The word of the day... DRIVE. and drive and drive and drive.
We left the motel about 9:20... all I wanted was Chick-fil-A chicken minis. We've had nothing but McDonald's for breakfast for a week... was a little chicken too much to ask for? Well, apparently so in North Carolina. GPS said the closest Chick-fil-A was in Columbia, SC! So we had to eat McDonald's AGAIN.
Other than the breakfast stop, I drove straight through to Augusta. I was very sleepy, but Mom was not much help. I think that everyone gets in the passenger side of a car when I'm driving and goes into a zone. Jo Ann, Stacey, and now my mom... I'm running off the side of the road, fighting to keep my eyes open, and they are just over there like "La la la" and totally oblivious to the fact that I could kill them at any moment. So I spent a lot of time just calling people... someone talking to me was all I needed.
We got to Auguata about 1pm. I went straight to the Chick-fil-A on Washington Road! If I couldn't have it for breakfast, then I gosh darn could have it for lunch! When I stepped out of the car, I realized I had not been out since Fayetteville... it was all I could do to straighten up!
Took Mom home and did a few things on her computer for her. For those of you on AT&T, if it asks you about "upgrading" to the Yahoo! mail thingie... DON'T DO IT!! They don't allow POP access without paying for it, so now Mom has to read her mail on the web. Not a huge biggie, but it's the principle of the thing!
Left Mom's about 2:30 and drove on home. I listened to a book on tape for awhile, and when that didn't work anymore and I felt myself getting sleepy, I called Stacey. That kept me going, and the time passed quickly enough. I got home about 4:15... Everyone was glad to see me...
I didn't have to lift my hands the rest of the night. I got in my recliner, like I said I would... with Patches on top of me, of course... and took a nap. Tracy cooked supper, fed the cats, and cleaned up the kitchen. I got on the computer, ate, and watched TV. It was a good night!
And even though I woke up sick in the middle of the night... I don't know what it was and it went away... and Kimmie woke me up about 6am... it was still a good night in my own bed.
And now I am on the computer, instead of unpacking. Well, with this weather, I'm not going anywhere, so I have plenty of time, right?
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Day 9 of Washington Trip: Sunday
We packed up the car and were on the road at 9:15 am. Traffic was nothing getting through downtown to the beltway. We drove to Richmond and met my friend from high school, Charles. 
We went to school together from 4th grade right through high school graduation. He is an engineer with Phillip Morris. We met him near his work and followed him to a restaurant near where he lives. His wife, Wanda, and his youngest son joined us. It was a wonderful lunch. I asked Charles like 20 questions… trying to catch up on everything. He has always been such a nice guy, and his wife seems just as nice!
We left Charles and headed back up the road to a scrapbooking store I had spotted earlier!! It’s called Memories Galore. It was a pretty good store. I got several papers to use for my Washington trip, along with some other goodies. Mom got the fever and bought several things, including an album. She says she’s going to scrapbook the pictures from this trip. We’ll see.
Then we headed to a Goodwill store we had spotted. I didn’t find a thing there, but Mom had some good luck.
We finally got out of Richmond at 4:30 – over 4 hours after we arrived!!! Then I had to drive 3 hours to Fayetteville. It rained off and on the entire trip, but fortunately, it was never heavy. We only stopped to get a drink and gas. We got to Fayetteville at almost 8 o’clock. I pulled in the motel, checked in, and we didn’t even go to our room. We went straight to a Mexican restaurant and had dinner. We finally got in the motel between 9 and 9:30…
I’m ready for sleep… and to get home…
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Some photos from our trip
Mom at the Crater, Petersburg National Civil War Battlefield, Petersburg, Virginia
The box where John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln at the Ford's Theatre.
Korean War Memorial
Jefferson Memorial
The fountain at the World War II Memorial at night.
Day 8 of Washington Trip: Saturday
Not such a rude awakening this morning, thank goodness!
We got ready and headed out for our day. I forgot to mention that another thing I was working on last night was figuring out our transportation for today. We wanted to ride the subway and not mess with the buses. So I had to figure out which Metro stations had parking and what trains to take to get to the Smithsonian. It’s not a hard system, but I had to learn how it works… whereas Atlanta’s MARTA has North, South, East, and West lines, the Metro has Blue, Orange, Green, and Yellow lines. And they kind of go in the four directions… but they veer off in places. Anyway, I figured it out, so we drove 2-3 miles to a Metro station with parking. You can park free on the weekends. We still had to walk about 1½ blocks to the actual station. We had no problems at the station and were soon on our way to the Smithsonian.
