I should be a tour guide

July 30, 2014

Five states in one day, and a ridiculous amount of things seen.  We did it!  Started off the day saying goodbye and a big thank you to Julie and David in Virginia.  Then we drove to Baltimore, Maryland to see Fort McHenry where Francis Scott Key was inspired to write The Star Spangled Banner.  While we were there, I couldn’t help myself – we had to sneak over to the Westminster Burying Ground and Catacombs where one of my favorite tragic authors, Edgar Allan Poe, is buried.  It’s a very cool, old cemetery and would be worth visiting even without the memorial to the master of the macabre. 

We then made a b-line out of Baltimore and arrived in Philadelphia with only minutes to spare before our scheduled tour of Independence Hall where both the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were signed.  Talk about some living history!  While we were there, we made the obligatory visit to the Liberty Bell and ate a Philly Cheesesteak.  Of course, we couldn’t get out of Philly without also getting a picture with the Rocky statue and running up the Rocky stairs.  I also wanted to visit Poe’s house because it was an awesome experience with Jenny, Brad and my other history teacher friends when we came four years ago, but I checked before we left and saw that it’s only open on weekends now – the same is true of the Poe house in Baltimore.  Oh well, I’ll have to return someday.

After Philadelphia we continued our journey north and eventually checked into our hotel in Jersey City.  We are staying here because it is close to Hoboken, New Jersey, the one place all three of our kids specially requested we visit while on the East Coast.  The love the TV shows Cake Boss and the Next Great Baker – especially Zac – and they really wanted to visit the original Carlo’s Bakery in Hoboken where it all started.  So we made it into line before closing and were the last people in the shop – the kids had all earned and saved money specifically for this stop so mom, dad and Uncle Mike kicked in a little as well, and we left with a few t-shirts and way more baked goods than our family and Dee and Mike can eat – if any of our friends happen to be near Jersey City, stop in and share some cannoli, chocolate mouse cake and brownies with us – we’ve got plenty left.    

Oh say can you see?

Keep yer powder dry

A Cubs fan eating a Philly cheesesteak?

Getting stronger...

Happy campers

Hello, Mr. President, may we come in? Ok, we'll settle for a picture.

July 29, 2014

Another great but very random day.  Not as much walking today, but a lot of running around.  We slept in a little after our marathon day yesterday, but then we drove in to Fort Lincoln Cemetery and met up with Becky and Dee’s cousin Carol and her husband Harry – very sweet people.  We visited Becky’s grandfather’s grave along with a few other relatives, and then we drove around the cemetery.  It’s pretty cool, and it had once been part of a fort that was built to defend Washington DC if needed during the Civil War.  We had lunch with Carol and Harry, and then we switched back to tourist mode.  We had another amazing day with weather for this time of year.  It was even cooler today than yesterday and not really any noticeable humidity either. 

We all met up with Greg at the Air and Space Smithsonian Museum and spent a little while there.  A few of us went over and visited the Native American Museum as well.  When we left there, we wanted to go over and take a picture in front of the White House.  The only problem was that traffic around the Executive Mansion was crazy with nowhere to park.  I finally played the shell game to get everyone except myself to the White House (I’ve been there several times with student groups).  We had one of the cars parked a little ways away, and I was just going to drive around or find a place to wait in the other car.  Once we finally decided on that, I miraculously found an amazing parking space, and I was able to join everyone. 

We’re now back at Julie and David’s house for dinner and our last night here.  We’ve seen a lot in DC in a short time as well as laying Kit to rest.   So far, so good. 

Today is the day

July 28, 2014

What a day!  It all started early this morning getting ready and heading in to DC for Kit’s interment.  The five of us had come all the way cross country as had Becky’s sisters Kaye and Dee and her brother-in-laws Mike and Greg.  Her cousin Amy was in DC for an education rally so she made it to, and then our hostess Julie and one of Kaye’s friends Amy rounded out our number.  Not bad for an interment all the way on the other side of the country from where Kit had lived the last 30+ years of her life.  We already had a well-attended memorial service for her back in March. 

The service was short but very nice.  I’m glad we all made it here.  Grandma Kit will be missed, but we know we’ll see her again someday.  Afterward, we decided to do some sightseeing in Washington DC.  I have been here several times with school groups, but we had some people in our group who hadn’t been to DC before.  Julie and I tag teamed acting as tour guides.  We started in Arlington since we were already there, and we saw the Changing of the Guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, JFK’s eternal flame and some of the other famous sights at the cemetery.  Becky even found her grandparents' and uncle's graves as well as the resting places of more distant relatives.  We did a lot of walking just at Arlington, and that was only the beginning. 

We then visited several of the monuments.  We started with the Marines memorial, squeezed in some lunch, and then we hit Lincoln, Vietnam, WWII, Washington Monument, Korean, MLK, FDR and Jefferson.  I missed MLK and Jefferson because I was moving the car once and just waited to pick people up once, but I have seen them all before so I was ok letting other people see them.  Julie had a pedometer on, and she said we walked around 10 miles today.  Our kids were tired by the end of the day, but they did great.  The weather even cooperated – not too hot or muggy, a few clouds to block out the sun on and off and a nice breeze for most of the day.  Julie, who is our resident local, said that today was the best day we could hope for to see the memorials in the middle of summer.  We came back to David and Julie’s house and had pizza and ice cream for dinner.  We had a great day, but I realize that this isn’t my best post.  I'm too tired right now to be very creative.  We love you, Grandma Kit. 

Not a lot of news today...

July 27, 2014

We didn't do a lot blogworthy today.  We did go to church in a town with a funny name though.  We attended the Fuqay-Varina Ward in North Carolina this morning, and then we checked out of our hotel and drove about 5 hours to Springfield, VA.  We are staying for a few days with Aunt Dee's childhood friend Julie and her husband Dave.  Tomorrow will be the big day - the reason the whole trip started.

Visits with both sides of the family

For those of you who don't know, Grandma is in the box,
and no, that's not a Cool Hand Luke reference.

July 26, 2014

What an awesome day!  We got up this morning and headed back to the beach at the Isle of Palms.  We got there a little before 10, and that was perfect because if we had been 20 minutes later, we would have never found parking.  We spent two amazing hours at Grandma’s (and our) favorite beach.  We even had her with us.  The water was so warm – we went boogie boarding and body surfing, and we even had time to build a sand castle.  It was hard to tear the kids away, but we had to move on.

We drove 4 ½ hours northwest to just south of Raleigh, North Carolina to see my niece Tansy and her husband David.  We visited them 7 years ago when we came through on our RV trip, and we saw Tansy briefly about 4 ½ years ago when she was in California, but we don’t get to see them very much.  We had a great time with them at an amazing Mexican restaurant, a stop for ice cream, and just hanging out by the pool at our hotel while the kids swam.  It was so good to see them.  I need to do a better job at keeping in touch.  The theme parks were fun, but this is when the vacation is really starting to get more meaningful.