Virginia Vacation - This and That

While it seems like we were always on the go on our vacation, we also had plenty of down time!  That mostly consisted of time in the pool.  There Drew learned to swim without floaties and realized he often preferred to swim without his goggles.  He also learned to tie shoes!  So a momentous trip in its own right.

And who can forget their first brain freeze?

Dave and Drew had been talking about wanting to get brain freezes. I guess it's from some show Drew watches.  So we had to make a pit stop and get slurpees.

Lots of swim time.  We managed to swim nearly every day were in Williamsburg.

Dave, Drew and Grandma

Below, Grandpa and Drew - they have matching glasses/goggles

And Drew was busy reading to Grandpa all about Pocohontas

As I mentioned we played a lot of Uno on this trip...
 

 After getting back from Richmond and finding out someone poo'd in the pool, we decided to play some mini-golf while they cleaned up the "incident".

 

Turns out mini-golf is hazardous to your swim trunks...

After someone else threw up in the pool, it closed again for a bit so we played "name that tune" in the cabana.  We did pretty well too!

 Finally the pool opened for good.  I opted not to go in that night.  I mean vomit and feces?  No thank you.  The boys were a bit more brave.

We had a fantastic trip all around and even 2 months later we're still talking about it!  Drew wants to go back for our next big family vacation, but Dave has his eyes set on another Baseball destination... Florida perhaps?

Virginia Vacation - Confederacy Museum

I'm almost done highlighting our Virginia vacation from back in June, I promise.  

On the day before we were set to fly home, we drove out to Richmond - about 45 minutes from where we were staying in Williamsburg.  Well there was a ton of traffic and it ended up taking well over an hour each way.  But we made it.

It was pretty cool, and my being an American History minor and US Civil War buff I really enjoyed it.  Dave too.  Drew, well not so much.  There wasn't the hands on kind of things like he had when we visited Jamestown and Williamsburg.  This was more of a museum.  It was in a small building and we wouldn't let him just run loose - yeah we're not one of "those" parents and we forced him to stay nearby and keep quiet.

Drew checking out the clothing that kids his age wore back in the Civil War era.

Confederate Money

The "Rosette" Bullet - according to legend one bullet from the Union (the North) and one bullet from the Confederates (South) hit each other in mid-air creating this "Rosette".  We thought that was pretty cool!

Confederate war flag for a particular batallion:

Here are some artifacts from the Gettysburg Battle.

This is the coat that Jefferson Davis apparently wore when he was arrested.  Jefferson Davis is the President of the Confederacy.


Canon that was used by the South during the war.

Here is a picture of the White House of the Confederacy where Jefferson Davis lived for a few years.

What's interesting about this area, it's in the middle of a Hospital "campus" and is out of character for this area which is very modern all around it.

 

Dave and Drew are standing in front of what is called the Wickham-Valentine House.  This is where Attorney John Wickham lived when he defended Aaron Burr against treason in 1807.  Aaron Burr is probably most known for killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel, but was charged (and acquitted) of treason for trying to claim lands in Texas area.  We just thought the house was cool, and again out of the norm for this redeveloped area.

Virginia Vacation - DC Sights Pt. 2

As I mentioned it was pouring while we were in Washington, D.C.  We made it back to the car after the Jefferson Memorial soaked to the bone.  Thankfully I had a pair of flip-flops with me and took of my sopping wet socks and tennis shoes.  Dave and Drew weren't so lucky.

After we left the Jefferson Memorial our goal was to try and get by the Lincoln Memorial and then walk to the White House - the only DC sight Drew cared to see.  Well we missed the parking for the Lincoln Memorial so we kept driving and parked near the Washington Memorial.  There really isn't much public parking near the Mall and it's not marked very well - FYI.

So we parked and started walking toward the Washington Monument which was covered in scaffolding and closed to visitor due to earthquake repairs.  Armed with our umbrellas and poncho we decided to chance the weather (which was dry for the moment) and make the 15-20 minute trek to the White House - which was virtually a straight shot.

Dave and Drew did their part to make sure the Washington Monument stays upright.

The view of the Lincoln Memorial and the Mall.  This would be as close as we get to this one - we were hoping to make that our last stop in our DC tour.  I'll explain our "challenges" a bit later.

And here was our destination.  Both shots of the Lincoln Memorial and the White House are the view from the Washington Monument (or in the vicinity of).

We got about 10 yards away from the Washington Memorial and the downpour returned - again torrential.  We decided to try and wait it out on a park bench under a tree.

