Well Ron and I are finally home after a long day in Washington D.C. Winded, weary and slightly smelly but alive and thoroughly exhausted. We began the day after breakfast (by the way, craaaapppy breakfast at this hotel, continental deluxe my butt) by heading over to the Vienna metro station to buy our tickets for both today's activities and for the Big Day.
We got there around 10:30 and were shocked to see HUGE lines already just to purchase the tickets. (**side note, the camera was left at our hotel room today...I know....sigh...I know...we did make up for it by buying a disposable to capture all the happenings of this afternoon but still, ugh!) Anyway after about a 30 minute wait we got our tickets and boarded the metro train headed towards New Carollton (sp?) and amazingly we actually got a seat.
(One day if you get a chance please do ask me for a diatribe on the cleanliness and efficiency of the Washington D.C Metro System, I have many complimentary things to say...) After a pretty uneventful ride we popped out in the middle of the mall into a crowd of Obama supporters. I can only describe the atmosphere as incredibly festive, hopeful and truly joyful. People are excited, both to be in D.C for the inauguration but just to be with people who, at least for these few days, are of a like mind.
Ron made the comment this afternoon that the 'republicans are hiding' and frankly it seems to be true because its so hard to find anyone without an Obama pin, button, hat, bag, scarf etc. People are asking each other where they're from (our polling shows mostly Atlanta for some reason, although we met people from Alabama, Tennesee too), some folks are recording short interviews of other attendees (Ron and myself were interviewed) to show who those couldn't make it what it was like.
The other thing I love is that there are SOOOO many children here! Everywhere you look are these kids who will be watching what happens tomorrow with wide, learning eyes. It will forever change the way they view the world and I'm so happy their parents brought them!
And then... we went to the museum of American history. Which is a big ol new museum, however the crowds sort of put a damper on the trip. Ah well...I don't really feel like talking about it. Here... you can go to the website if you want more info: americanhistory.si.edu.
Celebrity Count - 3
So there are mountains of news and press people here, while we haven't yet seen the elusive Silver Fox (Anderson Cooper) we did spot Soledad O'Brian of CNN, Chris Mathews and Pat Buchanan from MSNBC. Tomorrow we will continue our Fox hunt and hopefully we will have a Cooper spotting to report.
So inconclusion, things are great here, people are happy and relaxed and just filled with hope and (dare I say it..) patriotism. That's all from the front...update on the BIG DAY tomorrow!
Showing posts with label Road Trip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Road Trip. Show all posts
January 19, 2009
September 23, 2007
Okay more on the road trip & stuff we did
Whew its really hard to get on the computer to do this!!!
Jersey Shore Pictures Woooo!
We spent most of our weekends in September at the beach, either staying at Ron's parents beach house (which is so very kind of them). Or just taking a drive there. I have always been okay with the beach but in love with the boardwalk, the smells, the sounds, and the sights. Althoughy lately some have the sights have been a little bit raunchy for my tastes. (Come on people put some clothes on!)
Here are some pictures from the boardwalk and the beach. They have this new "ski-lift" thing. It broke down at LEAST once a day but Ron and I still rode it. Fun fun fun and peaceful.
We went to Allaire Village which was fun and a simple day of quiet New Jersey history.
Allaire Village was founded by the very industrious James P. Allaire. He founded the small town around iron bogs in Farmingdale, NJ. For a time, Allaire was home to all of the workers who worked in the bogs. It was really fascinating as a commune too in which there was universal education and health care (such as it was) there was also 100% employment with children (age 3 and up) working. The young children of course didn't do anything to dangerous...they just worked in the NAIL FACTORY!!!!
Allaire Village
So lets see where did I leave off with our trip? Happily, I have just finished working on the photo album for it. So I'll have that to go through.
After we went to Massachusetts we drove up and over to southern Vermont. Which is simply lovely. Everything about Vermont is majestic and beautiful. The people are kind and we appreciated the different pace of life. It did take some getting used to of course, how strange that people wanted to talk to us pretty much anywhere we went.
We did some "down home" type of things here. We went to the small but chock-full Norman Rockwell Museum, which is staffed by people who modeled for the artist. For several years Rockwell lived in Arlington Vermont. He moved there after deciding that New Yorkers were becoming a little too wealthy for their own good! He enjoyed the life and found what he considered to be the Americana worth capturing. His portraits of Arlington natives are some of his most compelling and famous works. (such as The Four Wants).
