Georgetown, Annapolis & Dover

After another morning workout session (I know! Angels!) and doing some much needed laundry at the hotel (thank goodness because we'd sweated through almost everything we packed) we headed down to our car to see the city via car.

Our first stop was Georgetown University. WOW!!! It was gorgeous. This is their famous building on campus and you can see why; GORGEOUS. I was SO impressed. It is firmly in my top 5 campuses EVER. (That's pretty good, folks, I have been to a lot of campuses!)

This dog was hunting squirrels on campus. It made us laugh and miss MacKenzie.

Couldn't you just read under that tree all day? I love it!

Ok, my last Georgetown photo, I promise. I loved, loved, loved the campus!

From there we marched onwards to Georgetown's shopping district. We had an awesome lunch at a French cafe where the people were actually friendly. I'd managed to forget how RUDE East Coast people are. Goodness me.

This was the line- on the surface of the sun- for a cupcake from D.C. Cupcakes- the show on TLC. We did NOT wait in that line. I cannot imagine any cupcake is worth suffering through the heat to eat it.

We managed to get caught in horrid D.C. traffic (hey, gotta experience the city, right?!) on our way to Annapolis. I wanted to see the Naval Academy so we decided to stop off on our way to Delaware.

The school is right on the water and had some gorgeous views.

The Academy was worth visiting, but it was just too hot for us to spend much time walking around the campus.

We did see a real sailor walking through the campus so I felt that our tour was complete! :)

All in all today was a successful day. We got t-shirts from Georgetown (and sweatpants for me because 1. I loved the campus and 2. They were on sale), City Sports- Georgetown/Washington (we really like this store- there was one in Boston, too) and the Naval Academy. Whew! We won't need to shop for gym clothes for quite some time.

We left Annapolis and headed for Delaware to allow me to mark off another state. WOO HOO! The traffic to come out to "the shore" was INSANE. I hadn't been in traffic like that ever. We were a slow go over the Bay Bridge and I almost died of panic. We made it, though. Whew. We drove up to Dover this evening to see it- quaint little place- and have dinner. (I have now been to Dover....bend over, get it?!) It finally cooled down this evening and we were able to enjoy a convertible ride again. It is supposed to be 9,000,000,000 degrees again tomorrow, but we'll be at the beach so bring it on, Delaware! :)

All around D.C.

We slept in today and then went to our hotel's gym. Yes, we worked out on vacation. I know. We're good kids. Then we roamed all around our nation's capital. ALL OVER.

Our first stop in D.C. was one of my favorite lunch places, Cosi. Yum! We then hopped over to the Hard Rock Cafe to get my Mom a guitar pin (Jackson thinks we are now the collectors and she just houses our pins- LOL!) when I saw the Ford's Theatre (where President Lincoln was assassinated!). I love being surrounded by so much history. No, we did not go inside because the line was long.

This is the Willard Hotel where the term "lobbyists" comes from because back in the day it was the place to get a politician's ear. (Also, they supposedly have great food. Jackson went there once years ago with a young Gracie and she preferred hot dogs. HA!)

Jackson "leading" the way around town. We went to the Holocaust Museum next. It was really moving, but so crowded that it was hard to really get into everything. It was such a well done museum that it really made you feel like you were experiencing some of the hurt.

To continue our downer day (unintentionally planned in such a manner) we headed to Arlington National Cemetery. (We bought an all-day Metro pass and it turned out to be a really good decision.) We got the passes to ride the trams around the cemetery because it was over 100 degrees and we were over walking.

It was such a gorgeous, well-maintained area that you almost forgot that normally cemeteries are creepy.

It was amazing how many graves there were, all lined up perfectly.

We saw President Kennedy's grave with the eternal flame.

The house on top of the hill is the original home of the first owner's of the land. It was gorgeous!

The view from Kennedy's grave was breathtaking.

Can you tell that Jackson is hot and facing the sun? HAHA!

Again with the lines.

I know, I know the columns of the building are gorgeous but more beautiful was that water fountain. I'm not kidding. It was SO hot.

This is where they have services for the fallen.

Ok, ok I was a little obsessed with the ceremony building. Sue me.

We went over to the Tomb of the Unknown Solider(s) and watched the changing of the guard (see posted video for live action shots!).

It was an impressive ceremony. The guards are there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. I bet this was one long, hot shift. I cannot decide if being there in the snow would have been more miserable or not.

