Our first order of business was to head to the home where we'd be staying. We had planned on getting a hotel in the area but it just wasn't working out. We decided to contact the area pastors to see if they had someone in their congregations who would be willing to host us. The week before we left, we were contacted that there was a couple who agreed to host us. The connection was loose - she was in Wayne's brother's wedding and roomed with my sister-in-law at DMLC. But that's good enough in the WELS and they graciously opened their doors to us! Yay!
By the time we arrived, it was already well into the day. After meeting our hosts, moving in our stuff and following some sage advice from Jules (our hostess with the mostess), we decided to drive into the city and check things out.
I'm going to quickly gloss over this first night of adventure because it was a flop. In a nutshell, the traffic was HORRIBLE, it was impossible to find a legal parking space, it was hotter than Hades, and I was hungry. All this added up to foreseeable disaster. I had hoped we would: a. find a parking space and b. take a monuments tour that evening. The parking space ended up being in a very expensive parking garage and the monuments tour didn't happen. But if I was to focus on the positive, they would be: a. we didn't get into an accident in all that crazy traffic and b. we ate dinner in air-conditioning.
The rest of our Washington adventure was far more successful.
The next day we went back into the city - this time with Jules driving us and dropping us off at the Air and Space Museum. Yep - she was more than a concierge - this was first rate niceness. We spent the morning learning all about spaceships, airplanes and air travel. For lunch, we skipped next door to the Museum of the American Indian for lunch because I had read they had an awesome cafeteria. Which they did. Then we wrapped up the Air and Space and moved onto the Museum of American History.
I was in heaven because I love American history! Where else could you see George Washington's uniform and Dorothy's red slippers?
The evening was capped off by our hosts, Dwayne and Jules, picking us up and giving us their personal tour of the monuments. See? And there you have it, it all worked out even better than I hoped!
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| With with Einstein |
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| Thomas Jefferson |
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| Selfie with Jules and Roosevelt's dog |
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| Abe |
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| It was the Depression ... |
This fun-filled day was followed by another fun-filled day. This one started on the subway.
We drove to the station and took the train in. We spent a good portion of this day at the International Spy Museum. This one was for Will, mainly. It was a lot of fun and makes me want to watch my episodes of Alias. We all ended up enjoying the tour. Afterwards, we went across the street to the art gallery so we could see the Portrait Gallery of Presidents. This was really cool, too, and we all enjoyed it.
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| 007 |
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| Zanna with her hero |
We took the subway over to the area of the National Zoo. Man, was it hot. I was glad we had brought plenty of water bottles along and I was also glad I had brought my backpack on the trip and I was thrilled that the guys took turns carrying the backpack.
Anyway, upon arrival at the zoo we headed over to the panda area and there were no pandas. We stopped at other exhibits along the way and 20 minutes into our visit we had yet to see an animal at the zoo. I was starting to wonder if this was some joke - no animals to see at the free National Zoo. Maybe we were supposed to be the ones on display and the animals were somewhere hiding and watching us. As it turned out, it was not that big of a conspiracy theory. It was just so hot that many of the animals were inside somewhere. What a terrific idea!
We gave up after seeing a cat and some elephants and headed to a restaurant nearby that had been recommended to us - Hot 'n Juicy. It was a crawfish place and we were all up for the adventure! It was one of those places that give you a bib to wear, a roll of paper towels and a bucket. Then they bring out a bag of food - in our case it was crawfish, shrimp, andouille sausage and a couple potatoes and ears of corn - all in a very messy sauce. And then you have at it. We were a mess, but a happy mess! Wayne took some pictures but frankly, they're embarrassing!
We headed back to the subway station to ride back to the suburbs found at the end of the line. At the same time we were ending our day, so were others that had been attending a "Rainbow Festival" and also others that had enjoyed an afternoon of "Brew Fest". Ah, public transit, a window into humanity at it's most interesting ....
We were lucky enough to share the ride with one very inebriated man who was having some trouble keeping his liquor down. Hence, the look on my face below ...
We somehow ended up at Dairy Queen before calling it quits for the night. When asked by Jules the next morning what her favourite thing we did the day before was, this DQ stop was what my dear daughter referenced. Seriously? After everything else we did, this is what you say?!! Oh, brother!
So by now you can well imagine how utterly exhausted we were. Thankfully it was now Sunday. A day of rest. Thank you, Lord! We attended church with Dwayne and Jules in the morning. For lunch, we were invited to a friend of Will's from LPS that lived in the area. We enjoyed a lovely meal in their home and made new friends we'll enjoy seeing in the future as our paths cross at Prep. We relaxed the rest of the day, did some loads of laundry and chatted with our host family. By this time in our stay, we had reached the point of familiarity to put our feet up and help ourselves to a glass of wine. It was lovely!
Monday was our last day:( We drove to Mount Vernon and immersed ourselves in everything George Washington. It was amazing and very well done. It was blazing hot but there was enough indoor and air-conditioned things here to balance the time spent out of doors.
Zanna is a huge GW fan mainly due to her obsession with the Liberty Kids cartoons. I had purchased the series years ago for Will to watch during our study of US history. Zanna's been watching it ever since and never seems to get sick of it. She knows all things George and has a bit of animosity toward the British which we try and keep on the down low. She was devastated by this recent conversation I had with her:
Zanna: We should have a 4th of July party and invite only Americans.
Me: If we did that, then you and Dad wouldn't be allowed at your own party.
Zanna: You mean I'm not an American? insert incredulous gasp
Me: It's on my to-do list.
Anyway, Mount Vernon was fantastic! And for those that are a little rusty in their American history, they provide little films to "catch you up". One theatre even provided snow and vibrating seats to mimic the Battle at Valley Forge!
We headed back to Dwayne and Jules to pack our stuff up and visit with our hosts one last night. We had a delicious dinner of salmon fillet followed by a hot and sweaty walk "to the crack and back" which is about as far as you could possibly stand to be outside in the summer heat of Virginia.
We were truly blessed in many ways by this trip - God is good! We had safe travels, good health and nice weather. We spent time together and explored new things. We made good memories and even learned a thing or two along the way! We were blessed by others as they welcomed us into their home, extended hospitality and gave of themselves generously. We made new friends and reconnected with old ones.
And as always - as much fun as we have being away, it's always great to come home again:)
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