Two tours and some rest

East Coast Driving Trip 2015 - Day 4

This morning we kind of did the divide and conquer thing.
Hubby left early to try and get tickets for the tour at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the kids and I met him.
It all went according to plan. The kids and I met him near the Washington Monument a few minutes before a Mall tour started.
The Mall tour was through DC by Foot. You reserve your spot and then pay what you like (at the end). The tour was great, although the kids weren't quite as interested as hubby and I. A few more years of history in school and these things may mean more to them.

Part of the WWII Memorial - each star represents 100 lives lost

White House in the distance

We made it to the other end of the Mall

After our two hour walking tour, we made our way to the largest food court I can remember in the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center, which provided us with a  nice assortment of options for lunch.

And before we knew it, it was time for our 2nd tour of the day at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (where they make money). This tour is free, but you need to stand in line early in the morning to get tickets, which was what hubby did.
I think the kids enjoyed this tour a bit more than the Mall tour. In part because it was only 40 mins, instead of 2 hours. The open windows into the printing areas were a big hit, and the gentlemen working waved and had some fun signs to show us. All in all, well worth the time.

The rest of our day was more unstructured. Some rest, some errands and more rest.
We have sure had a busy time in DC.

Stats:

Miles today: 48

Miles total: 293

States Total: 3

All around the town

East Coast Driving trip - Day 3

We all slept like rocks... yay!!
That was wonderful.

So excited for the zoo and our first day in DC

Our plan today was to start at the National Zoo, then do a Hop on/Hop off style tour of the all the tourist stuff. Hopefully having time to walk through two of the Smithsonian Museums.

With a little research we decided the most efficient way to do this involved several different transportation options, starting with a taxi to the zoo.
The zoo grounds open before the buildings, so we kind of did the zoo in reverse, ending with the visitors' center.... silly us, but it worked.

We decided to eat at one of the Smithsonians for lunch, so we hit the Metro to Union Station to grab our hop on/off tour bus, or I should say "Trolley" - it was a modified bus, to look more like a trolley, but it was a bus ;)

This plan worked well for us. The kids enjoyed the Metro ride a lot, and we were able to get through half of the tour before we "hopped off" at the Museum of Natural History.
Lunch was pretty easy at the counter service style cafe they had. And we really enjoyed the exhibits.

First ride on the Metro

Yup, Scaffolding on the dome... We are told it will be ready for the next inauguration

Supreme Court

The Elephant's name is Henry... and he is undergoing some refurbishment... thus the walls
This is funny to me :)

After the Natural History fun, we planned to "Hop On" the next Trolley.... but it took a bit longer than we hoped. They say, the Trolley comes by every 30 mins. And what was the likelihood that we just missed it?
Apparently - HIGH... 25 minutes later, our Trolley pulled up. We managed to be the first in line... but no luck.
They only had room for 3... and the driver wouldn't allow us to have the youngest on a lap :(
He promised the next shuttle was "Just behind" him.

It was closer to us than he had been originally, but it was still about 10 mins out. And it only had 3 spots left - UMMMM?? However this driver was ok with a kiddo on the lap.
So we got on board. Then we had another hurdle. None of the seats were together. Oh bother.
Honestly, had our son known this going in, he might (might) have been able to muddle through, sitting next to the cute 20 something year old girl. [Editor's note: Give him a few years...] But sitting on his own.. two rows ahead of me and one row behind dad, wasn't ok. He fell apart.
He was barely keeping it together with the previous wait and then the full bus. So, his reaction wasn't a surprise to us. What was a surprise, was the kindness of a couple to give hubby and the boy their row. They sat apart and let my guys settle in - I would have hugged the women if I could have. I don't lean too heavily on the "he is Autistic" excuse, when we are out and about. But on an occasion such as this, I think I would have pulled it out. Anyway - a huge THANK YOU, to that kind couple.

So we were off to finish the tour where we left off and ride on over to the Air and Space Museum.
I think the kids enjoyed Air and Space more than Natural History. Both museums are beautiful, full of great exhibits, many of them hands-on. So we had some fun, and hopefully (fingers crossed) learned a little something, maybe?

This took us to about 5:30. And now we are all tired... 10K+ steps on our fitbits, and hungry. So we taxi'd back to the hotel. Well worth it.

I am hopeful we will all sleep well tonight.

Stats:

Miles today: 0 (well, no driving miles... but a few walking ones)

Miles total: 245

States Total: 3

One sleepy eagle

East Coast Driving Trip - Day 2

What a full day!
We woke up at 7... wait, nope. I was "lovingly" woken up by my daughter at 3:45 am :(
She was awake.. and no amount of soothing, snuggling or pleading could change that. Somehow jet lag works opposite for her... something to remember in the future.
And by 6 the boy was up and very very (very) excited about our plans for the day.
So, being the delightful wife that I am, I took the kids to breakfast and let the hubby sleep a bit more in peace. Hey, one of us should be sane today ;)

I had the wherewithal to pick up a bottled coffee drink the evening before when we hit the store. So I was caffeinated and the morning rolled along quickly.

Our destination: Romney, West Virginia and a ride on the Potomac Eagle Scenic Railroad.

The road ahead is clear

West Virginia was a new state for all of us, which meant we hooted and hollared when we saw the "Welcome to..." sign.

