We're Home

We've arrived back in Oregon and are settling back in. Unpacking, putting things away, and doing laundry always seems to take forever. I thought I'd catch you up on what we did on Saturday - our last day of vacation.

The boys wanted to "sleep in" and not get up so early, so we decided to spend the day in Baltimore. We had breakfast downstairs in our hotel again and were on the road by 10am. About 10 minutes into our drive Evan quickly and quietly announces he's going to throw up and seconds later as we're driving down the Interstate, he tosses his cookies all over the rental van. We quickly pull over and try to clean up with only two paper towels - not going so well. Matt drives us to a wayside and he gets some towels from the bathroom and buys a bottle of water and makes good progress with the mess. We then stop at Target to get some carpet cleaner and Fabreeze to mask the smell.

Finally, we're back on the road to Baltimore. We decided to go to Baltimore's Inner Harbor and see what we feel like doing when we get there. After we find a parking garage (which charges $20 for more than 3 hours), we decide to have lunch first. We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe - the kids had never eaten here before. We have a nice lunch and head out to see the Harbor. We discuss going to the Baltimore Maritime Museum, but find that you actually buy tickets to go on board several different ships. It's expensive and the boys are happy to look at the ships from the outside.

Just down the Harbor, the kids see people paddeling around the harbor in dragon paddleboats. This is what they want to do. Matt says he'll take them on and I stay on land to take pictures. They drive around the harbor for just short of the half hour they purchased. Michael and Matt are sitting in the paddeling positions and Evan is steering their dragonboat. Apparently he thinks it's a bumper boat and wants to steer into everyone. Michael tries to help him by telling him where to drive the boat. After they get off the boat, Evan says he wants to go again, but it's extremely hot in the sun and the paddleboats are hard work.

After a quick bathroom stop, we discuss either going to see Fort McHenry in Baltimore or going on a Ducks tour of the city. Michael requests the Ducks tour, so we buy tickets and make our way to the line. Each of us is given a duck bill that makes duck call noises - oh my goodness - did they really give those noisy things to my kids? Evan thinks he's now in heaven and is becoming one with the duck. I on the other hand am getting a headache. When we board the ducks, Evan sits with Matt and Michael sits with me. We get a wonderful tour of Baltimore on land and see the real first Washington Monument, Edgar Allen Poe's grave, The University Of Maryland - Baltimore, and much more before our duck enters the Harbor and our water tour begins. The Harbor looks so different from the water than from the land. During the tour, the guide is playing some lovely music and quacking his quacker a lot. Both boys have a great time on the tour. After 80 minutes or so, we're returned to the loading area and we get off the duck.

It's after 5pm by now, so we take a quick drive out to Annapolis - the Capital of Maryland. The city is much smaller than I imagine and much more historic/old. We stop by to see the Naval Academy which is closed, so all we see is the sign. We also drive over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge - a 4 mile long bridge. It' s a toll bridge that costs $2.50 to go over one way and the return trip is free. Then we head off to find dinner and end up at a steakhouse. Yum - the portions are huge! Michael enjoys a steak and then he, Matt, and Evan all attempt desert. I, on the other hand, am way too full for desert.

We drive back to our hotel and pack up our suitcases trying to even out the weight to 50 pounds max per suitcase - this is challenging. We set the alarm to get up by 2:15am EDT to head off to the airport. As I mentioned, we're back here in Oregon. Now we're thinking - where to vacation next year that can live up to the excitement we had on this great family vacation!

Mt. Vernon VA

After a nice breakfast in the hotel restaurant, we departed for Mt. Vernon in Virginia. We arrived about 10:40am at our destination and I could not believe the numbers of people that were lined up to buy tickets. They parked us in the grass median in front of the main gate - nice and close at least.

Michael and Evan pose with George and Martha Washington and their grandchildren.

We watched a brief movie about the grounds of Mt. Vernon and how Washington was instrumental in the historic turning of the Revolutionary War to our favor. We then made our way to a long line to wait in to see inside Washington's mansion. As I mentioned, the wait was very long but at least it was mostly shaded. We were treated to a historic reenactment of a military scene involving George Washington and his army. They fired their guns and the canon - over and over again. We also got several pictures with the historic actors. Evan was just fascinated by the whole scene. We met some very nice folks in line that were from New Jersey. We took turns holding spots in line so we could all watch the reenactment.

Look - it's George and Martha Washington!!
The re-enactment of General Washington's Army

Firing the guns and Canons - boy was that loud!

A nice family photograph. The nice twins in front of us from New Jersey were kind enough to take our photograph.

Evan, a Continental Army Officer, Matt, and Michael - Happy 4th of July!

Mom, Evan, Michael, a Virginia Regiment Officer, and a First Virginia Regiment officer. What a better way to celebrate the 4th?!