We went to the American History Museum. We had to wait a few minutes for them to open. It was crowded from the beginning. It only got more crowded as the day went on. The first exhibit we went to was “The Star Spangled Banner.” It is the actual flag that flew at Ft McHenry during the War of 1812. It is the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star Spangled Banner,” which went on to become our country’s anthem. I had no idea the flag is was large as it is. We were not allowed to take pictures in this exhibit, but I was able to get a postcard and a picture of a replica displayed elsewhere in the museum.
We then went through the exhibit of First Ladies’ Inaugural Gowns. I think I got good pictures of all of them. It was neat to see the different styles over the centuries. They even had one of Martha Washington’s gowns! That goes back 200 years!
We saw a few more things and then went downstairs to meet my online friend, Aga. She came all the way down to the Smithsonian to meet us and have lunch. In addition, she brought me some Washington, DC scrapbooking goodies… paper and stickers! I was so excited. I can’t wait to use them! We had lunch in the café with Aga and then walked through the “Thanks for the Memories” exhibit. We saw Archie and Edith’s chairs from “All in the Family,” Kermit the Frog and Oscar from Sesame Street, and the Ruby Slippers from “The Wizard of Oz.” We left the museum about 1:30 and walked to the subway station, where we told Aga good-bye and headed to the Newseum.
The Newseum is the one of the newest, if not THE newest, museum in DC. It deals with… the news. Six floors of it! It’s pretty neat. First thing, you watch an orientation film. Then they had a G-Men and the News exhibit. You then take an elevator up 6 floors to an outside terrace with an awesome view of the Capitol. My batteries actually went dead in BOTH cameras! Can you believe that?! I brought 3 sets of rechargeable batteries, and only one set will hold a charge! So I got Mom’s camera and just took both of our pictures with that. There is so much in this museum… I can’t even describe it all. They had newspapers (originals) from as far back as the 1600’s to this year! They had papers with all the big headlines: the Hidenburg, Lindburgh baby kidnapping, Pearl Harbor, Peace at the end of WWII, Kennedy’s assassination, September 11th, etc., etc., etc. Just paper upon paper… It was unbelievable! They also had a section about September 11 with a piece of a broadcast tower from the top of the North Tower, a piece of the fuselage from Flight 93, and a piece of masonry from the Pentagon. It was information overload, like every other place in this city. My head is crammed full and spinning!
We left the Newseum about 4:45 (they close at 5) and aced the trains back out to our car. We came back here and have hung out, too tired to move, the entire evening. We will pack up the car in the morning and hopefully leave by 10am and head to Fayetteville, North Carolina to spend tomorrow night.
We have had a wonderful trip, but I have to say I am ready to go home. I need to see my husband, my kitties, and my recliner!!! LOL!
We got ready and headed out for our day. I forgot to mention that another thing I was working on last night was figuring out our transportation for today. We wanted to ride the subway and not mess with the buses. So I had to figure out which Metro stations had parking and what trains to take to get to the Smithsonian. It’s not a hard system, but I had to learn how it works… whereas Atlanta’s MARTA has North, South, East, and West lines, the Metro has Blue, Orange, Green, and Yellow lines. And they kind of go in the four directions… but they veer off in places. Anyway, I figured it out, so we drove 2-3 miles to a Metro station with parking. You can park free on the weekends. We still had to walk about 1½ blocks to the actual station. We had no problems at the station and were soon on our way to the Smithsonian.
We went to the American History Museum. We had to wait a few minutes for them to open. It was crowded from the beginning. It only got more crowded as the day went on. The first exhibit we went to was “The Star Spangled Banner.” It is the actual flag that flew at Ft McHenry during the War of 1812. It is the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star Spangled Banner,” which went on to become our country’s anthem. I had no idea the flag is was large as it is. We were not allowed to take pictures in this exhibit, but I was able to get a postcard and a picture of a replica displayed elsewhere in the museum.
We then went through the exhibit of First Ladies’ Inaugural Gowns. I think I got good pictures of all of them. It was neat to see the different styles over the centuries. They even had one of Martha Washington’s gowns! That goes back 200 years!
