit was reading a paper and stepped right on her ice cream cone. You’ll notice the wounds in some of the pictures here and in subsequent days.
When we finally got to the museum we saw some great stuff. First stop was the Natural History Museum. Pictured here is an optical illusion house and also the Hope diamond. The diamond is a 45.2 carat diamond. Talk about expensive.
The Natural History museum was very cool. It had dinosaurs, all types of animals (Mammals, fish, insects), geology (every kind of stone in the world), and I’m sure a bunch of stuff that I’m forgetting. As I was going through it I kept thinking that my brother Eric would love this place. Especially the Mammal and Reptile exhibits. We also caught a great 3d IMAX movie that was a Safari of some sort. I actually watched half of it and fell asleep during the rest but the girls sure liked it.
Here’s some pictures of Serra in front of several of the dinosaurs. She, like my brother Eric, has a knack for making funny faces in pictures.
Only snafu we had in the museum was when we were leaving I took Sophia down the elevator instead of lugging her down several flights of stairs. As we were leaving Pam said something to me which I thought was “We’re going to take the stairs.” This made sense to me since the line for the elevator was long and it was crowded. Anyhow, I got downstairs and couldn’t find Pam everywhere. I looked and looked, went outside, came back in, waited, went outside, came back in, etc. I tried calling her cell and it was actually sitting in the stroller so that wasn’t any help. I had no idea where she was and had no idea how we’d get back together. Anyhow, after what seemed like an hour (which Pam says was 15 minutes) she found us in the lobby. Turns out she was in the gift store in the geology section. Doh! I figured that we were now even for me not saving the pictures on the camera.
Next stop was the American History Museum. We were all getting pretty tired but we really wanted to see another museum. First stop was the giant American flag that hung at the Pentagon after the 9/11 attack. If you look closely you can see Serra in the bottom right corner. Also, the other picture below is remnants of the World Trade Center.
To our amazement when we turned a corner we saw this sunstone from the Nauvoo temple. The description that it gave was vague and just stated what it was and that it was purchased by the Smithsonian from the state of Illinois 10 years ago or so. Anyhow, very cool but I wish there was more representation.
Also, there was a display about the settling of the Western United States without any mention of the Mormon pioneers. I thought that was lame.
My favorite exhibit in this museum was “America at War; the Price of Freedom”. It went through every war that the USA has been in with the histories of those wars and artifacts from it. It was very very interesting and I could have spent all day there. The pictures below are original uniforms from a British soldier and George Washington’s actual uniform. He was 6’2-6’3 but a really skinny guy apparently.
After Pam got me out of there we walked around a bit more and saw some other great stuff. The original ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz, original Kermit the Frog, and this great pirate shirt from Seinfeld. We got a good laugh seeing that in there.
After finishing up, about 4:00 or so, we got a cab ride back to the hotel room and reclaimed our luggage and got our car. We punched in my Uncle Elliot and Aunt Pat’s address in to the navigation system and headed out to Chadds Ford, PA. We stopped along the way to feed the girls and partook of another bad Baja Fresh wannabe burrito place. We ended up pulling in to my Uncle and Aunt’s place about 9:00 and after visiting for an hour or so we retired to our bed….to be continued in next post.
