More D.C. & Time with Family

We've made it back to our friend's house in Milwaukee, WI. After leaving D.C., we journeyed north to my Aunt's house in New Jersey, spend a day in the Big Apple, camped in Pennsylvania, and then drove and spent 2 nights in Chicago. We've covered a lot of ground. We've been so busy that I haven't had the energy to update the blog or to report on knitting progress. I'll do a quick recap of our remaining time in D.C. & happily report I've finished 2 knitting projects (TWO!!) with a third just a bind-off away. I hope to get some breathing room in the next day or so for a quick photo shoot & then some posts. Knitters, stay tuned!

Our last couple of days in D.C. were spent visiting the capitol and spending time with my sister. Since she lives so far away from Anchorage (which we hope she'll fix, soon!), it was a nice treat just to hang out with her. (Who knew I'd say such a thing - I can remember wicked arguments when we were growing up) :0)

After reading Dan Brown's book, The Lost Symbol, I really wanted to go & see the capitol rotunda. So our first stop was the capitol building. Both the House & Senate had adjourned for the day (flags were not flying over their respective buildings). The Capitol building is magnificent. When you enter you have an opportunity to visit a museum of types to understand the history of congress and learn more about the capitol itself. However, if you want to venture further into the building, you either have to wait in a very long line to obtain tickets, or have an "insider" (say, your congressman/woman) escort you. We were not prepared for either, so I had to be satisfied with the mock-up of the painting on the capitol's dome. Oh well - perhaps another time. FYI: The dome is made from iron and can expand/contract as much as 4 inches in extreme weather conditions. Wow!


Our next stop on our whirlwind tour was the National Botanical Gardens. Not a big hit with the kids, but very pretty. It was on the way to the focus of the days' visit: The Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum.


Again - the Smithsonian outdoes themselves with so much cool artifacts of our nation. I was overwhelmed. Highlights of the Air & Space Museum were the lunar module from Apollo 11 and the Wright Brothers first plane. I particularly liked their exhibit for Eastern Airlines (now defunct) requirements for being a flight attendant:

• Female (check!)
• At least 2 years of college or a nursing degree (check!)
• Between 5' 2" and 5' 6" (check - barely!)
• Single (oops...)
• Weigh somewhere between 100 and 135 lbs (pushing it...)
• Be of adequate proportions, somewhere below "Hollywood Standards" (their words, not mine)

So - looks like back in the60's and 70's I would not have been able to make a career as a flight attendant (an earlier aspiration of mine...) Wade figured that mostly businessmen were flying, so the airlines wanted to provide a little "eye candy" while they were on board.

Does this image look familiar?
After the air & space museum, we hightailed it over to the Natural History museum - setting for the "Night at the Museum, part II" movie. During the summer the Smithsonian museums stay open until 7:30, so we took advantage of the time. Of course, we didn't arrive here until 6:30 pm, so it was a true zip,zip,zip tour of the museum. The docents and security guards were great about ushering everyone out of the building so that we wouldn't have to spend the night with creatures such as:

Ahh!! What a tasty snack!

Okay - I'm actually posting from our campsite in Nebraska (The Good Life!) & Wade is anxious to get back on the road for another 600+ mile day. Our goal is to arrive in Sacramento the night of the 10th (happy birthday to me!) so that we'll be able to watch the final game of the World Cup (Go Netherlands!!) on Sunday morning. Hopefully I'll find some energy to really update this blog of our journey & adventures.

Until then.. Ciao & Happy Travels!

Washington D.C. - Day 2

For lack of any title creativity, I figured I'd just stick with description.

Day 2: June 24, 2010 - We venture into the city...

Since we had just visited an air & space museum, I convinced the boys to visit a different themed museum & then we'd go to the air & space on our 3rd day.

Highlights of Day 3:

• Record heat for the D.C. area. It was well over 100°F with humidity. We greatly appreciated the air conditioning, but found the heat really drains you when you're walking between monuments.