The mansion was definately worth the wait. Sorry - no photos of most of the house since photography was not allowed. Just to see how Washington changed his house from a five room modest home to a large mansion with 9 guest rooms and an outdoor kitchen was fabulous considering it was in the 1770's. Michael didn't know that Washington had slaves. I learned that Washington wanted to be known for his agriculture, not his importance to our country. He was a very modest man and a great leader.

After a very late lunch and a stop in the giftshop, we made our way back to see the where the Washington's are interned on the site. While waiting to pay our respects, someone approached Michael and I looked up to see it was one of his Weblo boy scout friends from Hillsboro. What a small world! Joshua was here vacationing with his parents and sister and they were taking her back to school somewhere North of here. What are the odds of seeing someone you know while on vacation? We visited the slave memorial and gravesite and made a quick stop at his farm where I got bit by at least four flies - ouch!

Evan wears his new tri-corner hat and stands with Michael in front of the Washington estate.

Following this, we stopped in the Museum and the Educational Center to learn even more about George Washington. Did you know he never had any children of his own? He and Martha raised Martha's son's children after he died. George also wore dentures - no teeth. He died when his throat got swollen and closed up on him - what a way to go. We also learned that there was initially no term limits for Presidents, but that others who followed Washington honored his importance by only serving at most two terms.

We're back in our hotel room and trying to figure out what to do tomorrow. I'd like to do something historical, but the trip are all 2 1/2 hours away - Monticello, Williamsburg, Jamestown, etc. We'll have to decide something soon...

There may not be a blog update tomorrow evening if we do go to Monticello since we'll be back late and will have to leave for the airport at 3:15am EST - 12:15am PST. The kids will be dead tired!! That may be a good thing...

One more thing. Our hotel room has those Super Flush Toilets where if you're standing too close, you might lose your arm when you flush. So anyway, Michael was just in there and we very loudly heard him say "Fire in the hole" as he flushes the toilet! I'm still laughing :)

Washington D.C. - Day Three

Wow - what a busy day today. We got up extra early this morning so we could leave to get tickets for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Michael really wanted to go on this tour and we were told we had to be in line no later than 7:45am to get tickets as they go fast. We waited patiently and finally it was our turn at the window and we got tickets for 5:15pm.

Matt, Evan, and Michael sit and wait for the line to move at the Bureau of Printing and Engraving. We cross our fingers to get tickets.
Michael sits on the steps of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing . Did you know they also print stamps?


We decide that we're going to walk over to see the monuments since we're in the area. So we head off to see the Lincoln Monument - on foot. We start walking and find that they're starting to set up for the 4th of July and they have closed off many areas making our walk even longer. We finally arrive at the World War II Memorial - amazing! It was definately a powerful experience. Then we walk more and end up at the Korean War Memorial. Following this, we stop at the Abe Lincoln Memorial. By now it's REALLY hot and we're all dying of thirst, but there is no water in the park. It's supposed to be 92 degrees today and it's really hot by 9am. So we admire the size of Lincoln and move on to the Vietnam War Memorial Wall. The number of names on the wall was absolutely unforgettable. We take a moment to look at the wall, then move on out of the park - or at least make our way in that direction. We must have walked miles before we finally end up at the Smithsonian.

Michael, Mom, and Evan at the Lincoln Memorial.


Ahh, a family photo finally. We swap opportunities to take pictures with another gentlemen who wants his picture taken also. We're standing at the reflecting pool on the other side of the Washington Monument.

The Vietnam War Memorial. How horrible that so many had to die in this war.

This is the World War II Memorial. It's a wonderful place to reflect upon all that was lost and gained during these terrible times.

This is printed on one of the walls at the World War II Memorial. It was very moving. If you can't see it, it says "The Wars End. Today the guns are silent. A great tragedy has ended. A great victory has been won. The skies no longer rain death - the seas bear only commerce. Men everywhere walk upright in the sunlight. The entire world is quietly as peace."

Evan stands at the Korea War Memorial. It's also known as the "forgotten war."

Our first stop at the Smithsonian is the Museum of Natural History. The Museum's dinosaur exhibit is very busy. The kids and we browse thru the museum and notice they've closed many areas of the museum to remodel. We see the Hope Diamond and several other exhibits. Following a quick, but very expensive Museum lunch, we head over to the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum. Michael and Matt spend a lot of time reading about the exhibit information and looking at the exhibits while Evan and I just "look". A security guard at the National Archives the other day told us there are two kinds of Museum visitors. There are "readers" and "lookers". So true!

Matt stands by a dinosaur skeleton at the Museum of Natural History.

Evan and Michael look at a display at the Museum of Air and Space.

Ahh, my boys!!