We saw a few more things and then went downstairs to meet my online friend, Aga. She came all the way down to the Smithsonian to meet us and have lunch. In addition, she brought me some Washington, DC scrapbooking goodies… paper and stickers! I was so excited. I can’t wait to use them! We had lunch in the café with Aga and then walked through the “Thanks for the Memories” exhibit. We saw Archie and Edith’s chairs from “All in the Family,” Kermit the Frog and Oscar from Sesame Street, and the Ruby Slippers from “The Wizard of Oz.” We left the museum about 1:30 and walked to the subway station, where we told Aga good-bye and headed to the Newseum.
The Newseum is the one of the newest, if not THE newest, museum in DC. It deals with… the news. Six floors of it! It’s pretty neat. First thing, you watch an orientation film. Then they had a G-Men and the News exhibit. You then take an elevator up 6 floors to an outside terrace with an awesome view of the Capitol. My batteries actually went dead in BOTH cameras! Can you believe that?! I brought 3 sets of rechargeable batteries, and only one set will hold a charge! So I got Mom’s camera and just took both of our pictures with that. There is so much in this museum… I can’t even describe it all. They had newspapers (originals) from as far back as the 1600’s to this year! They had papers with all the big headlines: the Hidenburg, Lindburgh baby kidnapping, Pearl Harbor, Peace at the end of WWII, Kennedy’s assassination, September 11th, etc., etc., etc. Just paper upon paper… It was unbelievable! They also had a section about September 11 with a piece of a broadcast tower from the top of the North Tower, a piece of the fuselage from Flight 93, and a piece of masonry from the Pentagon. It was information overload, like every other place in this city. My head is crammed full and spinning!
We left the Newseum about 4:45 (they close at 5) and aced the trains back out to our car. We came back here and have hung out, too tired to move, the entire evening. We will pack up the car in the morning and hopefully leave by 10am and head to Fayetteville, North Carolina to spend tomorrow night.
We have had a wonderful trip, but I have to say I am ready to go home. I need to see my husband, my kitties, and my recliner!!! LOL!
Day 7 of Washington Trip: Friday
The alarm on my cell phone went off at 7am. I groaned and did not get up. I was dozing when my cell phone rang at 7:15. It was Tracy… the security alarm had gone off at our house, and he was 2 hours away. Would it reset? It’s a new system, plus I wasn’t fully awake yet, so I told him I didn’t know… it should, but I didn’t know for sure. He had told ADT to go ahead and send the police out there. He called ADT back and found out that the alarm would reset and they would call him back if the police found anything unusual. He never heard back, but it was still a day of being worried about the kitties and did someone try to break in or what??
That got me out of the bed, anyway. Mom and I got ready and drove to Virginia to Mount Vernon, the home of our first president, George Washington and his wife, Martha. The area is beautiful out there. The parking is even free at Mount Vernon! That’s a big deal up here!
The first thing we did was get our tickets for the river cruise and walk to the wharf to catch the boat by 11:30am. It was a pleasant walk… Along the way, we stopped and saw the tomb where George and Martha are buried. We continued to the wharf and boarded the boat for a leisurely, pleasant cruise on the Potomac River for about 40 minutes. We had a beautiful view of the Washington home from the river. We also got to see Fort Washington across the river in Maryland. George had it built to protect DC from invaders. It is so huge and imposing that it has never been attacked. The tour guide said the walls are about 25 feet thick – no wonder!
When we returned to land, we walked up toward the mansion. It was up a steep hill the whole way! I am so out of shape! But we finally made it and it was very worth it! There were several buildings on the property… barn, clerk’s office, salt house, gardener’s house, slave quarters, etc. There was a line to get into the mansion, but there is a lawn there and people in period dress were out there having “picnics”, giving concerts, dancing, mingling with the guests, etc. It was very neat and made the time pass by quickly.
We toured the house and there were guides on every level, telling us interesting tidbits about the time period and the Washingtons. So much of the house is from that time… including the banisters on the stairs… Washington had them installed himself. There is a beautiful view from the front porch… Across the river, they have turned that land into a state park and kept it looking almost exactly like it did during Washington’s time… nothing but trees and greenery… he loved the view from his front porch, across the Potomoc River.
After finishing the mansion, we headed back to the visitor’s center and lunch. We ate in the café and then visited the shops there. We had way too much fun shopping! It was after 3 by this time, and we headed back to DC. Traffic was heavy by this time, but we made it just fine. We ordered from a local pizza place for dinner… Mom got stromboli and I got lasagna… It was huge and delicious!! I was behind on my journaling so between that, checking out Facebook, talking to Tracy and Stacey, and checking e-mail, it was after 11 before I went to bed and I literally threw on pjs, took out my contacts, and crawled in the bed! I woke up the next morning with my earrings still in my ears!! LOL!
