Creative travel day

Our super-exciting vacation so far: flying to Toronto, exploring Niagara Falls, 8K race and the Blue Jays, swanky hotel and the Tigers, The Henry Ford, family history and the Nationals, the Senate.

You're probably wondering: Is this vacation ever going to end?? 

To be honest, we were also thinking that a bit by this point :) Two parents and two siblings together for eight days straight gets a little much, even when they've all adults. But we all survived and had a good time :)

Eryn and I hit the hotel gym Friday for a short workout before a full day of travel:

I was doing intervals, running really hard, and my janky treadmill kept turning off! Ugh.

Dad is the master at getting deals and using air/train miles! That means we were a bit creative in our travel, including a taking the train from D.C. to Philadelphia before flying to the West Coast.

Free wifi meant I was blogging away during the short train trip:

From Philly, we took a local train to the airport.

Then it was a LONG non-stop flight to Seattle!

Why Seattle? Because Saturday we did another race!!

Up next: Refuse to Abuse 5K :)

Sen. Al Franken

Our super-exciting vacation so far: flying to Toronto, exploring Niagara Falls, 8K race and the Blue Jays, swanky hotel and the Tigers, The Henry Ford, family history and the Nationals.

With Wednesday's late night, we slept in a bit Thursday before heading back to the mall area. It was still very hot, but thankfully it cooled just enough to end the sweat pouring down our faces.

First stop: the National Museum of American History:

We shopped and explored the exhibits for awhile before heading downstairs to the very nice cafeteria. The view as we ate lunch:

Weariness was setting in, and we hung out for a bit.

So tired...

Then we headed to the Capitol for a visit to the Senate Gallery.

We were not allowed to take anything with us inside the gallery, so I don't have any pictures :(

I've been there before, but never when the senate was in session. Very cool! 

Just a few people were present, including the important people who sit in the front, a whole bunch of very young pages in suits, and the person reading his or her argument, letter, etc. They were basically talking to an empty room.

We saw several senators speak, Dems and Repubs, and after a while the presiding president was replaced... by Sen. Al Franken! He was very attentive and seemed to really be paying attention, unlike many of the others in the room.

The whole Capitol experience really saddened me. Since 9/11, security has become so intense that you can't go into the actual Capitol anymore - unless you're on a tour (or have gallery passes like we did, and then it's really restricted as to where you can go).

My first time there, we simply walked in the front doors and wandered around and explored. It was so cool to be in such a powerful place. Now, you can't even walk up the steps. :(

 

Despite the cooler temps, it was still around 100 degrees, and we were pooped. Right next to the Capitol is the Taft Memorial.

When we spotted the fountain, we made a beeline for the water:

Dad and I were supposed to be meeting Mom and Eryn at nearby Union Station, where they were getting our train tickets. Instead, we sat in the fountain for about a half hour and made them come to us!

Felt SO good! I Capitol police officer came up and told us that we're not supposed to be in the fountain, but because it was so hot, he wasn't going to stop us! :) (I think he really wanted to join us!)

We had another long walk from the subway to our hotel. Minutes after we got inside, it cut loose outside with a huge storm. More flash flooding and continuous thunder and lightning! Very glad we arrived "home" when we did!

Up next: on the move again... Philly and then Seattle!

:)

Hottest day of my life

Our super-exciting vacation so far: flying to Toronto, exploring Niagara Falls, 8K race and the Blue Jays, swanky hotel and the Tigers, The Henry Ford.

Wednesday may have been the hottest day of my life. The D.C. heat index forecast was 106, and I believe it!

We stayed in Georgetown and took the airport shuttle to the mall. We proceeded to take in the sights, a few steps at a time. We walked from shady spot to shady spot and had to sit frequently to rest. Sweat poured from every pore. It was completely insane.

The headline said it all:

Froyo on wheels!

We spent a lot of time in the (air conditioned!) Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. There was an exhibit of the early years of the jet plane and air travel, including the pioneer of international air travel, Pan Am.

Grandpa was there near the beginning of the boom, flying for Pan Am for 40+ years. Dad really enjoyed showing us around and seeing pieces of our family's past.

The flying boat, which my grandfather flew back in the day:

We all did a double take when we saw this photo of the pilot speaking over his shoulder with the flight engineer. Grandpa was a flight engineer just like that! Wouldn't it be cool if it had been a picture of him?!?!

We peeked inside the nose of a 747:

Right behind the pilots was the flight engineer's station - that's where Grandpa sat:

The heavy clouds finally let loose just as it was time to leave the museum and head to MLB stadium No. 3. It was definitely the hottest rain I've ever experienced! We covered up and moved quickly to the nearest subway station - and it was dry when we came out at our stop:

The Nationals have several mascots, the Mount Rushmore presidents:

Twenty years ago (now that makes me feel really old!), I used to keep the book for my mom's softball team at THS. I decided to see how much I remembered. It was a team effort, but between the four of us, we did it! It was fun :)

Nationals win!

Washington Monument from the stadium:

The Capitol:

It was late by the time we made it by subway back to our part of town, and we still had to walk quite a ways. We approached the huge, creepy National Cathedral all lit up, and I was excited to take a picture. JUST as I was taking out my camera, they lights turned off :(

Not nearly as dramatic:

Oh well.

Next up: Sen. Al Franken! :)