Our food situation was a bit limited in this respect but we went to a sweet little place where I had homemade chili and the prices were fantastic! (good for cheap Ron and Nikki)
We did cheese shopping and saw Harry Potter, and drove around looking for covered bridges. We also went to something that has really disappeared in New Jersey. A book store where the employees both love and know books. It is so annoying to go into Borders or Barnes and Nobel (my only options) and ask idiot clerks where my literary selection is located. Not only do they not know, they don't care and they would rather I help my self at the kiosk. Not at this place, here they not only had heard of Nathanial Hawthorne (not exactly an unknown, I know) but they had READ all of his works. They could recommend a selection that would be best for me. Amazing!
We also had an okay dinner at a Colonial Restaurant. The building was really cool, but truthfully it the food was just average. I had Tom Turkey (big in Vermont) with stuffing and vegetables. The weirdest thing, I had like 1.5 lbs of turkey and only 3 carrots....their method serving the vegetables was to first bring your your entree and then the waitress brought out something the size of a small dessert plate with a few baby corn spears and carrots on it, then she asked Ron and I if we would like some and then she divided it between the two of us, and took the rest (yes there were leftover veggies on the plate). I thought that was so weird why not just give us everything. Plus its Vermont in the middle of summer is there nothing green to be had? It was pretty pricey too so we expected more.
We stayed in a cute little cottage in Vermont. It overlooked a mountain and we had our own bathroom and bed and air conditioning. It was heaven and perfect timing since it rained everyday we were in Vermont.
Next we drove to the border of VT and NY. We crossed Lake Champlain in our car on a barge. Peaceful, slow, and very very wet since it was pouring at this point. We spent the day in Fort Ticonderoga, which has a gruesome history that really fascinated Ron. Our macabre is so different. I find death by disease really interesting (as in black plague, influenza) an he favors learning about death by man. Either way its a little dark. (I found the small pox outbreaks really terrifying.)
Unfortunately due to the terrible weather several of the walking tours were cancelled and we couldn't or I should say didn't want to go and see the gardens.
Moving on we drove down to Lake George, NY but we decided to rent a hotel room for an extra night mainly because of the weather and because we like air conditioning. Since I didn't know we would be looking for a room I didn't have time to price hunt and it was the more expensive then our two nights in Vermont! Still, watching TV in a/c was totally worth it as it was pouring outside. It certainly beat tent camping :).
The next night we went to our reserved campground which was truly disgusting. I didn't even bother to go into the bathroom because it was so gross in the campgrounds. Ron did however, and he told me I made the right decision. So, stinky and gross ugh...moving on.... we started to do some activities. We were lucky enough to see some free Shakespeare in the Park. "the Comedy of Errors". It was pretty good actually.
<>
Next day we drove up to the top of a mountain to take in the view.
Went to Fort William Henry (French Indian War Era Fort that had Civil War souvenirs for some reason?)
Went on a GREAT dinner cruise on Lake George. It was nearly empty while the Minne-ha-ha(another cruise boat on Lake George) was sold out. Dinner was good but the view was better. Lots of lovely little islands, huge homes, and great views of the mountains.
Then we went home but not before we stopped at Saratoga National Historic Site, but I was hungry and don't remember what we did. :)
Hurray for the Road Trip!! One day I will try and add some more detail where I skimped :)
Jersey Shore Pictures Woooo!
We spent most of our weekends in September at the beach, either staying at Ron's parents beach house (which is so very kind of them). Or just taking a drive there. I have always been okay with the beach but in love with the boardwalk, the smells, the sounds, and the sights. Althoughy lately some have the sights have been a little bit raunchy for my tastes. (Come on people put some clothes on!)
Here are some pictures from the boardwalk and the beach. They have this new "ski-lift" thing. It broke down at LEAST once a day but Ron and I still rode it. Fun fun fun and peaceful.
We went to Allaire Village which was fun and a simple day of quiet New Jersey history.
Allaire Village was founded by the very industrious James P. Allaire. He founded the small town around iron bogs in Farmingdale, NJ. For a time, Allaire was home to all of the workers who worked in the bogs. It was really fascinating as a commune too in which there was universal education and health care (such as it was) there was also 100% employment with children (age 3 and up) working. The young children of course didn't do anything to dangerous...they just worked in the NAIL FACTORY!!!!