Oh, and when Tracy got home from work and found that the motion detector had went off at the house this morning. The only thing we can figure is that a cat jumped high enough to set it off! I would have loved to have seen that!
That got me out of the bed, anyway. Mom and I got ready and drove to Virginia to Mount Vernon, the home of our first president, George Washington and his wife, Martha. The area is beautiful out there. The parking is even free at Mount Vernon! That’s a big deal up here!
The first thing we did was get our tickets for the river cruise and walk to the wharf to catch the boat by 11:30am. It was a pleasant walk… Along the way, we stopped and saw the tomb where George and Martha are buried. We continued to the wharf and boarded the boat for a leisurely, pleasant cruise on the Potomac River for about 40 minutes. We had a beautiful view of the Washington home from the river. We also got to see Fort Washington across the river in Maryland. George had it built to protect DC from invaders. It is so huge and imposing that it has never been attacked. The tour guide said the walls are about 25 feet thick – no wonder!
When we returned to land, we walked up toward the mansion. It was up a steep hill the whole way! I am so out of shape! But we finally made it and it was very worth it! There were several buildings on the property… barn, clerk’s office, salt house, gardener’s house, slave quarters, etc. There was a line to get into the mansion, but there is a lawn there and people in period dress were out there having “picnics”, giving concerts, dancing, mingling with the guests, etc. It was very neat and made the time pass by quickly.
We toured the house and there were guides on every level, telling us interesting tidbits about the time period and the Washingtons. So much of the house is from that time… including the banisters on the stairs… Washington had them installed himself. There is a beautiful view from the front porch… Across the river, they have turned that land into a state park and kept it looking almost exactly like it did during Washington’s time… nothing but trees and greenery… he loved the view from his front porch, across the Potomoc River.
After finishing the mansion, we headed back to the visitor’s center and lunch. We ate in the café and then visited the shops there. We had way too much fun shopping! It was after 3 by this time, and we headed back to DC. Traffic was heavy by this time, but we made it just fine. We ordered from a local pizza place for dinner… Mom got stromboli and I got lasagna… It was huge and delicious!! I was behind on my journaling so between that, checking out Facebook, talking to Tracy and Stacey, and checking e-mail, it was after 11 before I went to bed and I literally threw on pjs, took out my contacts, and crawled in the bed! I woke up the next morning with my earrings still in my ears!! LOL!
Oh, and when Tracy got home from work and found that the motion detector had went off at the house this morning. The only thing we can figure is that a cat jumped high enough to set it off! I would have loved to have seen that!
Friday, May 22, 2009
Day 6 of Washington Trip: Thursday
Mom and I slept in a little today… as a matter of fact, when I got up, Mom wasn’t up yet. That is unheard of. So I got a little worried… but she was just that tired. She hopped right up when I went and checked on her and we got ready to go to Arlington National Cemetery.
We drove there… with Samantha, my GPS, it’s not very hard. The only thing is that buses and taxis will run you over here. And everyone else will use any excuse to blow the horn at you. It doesn’t matter that 10 cars are blocking your path through an intersection; the car behind you will lay on the horn. But it really isn’t too hard to get around… parking is the only problem. There is no parking downtown unless you want to pay $12-15 a day. The Metro stations even charge for parking during the week. But Arlington has parking at its visitor’s center. They charge you, but it’s reasonable.
Again, there were tour buses everywhere!! We went into the visitor’s center and purchased tickets to ride the Tour Mobile. They have a great set up here. The tour trolley takes you to three places at Arlington: Kennedy’s grave, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and Arlington House (the home of Robert E. Lee). Well, you get off the trolley at the first stop and you have no limit on how long you can spend there – you just catch the next trolley as it comes by. Plus it saved our poor tired feet and swollen ankles when we didn’t have to walk the cemetery – as it is HUGE. Acres and acres.
Anyway, we saw John F. and Jackie Kennedy’s graves first. It was nothing like I had imagined. Everything seems larger on TV, I guess. Plus, for some reason, I thought his, at least, was above ground. I don’t know why, but that’s what I thought. We also walked over to Robert Kennedy’s grave… it is very simple compared to his brother’s. The crowds here were atrocious… the worst was this girl who pushed in front of everyone at Robert Kennedy’s grave and then just wanted to stay there and not make room for anyone else. I finally had to say “Excuse ME” quite forcibly to get her to move. Even my mother was aggravated with her!
