We had a fun, exhausting weekend in the DC area.  We flew out to DC Thursday afternoon. Eric’s cousin, Elizabeth, picked us up at the airport.  First stop was the Burger Joint for some delicious burgers.  We didn’t really do anything the rest of the evening except get friendly with the various critters at the house.  

Friday morning Tropical Storm Andrea decided to pay us a visit (what is it with me and hurricanes on vacation?). We knew it was coming so some of us came prepared.  I had a little umbrella which was a life saver.  I was still got wet but I wasn’t soaked to the bone like Eric and my camera was saved from the torrential down pours. Elizabeth kept saying the heavy stuff is still coming. LOL!  Elizabeth, Amanda, her daughter, Eric and I ventured down to Mount Vernon, George Washington’s plantation. I had visited the place in 1995 with my mom and dad.  I remember some parts of it but some of the exhibit places were new. We checked out the plantation and the museums. After lunch at the Mount Vernon Inn, we went to Old Town Alexandria. We didn’t get out, just drove around the streets that George Washington traveled.  We also drove up to the Masonic Memorial to Washington.

Soaked at Mount Vernon

Mount Vernon

Saturday turned out to be a great day.  Eric and I took the Metro into downtown DC and rented some bikes and biked around the monuments.  It was so nice to not have to walk the whole distance. We biked over 8 miles so I couldn’t imagine walking all of that.  We started at the Capitol and made our way down the National Mall, over the Tidal Basin to Thomas Jefferson Memorial, and the slow making our way to the Lincoln Memorial with stops at the George Mason, FDR, MLK and Korea Memorials. MLK is a new one. On our way to WWII Memorial we stopped by Vietnam. So we saw all the monuments and even a few new ones that I haven’t seen before. It was a great day. My arms and face got sunburned. I bought sunscreen, just forgot to put it in my camera bag before we left Elizabeth’s house. Oops!

Eric at the Capitol

Lincoln Memorial

Kim on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with Washington Monument in back.

After we finished with our biking tour we took the Metro back to Springfield and we went out for dinner with Elizabeth and Amanda at a really good steakhouse and then she took us around downtown DC so I could take pictures of the monuments at night. It was such a beautiful night.  I got some good pictures.

WWII Memorial at night

Thomas Jefferson Memorial Memorial at night

Lincoln Memorial at night

Sunday we started the day at Ford’s Theatre, the place Lincoln was shot and across the street at the house that he died. It was an interesting presentation; I learned a lot more about his assassination. 

The Box where Lincoln was shot - Ford's Theatre

After that we went down to National’s Ballpark to see the Twins play the Nationals. The park was nice, nothing to special.  It didn’t really have a view of anything.  You can see part of the capitol dome in one part of the stadium but that was about it. I got a picture of me and President Taft. The highlight of the day was the Presidential Race.  Teddy Roosevelt was winning but he was tackled by a giant cicada bug (cicadas are large insects, about an inch and a half long, with black bodies, red eyes and delicate wings, they only surface every 17 years, and now is the time). George Washington won.  Poor Teddy never wins. 

Me and President Taft

Presidential Race...Teddy is winning!

Teddy was tackled by a cicada bug (check out the red eyes)!

Nationals Ballpark

So that is our DC trip in a nutshell.  It was fun!

More pictures can be found:
Mount Vernon and Old Town Alexandria, VA

Biking DC & Monuments at Night

Ford's Theatre & Nationals Park

Today was a nice day and very short.  We only covered about 139 miles but we saw a lot.  First thing we did was drive to Cuyahoga Valley National Park.  We checked out the Brandywine Falls. It was nice and the rain last night helped to make the flow really fast.  After seeing many falls around the U.S., this wasn't that spectacular but still nice.  Next we stopped at the Boston Store and Peninsula Train Depot. We walked across the Everett Covered Bridge were Eric met a very freaked out snake.  The snake was sunning himself on the rock Eric just about stepped on. The snake scurried into the water and Eric maintained his balance on a different rock.  I went to the view area for the bridge and out of no where a deer jump out.  He was seriously 10 feet away from me.  He was nice enough to hang around so I could snap a picture. Next we went to the Beaver Marsh but sadly no beavers. :-(

After Cuyahoga Valley National Park we went to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.  I'm not all that excited about football...baseball is my sport...but I do root for my Minnesota Vikings and hate the Green Bay Packers.  It was interesting with lots of exhibits.

Right now we are just chilling out at our hotel...it is an early night!

I love being up so early whilst on vacation.  ARGH!

The last two days have been great.  We flew to Atlanta on Saturday.  Our flight was delayed for almost an hour for no reason at all.  It hadn’t started raining or storming yet.  Nope, we took off in the storm.  That was such a bumpy take off and the first 30 minutes was pretty awesome turbulence.  You know it is “awesome” when the flight attendants don’t even get out of their seats.

