Road Trip 2010: Day 14 of 17 (Washington DC to Baltimore)

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George Washington's Estate - Mount Vernon

Hampton Inn across the street from Camden Yards

View from our hotel room window



Pretty festive atmosphere with the Yankees in town





Me giving Adam a lift so he can see the action


It's sad that the Orioles have such a proud history and used to be such a successful team and now they just can't compete with the big money teams


View of our hotel from the ball park

Beautiful

Ha! - the hated Yankees were vanquished

Relaxing back at the hotel

Thursday June 10, 2010

We had a great time in DC and it's always nice to stay in the same hotel for more than just one night. On the way out of DC we backtracked about half an hour south to see Mount Vernon, George Washington's estate.

We were surprised at how crowded Mount Vernon was - evidently it's pretty popular. After waiting in line for tickets we walked around the beautiful grounds and toured the house. George Washington was obviously a well loved and respected man.

Like many of the places we visited there was much more to see and do than we had the time for. I usually go in thinking every place will only take a couple of hours, but when we get there we find there's so much more to the place. It's good on the one hand, especially if the place charges admission and you want the place to be worth the price, but it's a pain on the other hand when you have limited time.

After spending more time than we had planned, we gave up on trying to swing by Annapolis, which is where the Naval Academy is located, on the way to Baltimore where we were planning to catch the Orioles take on the Yankees.

I knew it was the right decision to skip Annapolis, but I still almost tried for it. I'm late for everything because I'm always trying to squeeze one more thing in or check one more "todo" off my list. I didn't like letting Annapolis go, but I figured it would be nice to get into Baltimore early and maybe even get a quick swim in at the hotel before the game.

Unfortunately, traffic getting out of DC and into Baltimore was really bad. It seemed like it was bumper to bumper the entire way. But, it confirmed my decision to skip Annapolis and I figured we left plenty of time so I wasn't to worried - until Derek puked in the back seat as we were entering the outskirts of Baltimore.

We were on I-95 and Helen was driving. She pulled the van over to the shoulder and immediately went about addressing the situation. She comforted Derek, got a change of clothes for him, and cleaned up the mess. I was paralyzed. I had my head in my hands with my eyes closed and I was cycling on these thoughts over and over: How can you throw up in the car and not be prepared? How do you not know you don't feel well? What a pain this is going to be! We're going to have to deal with the smell for the rest of the trip! The number one rule of travelling is DON'T THROW UP IN THE CAR!

We all bring strengths and weaknesses to our relationships and it was Helen's strength and ability to overlook personal failure without judging that pulled us through this setback.

Our hotel was located across the street from the ballpark and since we were so late we were caught in the middle of game time traffic. We squeezed through, checked into the hotel, and made it to the game just as it was starting. I hate to be rushed. I hate to miss the start of things.

It took a little while, but we all settled down. I began to recover and Helen began to forgive me for my reaction to the situation. And even Derek's appetite recovered.

It was a beautiful night and a great atmosphere. It was annoying that there seemed to be more Yankee fans than Oriole fans, but when the Yankees lost it just meant more of their fans were there to see them lose.

Road Trip 2010: Day 13 of 17 (Washington DC)

Waiting at the King Street Metro Station to transfer trains

Helen and her constant companion

Arlington National Cemetery




Changing of the guard at the Tomb of Unknown Soldier






There's a large amphitheater just behind the viewing area for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I don't know what it's used for - maybe big funerals like JFK?

Kennedy grave sites


We were surprised by a full military funeral procession that passed nearby the Kennedy graves


View of the city across the Potomac River

The land where Arlington Cemetery is located was seized from Robert E Lee after the Civil War






Arlington House - Robert E Lee's old house

Ted Kennedy's grave is still fresh

Union Station Metro Stop

I'm giving my angry face because, once again, we're too late to take the Capitol Building tour

Beautiful lobby of the Library of Congress building. We went on a quick viewing of the main reading room (as seen in National Treasure: Book of Secrets), but weren't allowed to take pictures


National Air and Space Museum

The real Wright Brothers Flyer




National Museum of American History

Dorothy's Ruby Slippers - apparently the most popular item in the museum

The kids spent a lot of time in this activity center about "invention"

Wednesday June 9, 2010

We extended our stay in DC another night because there were still so many things we wanted to see. We didn't even think about the possibility of the weather being a factor since it had been so beautiful the past couple of days, but we woke to overcast skies and off and on light rain. We packed the ponchos and headed out to catch the Metro.