Allaire Village
Here is a video I took with my camera. This is called a Wulitzer, a military band organ.
The highlight up the trip for both Ron and myself was a tour of Allaire's former home. Really what made it interesting was this lovely woman who gave the tour who was really interested in the subject and incredibly knowledgeable and friendly. Truly some of the best tours we have ever had have been nearly empty with just us and the tour guide. I think at some time we would have been shy about such an intimate tour but experience has taught us otherwise.
So lets see where did I leave off with our trip? Happily, I have just finished working on the photo album for it. So I'll have that to go through.
After we went to Massachusetts we drove up and over to southern Vermont. Which is simply lovely. Everything about Vermont is majestic and beautiful. The people are kind and we appreciated the different pace of life. It did take some getting used to of course, how strange that people wanted to talk to us pretty much anywhere we went.
We did some "down home" type of things here. We went to the small but chock-full Norman Rockwell Museum, which is staffed by people who modeled for the artist. For several years Rockwell lived in Arlington Vermont. He moved there after deciding that New Yorkers were becoming a little too wealthy for their own good! He enjoyed the life and found what he considered to be the Americana worth capturing. His portraits of Arlington natives are some of his most compelling and famous works. (such as The Four Wants).
Our food situation was a bit limited in this respect but we went to a sweet little place where I had homemade chili and the prices were fantastic! (good for cheap Ron and Nikki)
We did cheese shopping and saw Harry Potter, and drove around looking for covered bridges. We also went to something that has really disappeared in New Jersey. A book store where the employees both love and know books. It is so annoying to go into Borders or Barnes and Nobel (my only options) and ask idiot clerks where my literary selection is located. Not only do they not know, they don't care and they would rather I help my self at the kiosk. Not at this place, here they not only had heard of Nathanial Hawthorne (not exactly an unknown, I know) but they had READ all of his works. They could recommend a selection that would be best for me. Amazing!
We also had an okay dinner at a Colonial Restaurant. The building was really cool, but truthfully it the food was just average. I had Tom Turkey (big in Vermont) with stuffing and vegetables. The weirdest thing, I had like 1.5 lbs of turkey and only 3 carrots....their method serving the vegetables was to first bring your your entree and then the waitress brought out something the size of a small dessert plate with a few baby corn spears and carrots on it, then she asked Ron and I if we would like some and then she divided it between the two of us, and took the rest (yes there were leftover veggies on the plate). I thought that was so weird why not just give us everything. Plus its Vermont in the middle of summer is there nothing green to be had? It was pretty pricey too so we expected more.
We stayed in a cute little cottage in Vermont. It overlooked a mountain and we had our own bathroom and bed and air conditioning. It was heaven and perfect timing since it rained everyday we were in Vermont.
Next we drove to the border of VT and NY. We crossed Lake Champlain in our car on a barge. Peaceful, slow, and very very wet since it was pouring at this point. We spent the day in Fort Ticonderoga, which has a gruesome history that really fascinated Ron. Our macabre is so different. I find death by disease really interesting (as in black plague, influenza) an he favors learning about death by man. Either way its a little dark. (I found the small pox outbreaks really terrifying.)
Unfortunately due to the terrible weather several of the walking tours were cancelled and we couldn't or I should say didn't want to go and see the gardens.
Moving on we drove down to Lake George, NY but we decided to rent a hotel room for an extra night mainly because of the weather and because we like air conditioning. Since I didn't know we would be looking for a room I didn't have time to price hunt and it was the more expensive then our two nights in Vermont! Still, watching TV in a/c was totally worth it as it was pouring outside. It certainly beat tent camping :).
The next night we went to our reserved campground which was truly disgusting. I didn't even bother to go into the bathroom because it was so gross in the campgrounds. Ron did however, and he told me I made the right decision. So, stinky and gross ugh...moving on.... we started to do some activities. We were lucky enough to see some free Shakespeare in the Park. "the Comedy of Errors". It was pretty good actually.
<
Next day we drove up to the top of a mountain to take in the view.
Went to Fort William Henry (French Indian War Era Fort that had Civil War souvenirs for some reason?)
Went on a GREAT dinner cruise on Lake George. It was nearly empty while the Minne-ha-ha(another cruise boat on Lake George) was sold out. Dinner was good but the view was better. Lots of lovely little islands, huge homes, and great views of the mountains.
