Washington, D.C.

Today we woke up around 7:55 and rolled out the door about 10 (as usual). We headed to CVS to get Andy some aloe for his sunburns, and narrowly escaped high drugstore drama in the process. (The cashier screamed murderous threats at a guy on his bike who left a ziploc bag of wonderbread slices in the flip-flop aisle. Don’t ask.)

We ate breakfast at the Sunrise Cafe for the second day in a row (this time much wiser: we knew to get our own food and bring it to the table ourselves) and caught the Metro to Arlington Cemetary.

We wandered the vast winding roads throughout the tombstone-lined hillsides. We visited memorials to various wars, armed forces, and the Columbia space shuttle. We also went to the Kennedy graves as well as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where we witnessed the changing of the guard.

Afterward, we checked out the indoor exhibits: Women in the Military and Faces of the Military. (The attached brochure image “To Pee or Not To Pee” is about the difficulties women face in being ill-equipped physically and clothing/equipment-wise to relieve themselves during missions, etc)

The Smithsonian was our next stop. The whole mall area was rockin’ with some sort of festival the whole time we were in D.C., but we headed straight to the Air & Space museum once Andy determined that the Arts & Industry museum was under renovation. Shockingly (to me), the museum was *free*. Who knew? =)

The funniest section was the debunking of old myths and propaganda, my favorite of which is the story of life on the moon (also attached – a Must Read).

To round out the night with some high culture, we headed to the National Theatre for the award-winning Broadway musical “Spamalot”. (If you didn’t already know, it’s inspired by Monty Python’s Quest for the Holy Grail. If you don’t know what that is, get thee to a Hollywood Video, stat.) The costumes were great, the set was amazing, the casting perfect, and as for the jokes – hilarious. We belly-laughed through the whole thing and quoted from it the entire next day. If you get a chance (and if you appreciate abject silliness) you *must* check it out!

Tags: museums, shopping, theatre & shows

Maryland & Washington, D.C.

Today we headed out to Six Flags D.C. 

Well… actually, it took us almost 2 hours to leave the hotel room and another 3+ to show up at the theme park in Maryland, due to various factors, including: 3 people + 1 bathroom = slow morning, trying to find a breakfast cafe, finding the right metro, spending 30+minutes riding said Metro, finding the right bus, waiting nearly an hour for said bus, riding 1+ hour on said bus, walking up the car entranceway to the themepark gates, and so on… as usual, an adventure.

The breakfast cafe was a little bizarre… Andy ordered milk. They asked, “Chocolate milk?” No, he wanted plain milk. Well, there was a 50 cent surcharge for chococlate-less milk. (Did we have “tourist” stamped on our foreheads or what?) Next, they asked us if we wanted to eat outside. “Yes!” we answer emphatically. It took a while for us to realize that just because they *asked* where we planned to eat, didn’t mean *they* planned to bring it out to us. Live and learn.

Six Flags was lots of fun (once we finally showed up) because the park was nearly empty and we got to do everything we wanted, in many cases multiple times. Rob and I rode all the coasters pictured here, both Andy and Rob consumed vast quantities of Dippin’ Dots, and all three of us watched the suprisingly funny wild west show.

We left early and headed back to the hotel, where the boys watched some T.V. (but not the Speaker of the House, as Andy initially wanted) and I turned on my laptop to get some work done.

Tomorrow we’re off again!

Tags: food, lost, theme parks

Washington, D.C.

Our 9 day adventure begins! My younger brothers and I are off…

05:00 Wakey, wakey!

Joy of joys, we got to wake up at 5am this morning. Well, most of us did. Everyone except Andy. He was already up – he had to work the night shift and technically was supposed to be there until 6… but he cut out at breaktime so he could come home and join the fun.

06:00 On the road

We piled into the van – my brothers (Andy & Rob), my parents, and I, and we hit the road for Chicago.

07:00 Chicago Skyway

Because the Dan Ryan Expressway was under construction, we had to use some creative avoidance tactics.

08:00 Midway Airport

We arrived about 4 hours early (yikes!) and discovered that the food court was past the security check-in, so my parents (who, like us, had not yet breakfasted) had to turn around and go home without eating with us.

09:00 Haray Carey’s

Andy, Rob and I grabbed some grub at Haray Carey’s. I opted to drink water instead of coffee, planning to hit Starbucks after we ate.

10:00 Waiting at the Terminal

At Starbucks, Andy and Rob ordered the Chocolate Creme Frappucinos and I ordered a Caramel Latte. They were out of both Chocolate and Caramel, which meant *we* were out of luck. We plopped into some seats at the terminal next to an outlet, so I could plug in my laptop and get some work done. Some guy walked by and gave me a hard time about it, but it was all in hillbonics, so we’re not really sure what he said. <>

11:00 – 14:00 Plane

The plane ride was much less eventful than I had feared, except for the landing, which freaked out not only the passengers but also the flight crew and the pilot himself, who joked, “Well!… *That* was easy.” when we clattered onto the runway.

14:00-19:00 Intro to D.C.

We find our hotel (the Beacon, on 17th street, walking distance from the White House) and wander around the city, checking out the White House, the Washington Monument, and the World War II Memorial. We also ate some pizza at Uno’s (a D.C. staple… hahaha) We ordered the Muchos Nachos appetizer (which, when they say muchos, they’re not kidding) not realizing it came with meat. Even though it was completely our fault (for being illiterate and not reading the menu more closely) they ran right back and whipped up a veggie version. We were stuffed before the pizza even came.

ANDY QUOTE: “Well, so far this vacation is turning out terrible. Too many nachos!!!”

20:00-23:30 D.C. Night Tour

We left Union Station for a 3+ hour night tour and it turned out to be a great time. Our tour guide was animated and knowledgeable and we only got lost once. (”We” meaning Andy, Rob and I, not the tour guide. He was a D.C. native who’d given these tours twice a week for 21 years.)

Tags: airplanes, airports, food, lost