Our first stop of the day was Arlington National Cemetery, which is located just across the Potomac River from Washington DC. The rest of the family wasn't that excited about seeing yet another cemetery, but I assured them that it was not just another cemetery.

After briefly orienting ourselves at the visitor center, we hustled to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to try to catch the changing of the guard which happens every half hour during this time of year. The walk seemed like it was almost a mile and we arrived towards the end of one of the ceremonies and then stayed for the next ceremony. It's a very moving event and you appreciate the reverence and attention to protocol that the soldiers display. The kids were riveted in a front row seat. Adam loves soldiers anyway so this was right up his alley - uniforms, guns, marching, saluting. Helen and I discussed how the military seemed like it might be something that would appeal to him.

After the changing of the guard we walked to the Kennedy grave sites which were drawing a crowd. We heard a commotion and turned around to see a full military funeral procession approaching with a band and horse drawn carriage. It was really beautiful, but kind of surreal to be a tourist at such an intimate personal event. The father seemed to be very agitated at the cemetery security for not doing a better job of clearing the tourists.

We walked up the hill overlooking the cemetery to see Arlington House, Robert E Lee's old house. There are some nice views of the city. The house is not in very good shape, but the park service is making plans to renovate it.

We took the Metro to Union Station, which is the big crossroads station in DC, where we had lunch. It's a big beautiful station with an open atrium and lots of shops. Derek really wanted McDonald's which is located a good distance from the other restaurants. Helen and Adam were almost done by the time we returned. On our trip to McDonald's, we did at least get to see the big Amtrak terminal located in the station. I've never seen one. It was like an airport terminal with lots of arrival and departure gates and signs. There were people hustling and bustling coming and going - neat.

Union Station is near the Capitol Building and the Supreme Court, but once again it was too late for the tours. We headed back towards the Mall and the National Air and Space Museum, which Derek had been bothering me to see all week.

On our walk we had a couple of "inside the beltway" moments. We were assuming our normal positions with me and Derek way out front and Adam and Helen trailing. We passed by a fairly large group of important looking men and women in suits who were lined up blocking the sidewalk as they made their way to a line of waiting taxi cabs. I just kind of meandered my way through the group thinking how it was irritating that they were blocking the sidewalk. I had made my way through when I heard some cow saying in an exasperated apologetic tone something like, "Tourists...they don't know any better".

A little farther down the street we heard all these horns blowing and then saw that there was a taxi stopped in the middle of the road blocking traffic. Eventually a nice looking tanned important looking guy got out of the taxi and allowed the traffic to continue flowing. He had that "I'm special and more important than you look" and didn't seem to mind inconveniencing other people. The city has a definite insulated almost Disney like fantasy land feel to it. I can see how the politicians and lobbyists can get a warped view of the world.

The Air and Space Museum was packed. It has to be the most popular attraction in DC. We got to see the real Wright Brothers flyer after seeing the replica in Kitty Hawk earlier on our trip. There were lots of neat displays and like all the other places it would have been nice to spend more time.

We thought we were going to miss the National Museum of American History, but it had extended hours so we got lucky. There were lots of neat things to see, but I thought most of things had really lost their relevance like Fonzie's jacket. I would have trashed a lot of that clutter long ago. Of course we had to see the most popular attraction, Dorothy's Ruby Slippers.

We looked for a place to eat dinner and ended up settling on some office building restaurant with an outdoor patio. The place was pretty dead and the experience was too. We were beat and decided to head back since we needed to pack because we were leaving DC in the morning.