The boys' first foray on the Metro. Since Springfield was the first stop on the blue line, we were able to get seats. This was not the case for our return trip as we boarded the Metro during peak rush hour & had to stand for most of the journey. This was not a big hit with an 8-year old who was hot, tired, and thirsty.

• The National Museum of American History was the first stop of our day. We spent most of our day here, as the museums are so large it's difficult to see all that D.C. has to offer. Due to the enormity of the museum, we concentrated our visit on personal interests:

Julia Child's Kitchen: After seeing the movie Julie & Julia w/my BKFF, I just had to check this out. It was very impressive - the collection of pots & pans, cookbooks, & custom fitted counter tops to accommodate Julia's above average height.

We spent some time within the inventions area of the museum & had that chance to see Stanford's entry into the DARPA challenge. A fully autonomous vehicle - pretty cool!


Inventions - Including Thomas Edison's light bulb & lab notebooks. However - I was on information overload at the moment, so I opted to visit an exhibit I thought the boys' wouldn't be too interested in: the First Ladies' exhibit. Mary Todd Lincoln's dress was amazing - such a tiny waist. It is now tradition that the First Lady donates the dress she wore at the inauguration to the Smithsonian. Michelle Obama's dress and Jimmy Choo shoes are prominently on display as she is the current first lady. I didn't take photos - so enjoy via the aforementioned link.

After spending several hours at the museum we decided to brave the heat & humidity and walk along the Mall to visit some of the memorials:

The Alaska pillar at the World War II Monument

At the end of the Mall we visited The Lincoln Memorial. My BKFF says I was to rub Lincoln's left foot for good luck. Couldn't do that as his statue was way up high & behind ropes. So - I hope good luck comes nonetheless.


Near the Lincoln Memorial is the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial. This is a special place for me as my father was killed in Vietnam in December 1970. I have no memories of him as I was only an infant. Fortunately for me - my mother & step-father made sure I maintained a close relationship with my paternal grandparents & family. My father's sister is one of my favorite people in the world.

Grandchildren he never got to meet in person, although I'm sure he's smiling down on them. My oldest looks uncannily like his biological grandfather. I know he would be proud of these 2 boys.

Capt. James R. Heimbold, Dec. 4, 1970

By the time we'd finished walking the length of the Mall & visiting the Lincoln & Vietnam memorials, we were pooped & ready to head back to Virginia.

A good first day in our nation's capitol.

Ciao!

Houston, The Roaches Have Landed....

I thought it time to perhaps bring the blog up to "real-time" (or a close approximation) & then recount our days prior. After spending a few days with friends in Milwaukee & driving for a couple more days, we've finally reached our penultimate destination: our nation's capitol: Washington D.C.

My sister & her family live in northern Virginia & allowed us to use their home as a base for our trip. (Thanks Aurora, Brian, Sydney & Baby-to-come Bilbo Baggins) We would drive to the "nearby" Metro Station & take the blue line into the city.

I hadn't been to D.C. since my college roommate & I visited back in 1991. There are a few new memorials (Korean, World War II), but one thing certainly did not change - the oppressive heat & humidity. Oy-Vay! Fortunately our tax dollars are well at work providing "free" admission & adequate air conditioning in the major attractions & Metro.

Day 1: June 23

• After breakfast & yummy coffee we watched the nail-biting U.S. vs Nigeria game. Wow - I think I aged 30 years during that 90 minute match & thought my heart was going to leap out of my chest! We were very excited that the U.S. team was able to win their group & make it to the elimination Round of 16.

• Since we were getting a bit of a late start, rather than commute into the city which would take about an hour, we opted to visit the "nearby" Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy Air & Space museum. This is the 'hanger' of the Air & Space museum & houses tons of aircraft that couldn't fit in the regular Air & Space museum off the Mall in D.C. Big named aircrafts that were on display included the "SR-71A blackbird", A Concorde, The Enola Gay, and a test space shuttle "Enterprise". It was pretty impressive & a big hit with two young boys.

SR-71A Blackbird

The Enterprise

An Interactive Flight Simulator - the boys actually went upside down!

The visit to the Udvar-Hazy was a nice way to begin our trip to D.C.