Hay

Our train ride awaits. Today's excursion was 4 hours, with some beautiful scenery and some amazing bald eagles.  The train goes along a branch of the Potomac where eagles nest. The views are wonderful. Truth be told, 4 hours was pushing it for me.... 3 would have been much better, but our young rail fan was beside himself with joy, which is a bit contagious.

Bald Eagle in the tree

Corn

Wheat

Enjoying the train

After soaking up the train fun, we hit the road: back to Virginia and on into DC. Our home for the next few days.

Tomorrow we tour the town!

(Forgive the title of today's post... I am working off very little sleep and I found it very amusing - Goodnight)

Stats:

Miles today: 189

Miles total: 245

States Total: 3 (+West Virginia)

East Coast Driving Trip 2015

Day 1

We are off on a new adventure!
Today we flew into Dulles International Airport, and then drove to Winchester, VA.
Why Winchester you ask?
It's about halfway between the DC area and the Potomac Eagle Excursion Train.
And that is our destination tomorrow - much to our train loving boy's delight.

In fact he is too excited to sleep at the moment, but hopefully the days travel will begin to wear on him soon, so we can all sleep.

Our flight was delightfully uneventful. We had a great crew and the time past fairly quickly. flying from one coast to the other can take ALL DAY, but with the non-stop we had today, it didn't feel like it.

We landed and before we knew it we were on the road to Panera for dinner.
We decided -- since we had breakfast in the airport and lunch on the plane -- a familiar place for dinner with comfy foods was the way to go.
We loaded up on a few necessities from the local Giant grocery store and got into our drive.
One of the shorter drives of this whole trip, but after 5 hours on a plane, we were all ready to be at the hotel.

Tomorrow a train ride and then to DC!

A bit of history: This is our first road trip since 2012. I vaguely remember when that was over thinking... "Ugh. Let's take a few years off the road trip thing." The kids had done great the year before, but 2012 it was more fighting... squabbling, and we all got sick along the way.
But here we are now a few years down the road, with more independent kids, embarking on not only our longest road trip ever, but our longest vacation ever.
(What were we thinking?)

A few pics from today... a very few, I wasn't thinking :)

Leaving Dulles airport area

Our Evening Drive

Beautiful countryside and amazing clouds

Stats:

Miles today: 56

Miles total: 56

States Total: 2 (Washington, Virginia)

YAH Mugs!!!

An update on my collection...

Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, Canada, California

Waikiki, Hawaii, San Francisco, Pike Place, Los Angeles

Lake Tahoe, Vancouver Island, Colorado, Denver, Vail

Florida, Orlando, Orange County, Houston, New Mexico

Alaska, Arizona, Phoenix, Kansas City

I have one hook left and no more wall space, but 7 mugs I hope to collect over the spring and summer..... oh well. What's a girl to do.

I had help with these... my mom and some awesome friends helped me by picking up mugs - I think 9 of the mugs shown were gifts. Amazing! Thank you!

Once again we head north

Not sure if it's the great exchange rate or a foolish sense of spontaneity, but we decided mid-morning to go to Canada.

On our way home to change clothes before we got on the road, we decided to pack some clothes and spend the night up north. Hubby got a great price on a room in the outskirts of Vancouver.

We grabbed some clothes etc, filled up the tank and headed north. Before we knew it we were crossing the border and the hotel was just a bit beyond that.

Our wait at the border

We checked in, threw our bag on the bed and headed back out.... Time to see them fishes! Vancouver Aquarium here we come!

Our cool room

more room pics

Even had a nice water feature outside

Parking was much much easier today than the last time we popped by. We did observe some protesters outside the aquarium. Three to be exact. They had signs and were yelling a bit. Not fans of aquariums apparently.

We were able to catch the tail end (no pun intended) of the beluga talk. Love the belugas! Then caught the talk about the porpoises. Really cute. Speaking of cute we also heard the sea otter talk.... Sooooo cute.

We haven't caught a keeper talk in forever and we all enjoyed the info a lot.

Now for the inside exhibits.

Jellyfish and octopus were highlights for me. No sea turtle today :(

With closing time around the corner and dinner starting to call we headed out.

Since we have room, we ordered spaghetti factory to go. Which allowed us to relax a bit more than dining at the restaurant.

After dinner we had some ipad time and got ready for bed.

Morning brought breakfast downstairs in the Holiday Inn Express breakfast area... they had a reasonable assortment of things, including a very interesting pancake machine... cool.

ipad time

We were hoping to hit the pool before checkout time... so we took a little time for our food to settle, then headed down to the pool. We weren't the only guests to have this idea. But it wasn't too crowded.

After the fun we cleaned up and checked out. We made two stops on our way out.
First to the Real Canadian Superstore....reminded me of a Super Target or the like. But they had some Joe Fresh branded things that I had been curious about, so mission accomplished.
Plus a few cadbury items... that we couldn't pass up.

Last stop before the border.... Tim Horton's, did you guess? It was surprising that I went this long without my beloved Honey Cruller... my willpower must be growing. But Yummm!!! Thank you Mr. Horton, I enjoyed that.

The border crossing was a little longer going than coming, but that isn't too surprising. It was apparently a holiday weekend up in British Columbia. We didn't notice to much in the way of crowds, but the aquarium was open longer, which worked out great for us.

Welcome home