Once we were done in DC, we headed for Virginia. We spent the night in Virginia Beach, which was absolutely beautiful. The view below was actually taken from our hotel room… there was literally boardwalk and sand between us and the water. The weather was lovely as well! We didn’t find much to do there, so we stopped at Bad Ass Coffee for some breakfast and headed on our way.
Virginia Beach
Our friends Chris and Kassie had recommended we take the long way from Virginia to North Carolina via the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was an absolutely stunning drive and I got to check another item off my bucket list – to see Fall on the East Coast.
Fall On The Blue Ridge Parkway
We pulled off down a little back road to this hole in the wall place called “Gertie’s” for lunch. It claimed fresh BBQ daily and all of the locals were there, so we decided to give it a try. The food was really good! We headed back out on the Parkway for the rest of our drive.
The views from this road were absolutely stunning – you literally drive along the ridge and can see all the different valleys. The trees were beautiful as well, although we were probably just a few days late for the actual peak. Poor Mike got really good at stopping in the middle of the road without getting us killed every time I yelled “STOP!” to take a picture.
Blue Ridge Views
That was pretty much it for Virginia… next stop, North Carolina!
The next stop on our road trip was beautiful Washington DC. We spent two days there and could have easily spent more… they were two very jam-packed days full of lots of walking.
On day one we decided to try to hit up all of the memorials, monuments, etc. Our first stop was the White House. I was really excited to see the White House garden… they keep bees! While we were there, they closed the street we were on and drove some big caravan by… lots of police cars and black SUVs. The President? Maybe. Sasha and Malia going to school? Maybe. It was neat to see, either way.
The White House
I loved this picture – as we were walking away from the gates near the White House, we saw this mounted officer giving her partner a little break:
The Washington Monument was under construction. Apparently there was an earthquake a couple of years ago that did some damage to the monument… nothing structural, but stuff that needed to be fixed. It was kind of neat to see it with all of the scaffolding.
Washington Monument Getting A Face Lift
We then headed to the Lincoln Memorial via the National Mall. I loved standing on the steps and looking back at the Washington Memorial and across the pool.
Us @ The Lincoln Memorial
Then we went on to the Korean War Memorial… this one was really moving to me. It features a series of stainless steel statues that represent a squad on patrol. It’s especially moving since I know my grandpa was there.
Korean War Memorial
After that, we headed to the Vietnam War Memorial. This one was very special as well… my father-in-law and my uncle both fought there. I was in awe of the sheer number of names on the wall.
Vietnam War Memorial Wall
Finally, we walked across the river (technically into Virginia) to see Arlington National Cemetery. This was something that I’ve always wanted to see… I felt honored to be there among the so many who gave their lives to our country. Yes, I know that not all there died in battle, but all did in some way serve.
Arlington National Cemetery
There was a little bit of comedy. Arlington allows a spouse and up to two children under 18 to be buried with a service member. As we passed this headstone I noticed something strange… see if you pick up on it:
Two Wives
So, to me, at first glance, it looked like he buried his two wives together (which he did). Once you look closer, you notice that the first wife died the same year as the infant son… probably during childbirth. Still…
We also had the chance to watch the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The whole process was very cool to see and so respectful.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
On the second day we decided to hit the Smithsonian museums. There are bunch of them, so we narrowed it down to two that we really wanted to see. The first was the National Museum of Natural History. I think the highlight of that one for me was the dinosaur exhibits. To be honest, I was a little disappointed in the museum. Maybe too many people just built it up too much, but I felt like there wasn’t anything that I hadn’t seen before. Ok, except the Hope Diamond. Don’t get me wrong, it was beautiful, but anything that big ends up looking fake to me, even though I know it’s not. The second museum that we went to was the National Air and Space Museum. This one was actually really cool… I wasn’t expecting to be that interested (Mike wanted to go there) but was surprised by the really cool exhibits they had. I loved seeing the old space craft… and was amazed at the fact that people actually agreed to be shot into space in them!
From there we headed into Virginia, but that’s another post!
The next state on our road trip was beautiful Pennsylvania. After a rough start in Philly/New Jersey, we returned to Philadelphia to check out a couple of the key attractions. The first was Independence Hall. We didn’t actually go in because the lines were crazy long, but it was a beautiful building to look at. This is where both the Declaration of Independence was signed and where the US Constitution was debated and adopted. It’s always cool to me to stand somewhere that history was made. We didn’t go see the Liberty Bell because the line for that was super long too.
Independence Hall
We stopped for lunch at the Famous 4th Street Deli for lunch. Let’s just say that they don’t do things small there… Mike had an enormous sandwich and I had a pretty good grilled cheese. We ordered fries that came in a gigantic mound. The food was awesome and the walls were lined with pictures of famous people who visited – from movie stars to presidents. I definitely recommend visiting this place!