We then caught the trolley and headed to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We had a perfect view. They held two wreath ceremonies during the 25 minutes – ½ hour we were there before the changing of the guards. At 10:30 was the changing of the guard ceremony. It was amazing. Such precision. Such respect. Even the crowd (including all the school children) remained quiet and respectful. I bet I took 50 pictures of the ceremony!
We left this area and went to the Arlington House. The house is being re-done so all the furniture was moved out. There wasn’t much to see right now, but you got the general feel of how the house was in Lee’s time. The tour guide on the tour Tuesday night told us the story of how Arlington House became Arlington Cemetery. When the Civil War began, Robert E. Lee was living with his family at Arlington. The property actually belonged to his wife, who was Martha Washington’s grand-daughter. While Robert E. Lee did not believe in succession and did not wish for the country to go to war, he could not take sides against his beloved Virginia. So he resigned his commission with the U.S. Army and joined the Confederacy. When he did that, he was forced to pack up himself, his wife, and their seven children and move to Richmond. His West Point classmate, Montgomery Meigs, who was a General in the U.S. Army, never forgave Lee for going to the Confederacy. Probably out of revenge, Meigs suggested that Arlington be used as a military burial ground. Based on his recommendation, the estate was turned into Arlington National Cemetery in 1864. Robert E. Lee and his family never lived there again. As a matter of face, the Union government took the property away from Mrs. Lee for non-payment of taxes. She actually sent a messenger with the tax payment, but the government turned the messenger away – demanding that Mrs. Lee herself come pay the taxes. It was impossible for Mrs. Lee to travel to the north, of course. Years later, her son sued the government and won the property back. He sold part of the property, which held the cemetery, to the government. After the war, Mrs. Lee wanted to see her old home and had her driver take her there in her carriage. Once they arrived, and she saw all the soldiers’ graves around her home and barely recognized anything else, she was so heartbroken, she did not even get out of the carriage. She died a few months later.
We left Arlington and proceeded on our quest to find lunch. Food seems to be difficult to come by in Washington. There is no suburbia here… it’s all downtown city. Therefore, most of the restaurants are in areas where there is no parking… or if there is parking, it is very expensive parking. Since we were staying out so far, it makes it difficult to find food when we’re out at the condo. So when we left Arlington, we drove toward a restaurant I found on the GPS… only to find it was in a downtown area in Virginia, with no parking nearby. So we rode back toward our condo without finding anywhere… then past our condo without finding anywhere… finally we found a seafood market and got lunch. It was 2 pm before we got back to the condo.
We stayed in the rest of the afternoon. I took a nap, but felt worse when I awoke, since my sinuses were all messed up. That cleared up shortly, thank goodness.
We got ready for our evening, and I called for a taxi. They showed up on time and we were off to the Kennedy Center to the symphony! The National Symphony performed a selection of movie themes, along with a screen showing pictures of the directors, composers, and actors associated with the film. It was excellent… I especially enjoyed the compilation of music from Casablanca! We controlled ourselves and didn’t run around the center taking pictures… no one else was and we really didn’t want to look like country come to town! But I did manage to sneak a couple of pictures (without flash)! And while waiting for a taxi after the show, a nice lady behind us in line took a couple of pictures of us. So we have the evening covered for a scrapbook page!
Taxis were slow in coming, but we finally got one and got back about 11:30. That would explain why I didn’t update here last night. :)
We drove there… with Samantha, my GPS, it’s not very hard. The only thing is that buses and taxis will run you over here. And everyone else will use any excuse to blow the horn at you. It doesn’t matter that 10 cars are blocking your path through an intersection; the car behind you will lay on the horn. But it really isn’t too hard to get around… parking is the only problem. There is no parking downtown unless you want to pay $12-15 a day. The Metro stations even charge for parking during the week. But Arlington has parking at its visitor’s center. They charge you, but it’s reasonable.
Again, there were tour buses everywhere!! We went into the visitor’s center and purchased tickets to ride the Tour Mobile. They have a great set up here. The tour trolley takes you to three places at Arlington: Kennedy’s grave, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and Arlington House (the home of Robert E. Lee). Well, you get off the trolley at the first stop and you have no limit on how long you can spend there – you just catch the next trolley as it comes by. Plus it saved our poor tired feet and swollen ankles when we didn’t have to walk the cemetery – as it is HUGE. Acres and acres.