Then we went home but not before we stopped at Saratoga National Historic Site, but I was hungry and don't remember what we did. :)
Hurray for the Road Trip!! One day I will try and add some more detail where I skimped :)
July 7, 2007
Update Part One (point) Five
Here is an update on our vacation. We decided to cut our trip a little bit. Please see the little map above.
We are now going to
Mystic, CT
Cape Cod, MA
Concord and Lexington, MA
Salem, MA
Bennington and Rutland, VT
Fort Ticonderoga, NY
Saratoga, NY
We cut out Maine even though we have never been there and would be really excited to see what the Northern State has to offer we decided it would jsut put too much stress in our relaxation vacation!
We also are staying in a cabin in Vermont, nice and remote and pretty!
March 29, 2007
Road Trip Update #2
Well, we have pretty much finalized our first day.
We will leave pretty early and pick up our rental car on Saturday (we may wind up picking it up on Friday night, we'll see.) Anyhoo, we have the car and we drive it up to Mystic Seaport in CT, where we have lunch and enjoy the sights and sounds of this famous port. Then we continue up to Littleton, MA which is about 30 miles west of Boston, this is where we camp for the first night. We're staying at Minute Man Camp Ground We'll be cooking over a camp fire woot! We're going to practice setting up our camp in our living room so we can do it smoothly. We don't want the other campers to laugh at us.
Digital Camera Update - $55.00 (before lunch, which I brought from home again)
We will leave pretty early and pick up our rental car on Saturday (we may wind up picking it up on Friday night, we'll see.) Anyhoo, we have the car and we drive it up to Mystic Seaport in CT, where we have lunch and enjoy the sights and sounds of this famous port. Then we continue up to Littleton, MA which is about 30 miles west of Boston, this is where we camp for the first night. We're staying at Minute Man Camp Ground We'll be cooking over a camp fire woot! We're going to practice setting up our camp in our living room so we can do it smoothly. We don't want the other campers to laugh at us.
Digital Camera Update - $55.00 (before lunch, which I brought from home again)
March 28, 2007
Road Trip Update
Well summer is right around the corner, and we've been planning a road trip/ camping vacation. We've entitled it "Our New England Historical Road Trip" and we have come up with the itinerary for it.
Here it is....
Day 1 - Home >>> Mystic Seaport, CT >>> Boston, MA
Day 2 - Boston, MA >>> Boston, MA
Day 3 - Boston, MA >>> Minute Man Nat'l Park, MA >>> Portland, ME
Day 4 - Portland, ME >>> Someplace on the Eastern Border of VT
Day 5 - VT >>> Ticonderoga, NY
Day 6 - Ticonderoga, NY >>> Ticonderoga, NY
Day 7 - NY >>> Home
It should be a lot of driving and a chance for us to see the sights and sounds of New England, since we've never been to Maine or Boston before nor have we ever gone camping. We're looking forward to it big time!
Here it is....
Day 1 - Home >>> Mystic Seaport, CT >>> Boston, MA
Day 2 - Boston, MA >>> Boston, MA
Day 3 - Boston, MA >>> Minute Man Nat'l Park, MA >>> Portland, ME
Day 4 - Portland, ME >>> Someplace on the Eastern Border of VT
Day 5 - VT >>> Ticonderoga, NY
Day 6 - Ticonderoga, NY >>> Ticonderoga, NY
Day 7 - NY >>> Home
It should be a lot of driving and a chance for us to see the sights and sounds of New England, since we've never been to Maine or Boston before nor have we ever gone camping. We're looking forward to it big time!
January 24, 2007
Well I got the camera...and some new news!
Well, I finally got the camera that I ordered and it was awful! Completely cheap and dumb. No digital display or anything. That'll teach me to stop messing around impatiently on ebay. So that puppy is going back up on ebay and hopefully some other sap... er..I mean customer will buy it from me :D
Now the new news.... Ron and I are taking a road trip! Woot. We are going from New Jersey to Quebec and back again. All by car with plenty of stops and camping along the way. I am excited because that means that I can plan a trip and we can finally go camping.
Now the new news.... Ron and I are taking a road trip! Woot. We are going from New Jersey to Quebec and back again. All by car with plenty of stops and camping along the way. I am excited because that means that I can plan a trip and we can finally go camping.
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