After lunch we started our drive across the state towards Gettysburg. Along the way, we passed through Lancaster County, home of the Amish.
Amish Buggy
Gettysburg was absolutely amazing. It took a lot longer than we had expected… we spent an entire day doing the auto tour… you basically drive yourself to sixteen different points on the battlefield based on a map that the visitors center provides. I was amazed at how big the battlefield actually was. We started with the museum which walked you through the battle and had some great artifacts. I really liked the self tour… we could go at our own pace and take time for lunch when we felt like it.
Gettysburg Battlefield
There were amazing monuments scattered throughout the battlefield – both to the North and South. The North basically had a monument for each regiment, while the South went state by state. They were absolutely beautiful and reflected the individuality of each group. I liked the Alabama memorial (my grandpa is from there!):
Alabama Memorial
Even though we had a rough start in Pennsylvania, we ended up having a wonderful time. The weather was beautiful and we really loved seeing the sights!
The year that Mike and I got engaged we were on a road trip… from Seattle into Canada. The year prior we had done one through Wyoming. Last year for our first anniversary, we went up the Northern California coast and into Oregon. We’ve decided that we pretty much love those kinds of trips – they give us the freedom to go where we want, when we want. He’s even convinced me that it’s ok to book your hotel rooms the day of. Those of you who know me well know that something like that totally freaks out the OCD in me. But it works, we have fun, and we’ve come up with some great stories. We’ve decided that we’re going to continue the tradition and do a road trip for every anniversary.
This year, we decided to fly out to the East Coast and rent a car. We flew into Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and drove through Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Washington DC, New Jersey, North Carolina, and South Carolina. It was a seriously great adventure! I’ve decided that there’s way too much to post in a single post, so I’m going to go by state. Today’s state is New Jersey.
Wait, you ask. Didn’t you fly into Philly? Yes, we did. I had booked two hotel rooms – the very first night we were there and the very last night, just to make things easy. I figured we got there late and it’d be nice to note have to think about where we were going. Our flights were surprisingly smooth – one layover and it was virtually non-existent. We landed in Philly at around 9pm and headed towards the hotel, which was just across the bridge in New Jersey. That’s where it all went wrong.
Apparently, I forgot to look at the hotel reviews when I booked it on Expedia:
We asked for a non-smoking room and the room we were given REEKED of cigarettes.
This room was infested with bed bugs.
First impression – stepped on a used condom walking into the hotel.
Those are the nice ones. There are also discussions of “ladies of the night”, cigarette burns on the sheets, drug transactions, and all of the seedy neighboring establishments. When we got there, the “manager” checked us in and gave us our keys. We went to the room and when I opened the door a serious smokey smell came out… when I had specifically requested a non-smoking room. We went back down and asked to change rooms… the manager asked us to come with him. He went to open the other room that he planned to give us only to find that the room was already open – and he muttered something about someone staying the prior night that shouldn’t have.
If that wasn’t enough, I also didn’t know that it was in the lovely little city of Camden. For those of you unfamiliar with Camden, three of its mayors have been jailed for corruption and at the end of 2012 the FBI ranked it #1 violent crime per capita of cities with over 50,000 residents. Had I known all of this, I may have chosen a different hotel… despite the fact that it looked really close to where we wanted to go. Needless to say, we politely asked for our money back and moved on. Word to the wise, don’t stay at the Days Inn Brooklawn Philadelphia. Just sayin’.
By this point, it was almost 11pm, we’d been up all day and really just wanted to go to bed. We made the 1/2 hour or so drive to Ocean City, NJ where we booked a lovely hotel that literally was directly on the beach. MUCH better! The next morning we woke up and drove into Atlantic City. We wandered down the boardwalk and checked out the sights.
The Atlantic City BoardwalkMike & I On The Jersey ShoreWho Knew?
From there we headed back into Pennsylvania… stay tuned for the next post! I’ll eventually get around to getting all of the pictures up on Facebook… I’m home sick with a heck of a cold right now, so I’m trying to do some serious resting.
Last night I went to the last concert of the megaticket series – the Night Train Tour featuring Thomas Rhett, Jake Owen, and Jason Aldean. Amber and I went for our traditional In-N-Out dinner before the show. I played with my new curling iron that does these beachy waves… I love it!
Rocking The Waves
I was seriously impressed with Thomas Rhett… out of the three acts, I thought he was the best overall entertainer. He had a natural ease on the stage and got the crowd really involved. I’m shocked to see on Wikipedia that he’s only twenty-three years old… he definitely performs with maturity beyond his years! Jake Owen was really good too… I couldn’t remember any of his songs, until he actually got on stage. Turns out I knew a lot of them! Then it was time for the main event… Jason Aldean. He did all of his big hits and was just a blast to watch. I absolutely love “Night Train“… it’s one of my favorite songs right now! I was exhausted after the show… we sang and danced almost the entire time!