Anyway, we saw John F. and Jackie Kennedy’s graves first. It was nothing like I had imagined. Everything seems larger on TV, I guess. Plus, for some reason, I thought his, at least, was above ground. I don’t know why, but that’s what I thought. We also walked over to Robert Kennedy’s grave… it is very simple compared to his brother’s. The crowds here were atrocious… the worst was this girl who pushed in front of everyone at Robert Kennedy’s grave and then just wanted to stay there and not make room for anyone else. I finally had to say “Excuse ME” quite forcibly to get her to move. Even my mother was aggravated with her!
We then caught the trolley and headed to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We had a perfect view. They held two wreath ceremonies during the 25 minutes – ½ hour we were there before the changing of the guards. At 10:30 was the changing of the guard ceremony. It was amazing. Such precision. Such respect. Even the crowd (including all the school children) remained quiet and respectful. I bet I took 50 pictures of the ceremony!
We left this area and went to the Arlington House. The house is being re-done so all the furniture was moved out. There wasn’t much to see right now, but you got the general feel of how the house was in Lee’s time. The tour guide on the tour Tuesday night told us the story of how Arlington House became Arlington Cemetery. When the Civil War began, Robert E. Lee was living with his family at Arlington. The property actually belonged to his wife, who was Martha Washington’s grand-daughter. While Robert E. Lee did not believe in succession and did not wish for the country to go to war, he could not take sides against his beloved Virginia. So he resigned his commission with the U.S. Army and joined the Confederacy. When he did that, he was forced to pack up himself, his wife, and their seven children and move to Richmond. His West Point classmate, Montgomery Meigs, who was a General in the U.S. Army, never forgave Lee for going to the Confederacy. Probably out of revenge, Meigs suggested that Arlington be used as a military burial ground. Based on his recommendation, the estate was turned into Arlington National Cemetery in 1864. Robert E. Lee and his family never lived there again. As a matter of face, the Union government took the property away from Mrs. Lee for non-payment of taxes. She actually sent a messenger with the tax payment, but the government turned the messenger away – demanding that Mrs. Lee herself come pay the taxes. It was impossible for Mrs. Lee to travel to the north, of course. Years later, her son sued the government and won the property back. He sold part of the property, which held the cemetery, to the government. After the war, Mrs. Lee wanted to see her old home and had her driver take her there in her carriage. Once they arrived, and she saw all the soldiers’ graves around her home and barely recognized anything else, she was so heartbroken, she did not even get out of the carriage. She died a few months later.
We left Arlington and proceeded on our quest to find lunch. Food seems to be difficult to come by in Washington. There is no suburbia here… it’s all downtown city. Therefore, most of the restaurants are in areas where there is no parking… or if there is parking, it is very expensive parking. Since we were staying out so far, it makes it difficult to find food when we’re out at the condo. So when we left Arlington, we drove toward a restaurant I found on the GPS… only to find it was in a downtown area in Virginia, with no parking nearby. So we rode back toward our condo without finding anywhere… then past our condo without finding anywhere… finally we found a seafood market and got lunch. It was 2 pm before we got back to the condo.
We stayed in the rest of the afternoon. I took a nap, but felt worse when I awoke, since my sinuses were all messed up. That cleared up shortly, thank goodness.
We got ready for our evening, and I called for a taxi. They showed up on time and we were off to the Kennedy Center to the symphony! The National Symphony performed a selection of movie themes, along with a screen showing pictures of the directors, composers, and actors associated with the film. It was excellent… I especially enjoyed the compilation of music from Casablanca! We controlled ourselves and didn’t run around the center taking pictures… no one else was and we really didn’t want to look like country come to town! But I did manage to sneak a couple of pictures (without flash)! And while waiting for a taxi after the show, a nice lady behind us in line took a couple of pictures of us. So we have the evening covered for a scrapbook page!