Kim, Eric, Uncle Dennis and Aunt Beverly

After getting our bags and renting the car we headed down I-85 towards Tuskegee, AL.  Silly me forgot that we actually go back an hour because it is in CT.  Duh!  We met Uncle Dennis at their house and we went over to the Strong Connection Family reunion.  It was interesting.  It was Aunt Beverly’s family.  We met at 101 year old civil rights participant.  I can’t remember what she did but it was in Selma, AL in 1965 and I think it was with MLK Jr.  We also got the meet Bev’s son Eric, his wife Tajuana, and daughter Erica and Kaci.  We also meet Andre’s daughter Ariel.   It was cool with tons of food, some that I’ve never heard of or tasted.  I have to be honest I wasn’t too adventurous…I had southern fried chicken and corn…I know I’m boring.  In the evening we went back to Dennis and Bev’s house.  We watched the movie Red Tails which is about the Tuskegee Airmen, it came out in this year.  It was interesting. Dennis pointed out things that were wrong about the planes…haha! We stayed in Auburn, AL for the night. It is about 15 minutes away.

Yesterday we went back to Tuskegee.  First stop was the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site.  The site commemorates the contributions of African American airmen in World War II. Moton Field was the site of primary flight training for the pioneering pilots known as the Tuskegee Airmen. It was constructed in 1941 as a new training base.   Very cool and interesting!

Eric, Tajuana and Kaci on their way to Orlando

After that we went back to Dennis and Bev’s house.  Eric and his family spent the night so we spent most of the day talking with them.  They are going to Orlando today and Bev is going along.  She didn’t realize they were leaving yesterday so unfortunately we didn’t get to see too much of her as she was busy packing.  Eric (her son) kept telling her 2 bags. Apparently she packs way too much. LOL!

After they left for Atlanta, Dennis took us around the area.  We saw the dam in Tallassee and the old Civil War Armory.  We drove up to Martin Lake and up to Horseshoe Bend Military Park. But it was closed already for the day.  :(

Today we head back to Atlanta or as I like to say HOTlanta.
More pictures at: http://kim-eric.com/2012/Atlanta/05.26.12/05.26.12.htm

It has been booked...ok not Hawaii!  How about "Da Plane, Da Plane" from Fantasy Island? Anyways, we are off to the white sandy beaches and turquoise waters of Jamaica.  We are leaving Christmas Day and coming back New Year’s Day.  7 days of sun, water and relaxation.  I’m so excited!  Hopefully I won't get bored! I have been dragging my feet on purchasing it and the price went up $400 yesterday!  I was so pissed.  But today I got a Delta Vacation code and saved almost $500.  Yes!  I’m spending another Christmas Day at the airport.  This is becoming a tradition.

I ran 4 miles on Monday and 5 miles today!  5 miles!!  I was so happy.  It was slow but 5 miles!  I was only going to do 4 again but I went to the preserve by the river and the out and back is only 3.8 miles.  So I had to turn around and when I did I thought what the heck I can do another mile.  I’m not sure what is going on here but I really like running. I celebrated by going to Kohl’s and to buy new running shirts.  I’m getting annoyed by baggy t-shirts, I want something that wicks sweat. 

Tomorrow is my last day of work for the week.  Yippy!  I have Friday off to prepare for Milwaukee and to go to Abbie’s Confirmation.  

Oh my gosh it was cold. When we got everything packed up, the car said it was 31 degrees. We made our way out of the park today. We left the East Entrance and drove to Cody, WY. It was a nice drive, we got to see some of the wild fires outside of Cody and we got to see the helicopters with the water buckets at Buffalo Bill state Park. Out of Cody we took Hwy 14-Alt. What a road. The views were amazing and it seemed like all we did was climb up. We made a quick stop at Devils Tower Monument in Sundance, WY. We rolled into Eric's parents house in Rapid City at 6:30. I went to Judy's garden and got some final peas of the season and some sweet corn. Yum!

What a busy day. We started in the Grand Teton and worked our way north to Canyon Village Area of Yellowstone. At Grand Teton we took a shuttle boat across Jenny Lake to the trail head for Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. Once on the other side of the lake it was a mile hike to Inspiration Point uphill on very rocky terrain. But it was well worth it. The view was amazing. I would love to hike on further, but we didn't have much time and I didn't have the proper shoes. Silly Kim! We continued up the Teton Rd. to Jackson Lake Area. We saw VP Dick Cheney's Secret Service Detail. Apparently he was in town. After a quick lunch at Signal Mountain Lodge and we made our way up the south entrance of Yellowstone. We went past the Lake Area. Not that exciting...Yellowstone lake is pretty and huge, but its a lake. We saw some more stinky caldrons of hot springs and then a herd of bison trying to cross the Yellowstone River and the road. Of course it caused a major traffic jam but eventually we got through and went to one thing I was waiting the most for...the Lower Falls of Yellowstone River. It was great! We hiked down the 330 steps to the bottom of the Lower Falls...then climbed back up them. This was the only night that we are camping...hopefully it won't be too cold...it only got up 55 degrees today.