One of the most shocking events of the night happened on my way back from the bathroom… as I was climbing the stairs back to our lawn seats, I noticed a group of people huddled around something on the ground. Once I got closer, I realized it was a person… to be clear, a girl. She was screaming bloody murder and was being held down by a bunch of the rock med people. I have no idea what was going on, but she was clearly out of control. Crazy!!!
It was a great time! This is the last concert on my calendar for the year… unless something pops up before the year ends. We’ll see!
So I’m a little bit behind with my concert posts… a couple of weeks ago Amber and I headed out to Sleep Train amphitheater to see the Light The Fuse Tour with Keith Urban, Little Big Town, and Dustin Lynch. To be honest, I was most excited to see Little Big Town… I don’t mind Keith Urban, but he’s never been my favorite. In fact, most of his show felt like an epic guitar solo… over and over and over.
Little Big Town was absolutely amazing. I’ve always loved them, but they are phenomenal live. Their harmonies are amazingly tight! They did all of their big hits, and even did a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Listen To The Wind Blow”. I think since I sang harmonies with my dad and sister growing up that I’m drawn to that kind of music… to me there’s nothing sweeter than beautiful harmony!
Lately Shadow has been a little snuggle bug… and I’m happy to snuggle with him! But, the minute Daddy gets home, he wants nothing to do with me! I keep trying to remind him who actually rescued him, but apparently the person who gives him the most biscuits wins! Happy Thursday!
It’s not often that I post about politics. I’m very much of the mindset that you are more than welcome to your opinion and I am welcome to mine. I don’t dislike people because of their beliefs and am proud to be a part of a society that allows political freedom and choice.
Until today. The long and short of it is that our government needed to have a finalized budget by midnight last night in order to avoid a government shutdown. The Republicans seem to be stuck on the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), which went into enactment today. They refused to ratify the budget (I know, I’m making it very simple) and therefore forced the country into a shutdown. Over a bill that will provide health insurance to the roughly 15% of people who are uninsured today. A bill that the people of the United States of America voted for. That the Supreme Court ruled as constitutional.
The best part of all of this is that Congress still gets paid. Thanks to the 27th Amendment, Congress does not have the ability to change their pay, which prevents them from giving themselves raises. That’s a good thing. The bad side of that is it also prevents them from freezing or cutting their pay. Here’s the crappy part… some of the Congress members such as Republican John Fleming (from Louisiana) have said they would donate their pay to a charity during the shutdown because “obviously we need to share the pain of the American people“. Yes, because the thousands of furloughed federal works who have lost pay surely feel that some rich congressman donating his paycheck to charity makes it all ok.
Regardless of which side of the political spectrum you’re on, I think we can all agree that this is a childish, despicable act on the part of Congress. I am blown away that in a time that the American economy is just starting to rebound we would unnecessarily force ourselves into a shutdown that has no impact whatsoever on politicians and is devastating to the American people. What kind of statement are we sending to the rest of the world?
A few months ago my mom found a Groupon that sounded silly, but we both said “what the heck” and bought it. Fast forward to 8am on Sunday morning:
Just Another Day With A Hawk
Yup, our Groupon was for a falconry lesson at West Coast Falconry. Neither of us really knew what to expect but thought it would be a fun experience. It definitely was! We got there and spent some time checking the falcons and hawks out. They are absolutely beautiful birds!
Our hawk (pictured above on my arm) was a beautiful Harris Hawk named Don Diego Alejandro Santiago Saragossa Inigo Montoya Del Gato, or “Diego” to his buddies. He was really well behaved and I was amazed at how gently he landed on me!
Calling Diego
We used the hawk because they are more like a pack animal – in the wild they hunt with their family group while most other birds of prey prefer to hunt alone. Apparently the falcons are a bit difficult and have to get to know their trainer before they cooperate. They’ve actually become one of the most popular hunting birds in the world! Diego was a great bird… he did exactly what we asked him and showed just how smart these birds actually are!
I’ll post the rest of the pictures to my Facebook page… head on over to check them out!
This morning I ran twelve miles before work. It was a beautiful morning – I started with four miles on the treadmill because it was still dark out, and let’s be real, I have no desire to be eaten by a mountain lion. In fact, I’m scared to death. So, I did some time on the TM and then headed out to my normal road to finish the last eight. It was absolutely beautiful – dare I say that fall is almost here? It was cool and clear and I got to see the sun come up. Not a bad way to kick off your Friday!
While I was running I got a text message from my sister. It was Miss Chloe saying good morning:
Good Morning!!!
Being the fun aunt that I am, I decided to say good morning back in the same way (so that she understands, of course):
Good Morning Chloe!
Yup, running actually makes you crazy. Just a little.
Down The Road I Go 