Taxis were slow in coming, but we finally got one and got back about 11:30. That would explain why I didn’t update here last night. :)
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Day 5 of Washington Trip: Wednesday
Got to sleep until 6:30 this morning! Yea! Got ready and walked the ½ mile to the bus stop for the X2 bus. Took it to H and 7th Streets. Went into Starbucks and got a drink and something to eat. Walked a couple of blocks and saw a park with benches so we sat down to enjoy our breakfast. After we ate, I looked at the map and realized we had walked the wrong way on 7th Street! So we reversed course. We were in Chinatown and there are all sorts of restaurants, stores, and theatres. Mom even saw an Irish Pub with the name in Chinese underneath! LOL The Hooters restaurant also had the name written in Chinese. I did not know that the Chinese had that word in their vocabulary! LOL
We got to the Crime & Punishment Museum a little after 10. Even though our tickets were for 11, they let us right in, no waiting. There was no one ahead of us! They told us we could take pictures, just without flash. It was a very neat place… and another overload of information. It started with medieval forms of punishment and moved to the Salem Witch trials to the Old West outlaws such as Doc Holliday and Jesse James to the 1930’s Capone era to modern day criminals such as Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and the Unabomber. There was also a section with unsolved cases. And a “fake” crime scene where you follow the evidence right through a CSI lab, complete with the body lying on the autopsy table!! There were lots of interactive things throughout the museum.
We were very fortunate that only one VERY large school group came through soon after we entered the museum. They went on past us and then we had the place almost to ourselves! It was great! Lastly, we went down to the studio where they tape America’s Most Wanted. Alas, just my luck, John Walsh was not in town and they were not taping today. But it was neat to see the studio… it looks SO much smaller in person.
As you leave the exhibit area, they snap your picture and put it up on a screen with a bunch of other mug shots! Funny stuff!
Of course, we visited the gift shop… I got a pair of handcuff earrings… just like Beth Chapman’s… LOL.
It was 1:30 before we left there… so we found a McDonald’s and ate some lunch. Then we walked to the Ford’s Theatre. It was an absolute zoo there! Kids and people EVERYWHERE. There were 4-5 buses on this one block at all times. We were there early and they wouldn’t let us in until our appointment time at 3. Then they told us that we couldn’t be in line in the lobby – we had to be in line outside. That was fine until it was time to go in and they took the line in the lobby first! To have so many tourists, many of these places are not very organized! Anyway, we finally went in and were seated in the theatre. There was the box were Lincoln was shot… decorated as it was that very night. A park ranger came out and told us the history of the theatre and the story of that night in April 1865. Our ticket to the theatre was supposed to include the Peterson House, which was the boarding house across the street where Lincoln died. Well, the line to get in there was forever long… Mom and I looked at each other and said, “That’s just the room where he died – let’s go!” We stopped in a souvenir shop, bought some more stuff, and caught the D6 bus. We were so tired and sore by then…. Riding on the bus sounded like heaven – at least we’d be sitting down. Thank goodness we didn’t have to wait long.
We had started talking with a really nice lady at the bus stop. So once the crowd thinned out on the bus, we moved and sat next to her and was continuing our conversation. Another lady on a cell phone was on the other side of the lady. To my left was a lady with a cane. Across from us was this man who had a backpack, two other bags, a couple of coats, headphones, etc. Pretty sure he was homeless. Well, he was talking constantly. People thought for awhile that he was talking to the lady next to me. I actually wondered at first if he was practicing something he was listening to on his headphones. But it turned out that he was just crazy. Which became apparent to everyone once another man boarded the bus and was standing up front… with one foot over the yellow line. Well, all of a sudden crazy man jumped up, yelling and complaining, went to the front and was telling the driver that he needed to make that man move back behind the yellow line because it could cause the driver to wreck. And he wanted to be safe on this bus! That was bad enough, but then the man standing in front that crazy guy was talking about started arguing with him. Back and forth. The women around us and the bus driver started telling him to let it go – it wasn’t worth it. The woman next to me even stuck her cane in between them a couple of times! But being a man, he just wouldn’t give it up. I just knew they were going to come to blows at any moment and all of us would be in the path. This went on for a couple of blocks and then finally crazy man got even more mad and grabbed up all his stuff and wanted off the bus. Standing man told him not until a bus stop and wouldn’t let him by. People were begging him to let the crazy guy off. We finally came to a bus stop and standing man still had to be difficult and not let crazy man by until we had come to a complete stop. Insane! But crazy guy did get off, stood there facing the bus, threw down his bags, ripped off his jacket, put his hands on his hips and glared! Everyone laughed. The women around us swore this was normally a calm and quiet bus! As we got to the end of the line, the lady with the cane, the lady from the bus stop, Mom and me were all who were left on the bus. We were all laughing and talking about what happened with the driver. He was so enjoying it. He said we were his best trip of the day!
We transferred to the B2 bus (which luckily lets us off only 3 blocks from the condo) and got back here about 4:30. We haven’t done much since then. Ordered a pizza and now we’re watching POTC: Dead Man’s Chest… my favorite of the trilogy.
