Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Another Trip

So, for Presidency day weekend we decide to go to Washington DC for one night. It was a fun trip. We did have one problem. The night before we left I program the GPS with the address to the hotel we were staying at and saved it has Washington DC. Well the next day I got in the car and pulled it up and did not check it. No problem getting there and next thing we knew we were down driving in front of the Arlington Cemetery and Jeremy could see all of DC over the water then the GPS says "Arrive to destination on right" I am like what we are on George Washington Parkway and there is no hotels here. So with no clue what to do I just stay on George Washington Parkway.. the next thing I know we are going along the river and up the hills. Now we have a problem. Finally there is a spot to pull over at a scenic lookout. Lucky I had the address to the hotel and was able to reprogram the GPS and go in the right direction. The only problem was we still had to go up about 15 miles cause there was no place to turn around on the stretch of road.


Then we got turn around back on the highway and then I miss the exit I need. So then I eneded up in this crazy area of Rossyln part of Arlington, VA with lots of one way streets. But lucky the GPS held up to itself and redeemed it self and we finally made it.. just 45 minutes later.

Saturday when we were there it was cold and windy but still beautiful. Then Sunday it was a little colder but beautiful so I was happy the weather agree with us.

Jeremy in front of the Washington Moment
Us in front of the US capital
Jeremy with the Capital
(I was trying to do some fun pictures but he would not listen to me)
Rossyln Metro Station
(I just looked it up and this is the 3rd longest continuous span escalator in the world)
This picture is from the top..
A building in Downtown Washington DC
This was our view from our Hotel
That is Georgetown University!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Arlington Cemetery

First thing we did when we got to Washington was go to Arlington Cemetery. Easy to find from our hotel using the Metro system. It was just one stop over. What an awesome experience to be able to visit. It is a wonderful, beautiful place. Amazing how big it is! So enjoy the pictures, I don't know what else to say about it.


This is walking up to it from the Metro Station!
The House is the Arlington House or Robert E Lee's Home!
The moment behind the stone wall straight down the road is the Women of Military.
Sorry hair in face (IT WAS CRAZY WINDY)
This is us with DC in the back at the Kennedy's Sites
John F Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy
The Kennedy's Eternal Flame
I LOVE this picture
This is the amphitheater
The view at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Another View of it
Change of the Guard
I love this view also
This was Robert E. Lee house prior to the Civil War
The View of Washington DC from The Arlington House

After Dark


So since we were only spending like 48 hours in Washington DC area we knew there was no way we would get to see everything epically with it getting dark around 5pm. So we decide that instead of trying to walk around a dark city to see Moments and stuff we should just take a night tour. It was so nice to see all these places. It was also a beautiful night with a full moon. I just wished I knew how to take better pictures at night. I don't like how any of my pictures came out from Thomas Jefferson Memorial and the IWO Jima Statue. So here are my pictures:

The White House
A Church across from the White House
This is the Church every President go to before the inauguration.
The US Capital
Thomas Jefferson Memorial
The Lincoln Memorial
Inside the Lincoln Memorial
(After watching Night of the Museum so many times J said felt like he should start talking)
lol
The view from the Lincoln Memorial
You can see the Washington Moment, and the Capital in the distance kinda.
Jeremy at the Vietnam Wall
(Sorry not a good picture but I like the reflection in it)
Iwo Jima

Smithson Museum

So, we had to visit while in Washington the Smithson Museum. Now, trying to figure out what museums to see was the hard part. There are so many! So we settled for the top 3: American History, History of Natural Science and the Air and Space Museum.

Now, American History was our favorite! I would love to do it again! There is some amazing things there and so much history. Then we went to the Air and Space Museum and it was so crowd and over ran with cub scouts and little boys. We did the first floor and was kinda bored. We just did not understand a lot of it was just models and I guess growing up going to NASA in Houston and we just did Pensacola, FL Air museum a month ago so we were kinda burn out on that kind of stuff.
So then we went to the Natural History and Science Museum. We got really tired here. Also, there is some cool things here but some boring things too. We did not understand the zoo of stuff animals. I guess it was cool but when you have seen the animals live I guess I was just tired. Also this museum is running crazy with little kids looking at animals and everyone wanting to see the Dinosaur bones. Over all it was nice to see all 3 of them or what we saw of them.

The Smithson Castle
This is from 9/11 Twin towers... a beam from the 17th Floor

Dumbo: This is a Dumbo from the Dumbo Ride at Disneyland.
This is one of the original Dumbos from when Walt built it!
This is what I wanted to see
Kermit the Frog and Sam and I
These are Jim Hansen's originally puppets
Sam and I was the original TV show he did before Seaseme Street
The Beautiful Natural History Museum
The One Amazing thing we saw there
The HOPE Diamond

Petersburg, VA

So we send a day site seeing around Petersburg, VA. I love there little downtown area full of antique stores. This one had so much stuff and we would walk around laughing at some of the old stuff. Funny things that you had has kids but did not keep cause you never thought people years later would want them. lol! So anyways Petersburg offer this deal to go to 3 different museum or sites for a very cheap price so we jumped on it. We went to The old Court house museum (which now is a museum about the Siege of Petersburg and what the civilian in the town did while the war was being fought in their backyard). Then we went to CityHall Mansion. Which is just a big house that was build in the 1800s by an important family of Petersburg. Then we went to Bradford Church and Cemetery. The Cemetery is the 2nd Biggest in Virginia which is second to Arlington. Anyways it has alot of confederate soldiers buried here. Because after the war this is what they used this cemetery for. Also, there is the Bradford Church. The Bradford Church is an very old church that was build here. After the civil war they wanted to do something to remember all the confederate soldiers that are here. So they had Tiffany from Europe (dont remember full name of the artist) make stain glass windows for the church. Each state involved in the South has a window. Very beautiful, I wished I could have taken pictures of the windows but nope! All day none of the places allowed pictures on the inside. So here enjoy some pictures!

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Bradford Church
The Old Gate to the Cemetery
Just a view of the Cemetery!
Downtown Petersburg: This was an old Bank
This is the Old Courthouse and Bank
Us on City Hill Mansion.
Sorry about the rail in the picture but that was the best I could do with
self timer!
A view of the original front of the house, but now the back of the house.
This was the front until 1901 then they switch it to the other side...so both sides of the house looks the same now.
This is the view of Petersburg from the CityHill mansion. You can see the bank!

City Point & Battlefields

The fun part about being in VA is site seeing. We love history alot and take any chance we have to learn more about it. So while here why not go out and see some historical places and also my fun part get some beautiful pictures! So here are a few of my pictures of the day out and about.

This is a cabin that the soldiers would build to survive the winter months. Also note that it said that 4-6 guys would share this cabin. And J thought he got no private in Iraq. lol
This is J with a cannon at one of the Forts at Petersburg National Battlefield.
Us with the City Point Mansion in the back.
Sorry Not best Picture It was the only place I could find to put camera down and it would not fall...you got to love self timers! lol
City Point: This is the Cabin that General Grant stayed at for a few months during the Civil war!
I love the way this picture turned out!
My Favorite Picture by far!
This is the house at CityPoint.
Abe Lincoln actually stayed here!

Home Away from home!

So I just wanted to post some pictures of our home away from home! While we miss our "Home" in Georgia. I am living the weather and the sites to see here in VA. I do miss my own bed and can't wait till I get back HOME!