Washington DC

This morning we woke up (super early for some reason considering we didn’t go to bed until like 3) and got all our bags paced and headed towards Penn Station in Philadelphia to catch our 9:30 am amtrak to DC. We got there early so we decided it would be best if we got Darin and my train tickets in advanced so we knew we had a spot on the trains. Once again, the lady had to be rude! I guess she didn’t want to take the time to do it and wanted to have an attitude about it! I guess if people want to get through life that way its fine by me. Another lady tried to help us out but they had to let us get on our train. She called about an hour into our train ride to DC and said that the tickets would be waiting once we got off the train. Some reason I knew it was too good to be true.

When we arrived in DC, we went straight to the amtrak ticket line to get our tickets printed out so at least we had physical copies of the trains we were taking. It took probably 30 minutes for two ladies to figure out what was going on and get it all squared away. Now we were free to venture out into the city.

Because we had been here, oh at least 6 years ago, we really wanted to get out and see those sites that we might have missed the first time around. We decided to go to the National Aquarium, Chinatown for lunch and walk through one of the Smithsonian Museum’s we didn’t get a chance to see last time we were here.

Lunch in Chinatown was kinda cool! Dad found some hole in the way joint that must have been really good because the line was out the door. It didn’t quite live up to my standards but was happy to have a meal and get off my feet for an hour. The owner of the restaurant I guess was pretty popular because they had newspaper articles and awards posted in their window. This guy was so cool, he made handmade pasta from scratch. Ya’ll will have to see the pictures. He would take this dough and loosen it up and then in like 4 twists he had noodles. I took four pictures as fast as I could so ya’ll could get the true effect.

After lunch we made our way to the aquarium. I found some really cool looking buildings. They turned out to be like the Department of Homeland Security, Agriculture, Commerce, etc. They were beautiful buildings and the clouds around them were pretty neat looking as well. The National Aquarium was pretty small. They had created an exhibit that brought together all different kinds of animals from different parts of the united states. A couple of my favorites were the frogs and the turtles. They also had an octopus but we weren’t able to take pictures of it. :(

After, we walked through the Smithsonian Museum of American History I think it was called. They had a small baseball section in the gift shop (This is where I took the picture of a baseball bat with I think Cal Ripkin Jr’s signature on it. Just before we left, we went through one of the newest exhibits that they had running called the Star-Spangled Banner, The Flag that Inspired the National Anthem. It was pretty cool, it took you through our nations Civil War and how the flag came about, they they had the flag displayed. That was pretty neat. I didn’t get any pictures of it because I thought it was just a projected image until I heard someone saying it was the real flag. Oops!

After the museum, we walked through the nationals grassy lawn, which was in very poor shape, and headed back to Union Station so that we could get ready for the game. The game was a lot of fun, we got there about 20 minutes after the stadium opened and got to see the Giants do their batting practice, unfortunately we were so hot that we went to go sit in our seats and get some waters and when we got to our seats, one of the players got up and hit three consecutive balls to the same spot we were just standing. So, sad story, we didn’t get any baseball’s or any autographs. If it hadn’t been so damn humid I probably would have pulled out my A game and gotten us some ;) I’ve had tons of success in the past with this technique. Might have to try tomorrow at the Mets game at Shea Stadium. Dad was really excited to see Strasburg pitch. I guess he has been doing amazing, people wanted to see him in the all-star game, and he pitched at SDSU. He pitched a really good game! I was excited once we got there because Adam Kennedy, one of my favorite past time angels, got traded to the Nationals this season. Funny thing was, around the 5th inning, both Darin and I got SO tired because we had been walking around and in the Heat all day that we were exhausted, so we went on a mission to find something to keep us awake.

The Nationals Won!! Darin got his shot glass and baseball hat. I got my baseball bat and a t-shirt and hat, so I could fit in. They had friday night fireworks so we stayed for those. Let me tell you, they were nothing like Big Bang Friday at Angels Stadium... I’m just saying! Look out All-Star Game, You all are gonna have so much fun!

What I’ve learned from this leg of our trip so far is that people in DC are a lot more friendly then any other city. I don’t not what has been the deal. Maybe its because I am blonde, maybe its because I am being a brat, but really I think that people are unhappy around here. Cheer Up East Coast. There is so much beauty around you, all you gotta do is look around and smile :)

So it is 12:15 in the morning. We are sitting in the amtrak station wait for our 3:00 am train to arrive so that we can head up to New York, get our bags in the morning and head to the hotel, and SHOWER!!! :) ha ha I know, we all showered this morning, I just like to be clean, and have clean hair, and be presentable... Not too much to ask now is it.

I know that some of you are following and reading our blog, but let us know what you think and leave us some comments. Also if you know of any good spots for our upcoming cities, feel free to share so we can make the most out of our experience here.

Nap time!

Shannon Rae