We’re headed to Arlington National Cemetery in the morning. And we’re driving there!
We got to the Crime & Punishment Museum a little after 10. Even though our tickets were for 11, they let us right in, no waiting. There was no one ahead of us! They told us we could take pictures, just without flash. It was a very neat place… and another overload of information. It started with medieval forms of punishment and moved to the Salem Witch trials to the Old West outlaws such as Doc Holliday and Jesse James to the 1930’s Capone era to modern day criminals such as Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and the Unabomber. There was also a section with unsolved cases. And a “fake” crime scene where you follow the evidence right through a CSI lab, complete with the body lying on the autopsy table!! There were lots of interactive things throughout the museum.
We were very fortunate that only one VERY large school group came through soon after we entered the museum. They went on past us and then we had the place almost to ourselves! It was great! Lastly, we went down to the studio where they tape America’s Most Wanted. Alas, just my luck, John Walsh was not in town and they were not taping today. But it was neat to see the studio… it looks SO much smaller in person.
As you leave the exhibit area, they snap your picture and put it up on a screen with a bunch of other mug shots! Funny stuff!
Of course, we visited the gift shop… I got a pair of handcuff earrings… just like Beth Chapman’s… LOL.
It was 1:30 before we left there… so we found a McDonald’s and ate some lunch. Then we walked to the Ford’s Theatre. It was an absolute zoo there! Kids and people EVERYWHERE. There were 4-5 buses on this one block at all times. We were there early and they wouldn’t let us in until our appointment time at 3. Then they told us that we couldn’t be in line in the lobby – we had to be in line outside. That was fine until it was time to go in and they took the line in the lobby first! To have so many tourists, many of these places are not very organized! Anyway, we finally went in and were seated in the theatre. There was the box were Lincoln was shot… decorated as it was that very night. A park ranger came out and told us the history of the theatre and the story of that night in April 1865. Our ticket to the theatre was supposed to include the Peterson House, which was the boarding house across the street where Lincoln died. Well, the line to get in there was forever long… Mom and I looked at each other and said, “That’s just the room where he died – let’s go!” We stopped in a souvenir shop, bought some more stuff, and caught the D6 bus. We were so tired and sore by then…. Riding on the bus sounded like heaven – at least we’d be sitting down. Thank goodness we didn’t have to wait long.
We had started talking with a really nice lady at the bus stop. So once the crowd thinned out on the bus, we moved and sat next to her and was continuing our conversation. Another lady on a cell phone was on the other side of the lady. To my left was a lady with a cane. Across from us was this man who had a backpack, two other bags, a couple of coats, headphones, etc. Pretty sure he was homeless. Well, he was talking constantly. People thought for awhile that he was talking to the lady next to me. I actually wondered at first if he was practicing something he was listening to on his headphones. But it turned out that he was just crazy. Which became apparent to everyone once another man boarded the bus and was standing up front… with one foot over the yellow line. Well, all of a sudden crazy man jumped up, yelling and complaining, went to the front and was telling the driver that he needed to make that man move back behind the yellow line because it could cause the driver to wreck. And he wanted to be safe on this bus! That was bad enough, but then the man standing in front that crazy guy was talking about started arguing with him. Back and forth. The women around us and the bus driver started telling him to let it go – it wasn’t worth it. The woman next to me even stuck her cane in between them a couple of times! But being a man, he just wouldn’t give it up. I just knew they were going to come to blows at any moment and all of us would be in the path. This went on for a couple of blocks and then finally crazy man got even more mad and grabbed up all his stuff and wanted off the bus. Standing man told him not until a bus stop and wouldn’t let him by. People were begging him to let the crazy guy off. We finally came to a bus stop and standing man still had to be difficult and not let crazy man by until we had come to a complete stop. Insane! But crazy guy did get off, stood there facing the bus, threw down his bags, ripped off his jacket, put his hands on his hips and glared! Everyone laughed. The women around us swore this was normally a calm and quiet bus! As we got to the end of the line, the lady with the cane, the lady from the bus stop, Mom and me were all who were left on the bus. We were all laughing and talking about what happened with the driver. He was so enjoying it. He said we were his best trip of the day!
We transferred to the B2 bus (which luckily lets us off only 3 blocks from the condo) and got back here about 4:30. We haven’t done much since then. Ordered a pizza and now we’re watching POTC: Dead Man’s Chest… my favorite of the trilogy.
We’re headed to Arlington National Cemetery in the morning. And we’re driving there!
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