 Poor Drew and Dave - The rains were coming in on all sides and Virginia rain is nothing like California rain. It's big fat blobs that were coming down hard and fast.  After about 30 minutes or so under the tree we decided to just finish the trip to the White House - we were maybe 200 yards away at this point.  But it was going to be a wet remainder of the walk - not to mention the return to the car.

Dave and I at this point just had to laugh - it was such a miserable experience.  Drew was being a trooper and wasn't complaining despite being soaked to the bone and enduring the conditions he was.  For those that are familiar with the area... I'd guess this was about a 1 mile walk from our car, to the White House then back... in the pouring rain.  But we persevered (a word Drew loves to use) because all Drew wanted to do while in DC was see the White House.  We couldn't leave with out getting as close as possible.

So braving some puddles that were no lie - up to the middle of my calves - we finally made it to the White House.

We had one happy little boy - until we told him, no you can't go in there.  We didn't even attempt to get tickets for the tour since we didn't know what our schedule would be when we were there.

One wet family shot...

We managed to squeeze the camera through the fence to grab this shot.  Thankfully no Secret Service came after me.

So after our 5 minute White House visit, we braved the walk back too the car, but not before we came across an Asian Family where "grandma" ripped a good one.  A big old fart.  Dave and I just gave each other that "Did that just happen" look and we saw grandma turn around to "look at her vapor trail" and chuckle to herself.  That incident helped us brave the rotten return walk.

We decided to skip the Lincoln Memorial because the boys were sopping wet walking in wet socks now for about 2 hours and Dave at least was getting blisters already.  Plus Drew was dawdling and ended up eating it at one point... he was embarrassed and just wanted to get on the road.  It was nearing dinnertime on a Friday night so we opted to head back to Williamsburg - getting a little ahead on our 3 hour return drive.

Here's a shot of the Pentagon as we were driving out of town.  Notice that it started pouring... again.

Virginia Vacation - DC Sights Pt. 1

I've been to Washington, D.C. twice before this trip, and every time I see something new.  This trip my something new is the following...

After we left our friends at the Air and Space Museum, Dave Drew and I went into DC to hit up the sights before the three hour drive back to our time share in Williamsburg.  Since we'd never made it to Arlington National Cemetery before, this was our first stop.

I heard how moving this visit was, and it really was true.  After figuring out the lay of the land, we decided to make our way first toward John F. Kennedy's grave and the Eternal Flame.  On our way we saw a horse and carriage carrying a casket.

Drew watching the casket pass by.

Here I am in the courtyard where Kennedy is laid to rest.  In the background you can see the Washington Monument.

And here's the Eternal Flame and Kennedy's gravesite.

JFK and Jackie's graves.

Bobby Kennedy's grave

After the Kennedy sites we walked toward the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  The 2 big thing we wanted to see here.  We were on a time limit so we couldn't stay too long - we had a long checklist of other sites to get to. Plus it was ridiculously hot and humid.

Unknowingly we arrived to the Tomb of the Unknown for the Changing of the Guard.  This was quite the site to see.

And here's Drew paying his respects...

Behind the tomb (or in front of it technically) is an ampitheater.
Can you make out Drew at the chair in the center (Dave is off to the left side).

After leaving the Tomb we made our way back to the front entrance, but not before spotting a cardinal.

As we left Arlington National Cemetery, the rain finally broke through.  And it was quite the storm!  There was a severe thunderstorm that moved through and we parked the car and waited it out for about 20-30 minutes.  When we got out to make our way to the next "first for us" monument/memorial this is what we found.

The ducks were enjoying the remnants of the flash flood that swooped in.

Equipped with umbrellas and ponchos we decided to take the risk and walk the 1/2 mile to the next Memorial.  Here's a view from the Jefferson Memorial overlooking the Washington Monument.

 

 We finally neared the Jefferson Memorial...

And we're inside the Memorial where it's soaking inside.

 Another view from inside the Memorial overlooking the Washington Monument.

Dave pretending he's a statue or someone important at least.

 Shortly after we decended the stairs and started walking back to the car, the clouds started dumping on us.  Out came the umbrellas (I wore the poncho since I had the backpack with all the valuables.

Here we are waiting out a bad part of the storm.  Notice how you can barely see down the road?  That's how hard it was coming down.  We all were soaked!  Thankfully I had a pair of flip flops for our short Northern VA trip, but Dave and Drew only brought socks and shoes.  They toughed it out for the remainder of our visit.

I'll continue with the other half of our sightseeing another day.