They had steps you could sit on and just watch the guard. We stood.

Again, the views from Arlington of the city were amazing!

I'm so glad that of military's veterans get to be laid to rest in such a gorgeous area. We headed back to our hotel to clean ourselves up (we were SO gross from sweating all day) and headed for dinner at the Crystal City Sports Pub. It was a really good dinner and then we collapsed. Wow, we did a ton of walking on the surface of the sun. ;)

We remembered while at our hotel that when we stayed there 5 years ago we stole their idea of taking cool photos around town and framing them. We've been doing it ever since so I wanted to document what inspired our now vast collection in the foyer of our home.

Tomb of the Unknown

Jackson thought this video allowed you all a glimpse into what it is like traveling with me because I accidently kept recording while tossing questions at him. I think it is kind of hilarious. It is really how I think. Just in case you cannot hear me, I asked, "Do you think he counts to make sure he doesn't mess up?" and "What if he has to use his gun?" True story.

Arlington National Cemetery was such a gorgeous, sacred place. I'm glad they reserved it for our nation's heroes. I'll post more still photos in the next post. 

Off to D.C.

We headed for D.C. early this morning and only stopped ONE time. That's pretty amazing! A few notes:

1. Ohio's portion of I-70 had FAR too many policemen with radar guns. (We didn't get a ticket.)

2. After leaving breakfast, we put the top down. Tan lines from hours in convertible are fierce and unsightly. When driving East the sun will seem to burn only your right side. I applied sunscreen and still got zapped. Ugh- the sun is a wicked being this year.

3. D.C. drivers are feisty and mean. Avoid them at all costs.

After the long drive (which was not bad at all, really, we kind of enjoyed it), we kicked back in our hotel room for a bit before hopping on the Metro (the ceiling of which is pictured above- LOVE) and headed down to see the fireworks on the Mall.

Jackson loves a good train ride!

AHH! The Washington Monument on Independence Day. It felt SO right to be there to take in the fireworks and celebrate our nation's freedom.

I kept talking about much it felt like Forrest Gump because we were with about 3,000,000 (I'm not kidding. The Washington Post said 3 million people were there!) people to take in the show. We also stood right by the reflection pool which is also very Forrest Gump-ish. ;)

We could see the Lincoln Memorial. AWESOME!

Jackson waiting on the show. "Oh did you get there early?" one may ask. No. We just walked through the crowds to get a great spot. I know, I know. I hate us, too. ;)

I kept trying to get photos of the crowds. This doesn't do it justice.

The fireworks display was AMAZING! The entire 17-minute show was like a grand finale of a normal show.

It was so cool to be there. SO cool. SO, SO cool. I deem this bucket list worthy, people.

PRETTY!

"Ohhh! Ahhh!"

Jackson enjoying the show! It was quite an awesome place to be (I think I forgot to mention that above ;)). The crowd control was lacking compared to NYC from last year's 4th, but it was still manageable. We were able to get on the Metro along with 500,000 other people (not kidding- we were packed like little matches) and got on home to the Crystal City area.  

Conner Prairie

Included only because MacKenzie is so cute. 

 Monday evening Susie was kind enough to share some of her Symphony on the Prairie tickets with us so we could see their show. It was still so HOT at 9 p.m. that we left during intermission, but it was really nice while we were there.

 I considered the crowd a good warm-up for our time in D.C. later in the week. ;)

A recent photo of my dear nephew, Alex, again only included because of cuteness

Pool times

Jackson always makes fun of me when I end my personal training sessions because I'm so sore and tired. Today I challenged him to work with my trainer with me. He got slammed. It was awesome. I was better than him- FINALLY! He always beats me at sporting things and I kicked his weight-lifting butt. Cha-ching.

We did a little shopping to spend some of my birthday gift certificates and then headed up to our neighborhood's pool to swim with Grace and Susie. 

Jackson Grace loves playing in the pool.

 They don't look related at all, right?

 Grace has pink hair right now. Why? I don't know, but I'm not 12 anymore so I won't even try to comprehend. I just think it is cool that Kathi lets her do it! We played at the pool for what seemed like hours working on swimming skills and dunking each other. We love having Gracie in town!

We ended our day by watching TIGER WOODS win a golf tournament. You can see that MacKenzie just loves to watch golf. HA! :) We had a great weekend and don't want it to end already...good thing we only have a 2 day work week!