We leave the museum in plenty of time to walk back to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing for our tour. We get to see the entire printing process and learn how they make paper bills from start to circulation. Very cool! Michael wins $25.00 by answering a question. Now don't get too excited as he did - the $25 is shredded and in a very small ziplock bag :)

We can't take pictures inside the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, so I snapped this before we went on our tour. Evan plays on the money bench while Michael sits on it. Needless to say, we saw hundreds of millions of dollars in various stages of completeness.

There are no restaurants in the area so we hop on the Metro to head back to our hotel to figure out what to eat. Matt decides he's feeling adventurous and tired of the same route so he takes on a new route which involves getting off our train four times instead of just one that the other route would have taken (MPK: actually only 2 planned train changes vs 1 on the normal route, plus 1 more when the train we were happily riding deciding it was going out of servicve, and 1 being so crowded we decided to wait for the next one). We finally arrived back at our hotel very tired and decide just to order dinner up to the room. Tomorrow we're planning to go to Mt. Vernon and we're still tossing options around for Saturday.

Evan and Michael wait for a Metro train. The one behind them is not in service, so we have to wait for another one to arrive.

Washington D.C. - Day Two

We left our room this morning about 8:45am to walk to the Metro Station. Today we rode to Union Station and got off there. What a big place! For those that don't know, Union Station is not only a Metro Line, but an Amtrack line as well. From there we walked over to the Russell building to Senator Smith's office where we were to meet for our reserved tour. There were about 15 of us that went on the tour with one of the Congressional Staffers who works for Senator Smith. This is definately the way to go...we used the "underground tunnels" and transportation ( a 20 second ride via a tram like car) to get to the Capital building. As Michael so well put it, "That was a waste of money." The tram moves people a very very short distance for what it must of cost.

Senator Smith's Office in the Russell Building by the Capital.

Michael and Evan sit in the waiting room of the Senator's office for the tour to start.

This is the tram that we took that moved for all of 20 seconds.

We saw the Rotunda and learned about much of the architecure and statues/paintings that were commissioned in the building. Evan attached himself to our tour guide and asked him lots of questions. Michael was the one taking in all the history that he shared. Matt said this tour was a highlight of our trip. After the Capital tour we went back to Union station for lunch at Uno's pizzaria. And nope, the blocks did not get any shorter today.

The painting and artwork in the ceiling of the Rotunda of the Capital Building.

Evan attaches himself to the our tour guide - an aide for Senator Smith.

Evan and Michael enjoy their lunch at Uno's

Following lunch we went to the Postal Museum - which is actually part of the Smithsonian Museums, but located no where near most of the others on the mall. The museum was interesting and we learned a lot about the history of the Postal System in the U.S. We learned about military v-mail, the pony express, paying for mail delivery via picking up your mail, and postal inspectors and problems today. After a brief stop in the gift shop, we left to go to see the Supreme Court.

Michael creates and writes out a postcard at the Postal Museum for Mrs. Lusk.

Evan takes a ride on one of the mail delivery wagons of the early postal delivery days.

Just outside the Supreme Court were protestors trying to abolish the death penalty. We took some pictures outside as we learned that the building was closed for some remodeling during the Justices' break. Well, Matt found out we could still go into the building, but the courtroom where the Justice's hear cases was closed. We did peer inside their courtroom. You could still walk around the building and look at all the paintings and descriptions of current and past Justice's - wow there are a lot of them.

The U.S. Supreme Court Building

Evan, Michael, and Amy in front of a statue of Justice Marshall.

The Library of Congress was our last stop for the day. Our reserved tour started at 3:45pm. We sure learned a lot about how and why the Library was started. Our tour guide was definately into his job. Finally someone asked the question that Michael wanted to ask but was too shy to ask - where the heck are all the books? Of course at the Library of Congress, you don't get to see the books. But here are some quick facts - the books take up 540 linear MILES of shelf space. The books are over 9 building stories high. The books create the load bearing walls. No load bearing walls were built into the building. The Library receives over 710,000 new books each year!

Michael, Matt, and Evan sitting on the steps of the Library of Congress.

Matt finally breaks the news to Michael that he will not actually get to see the 18,000,000 books and other materials in the Library of Congress.

It was after 5:30pm when our tour finished so we decided to have dinner before taking the Metro back and all the government folks were pouring onto the Metro. Not much here in D.C. is open past 5pm as those are "federal hours" - must be nice! We had dinner at a local D.C. restaurant - the Tortilla Coast. Then we took the Metro back to our hotel in Maryland and here we are.

Tomorrow we're leaving our hotel very early - bout 6:45am to try to get tickets to get into the Bureau of Printing and Engraving. We also plan to hit some of the Smithsonian Museums - the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Air and Space. Maybe we will get to see the monuments also, but if not whatever we don't get to tomorrow we'll finish up on Saturday. Mount Vernon is where we're heading on the 4th. Until tomorrow...