The Beach

After a day of touring Washington DC we hopped in the van and headed South to Williamsburg, Virginia. Our plan was to spend the day at Historic Williamsburg. Trouble was, we got a late start...and it was hot, almost 100 degrees hot. So we changed our plans mid-stream and decided to hit the beach. Virgina Beach. After sitting in a traffic jam for about an hour, we finally made it to the beach. We were greeted by Neptune...I think.

Virginia Beach is long...this is the view to the South....

...and the view to the North.

Brian was enjoying hanging out on the beach.

Eric, Billy and my mom decided to check out the waves.

Look out Billy, here comes one now!

Splash...that was easy....oh dear, here comes a bigger one!

Big splash! The waves got bigger as the time went on.

Billy took a little break.

Then the boys ventured out into the big blue ocean.

Hey boys, where are you from? Minnesota? That would explain the nice farmer's tans. :-)

My mom and Eric had fun watching the boys, the waves, and the various people on the beach.

This guy was trying to make his fortune on someone elses misfortune. Wonder if he found anything?

The evening was near....a long shadowed image of me is all you are going to see of me in my swimsuit. You're welcome. I sort of like long shadows.

And then it was time to say goodbye to Mr. Neptune....or who ever he was. I think maybe he was fishing for the Chicken of the Sea. He looked scary to me!

A long trip home with another traffic jam...but look what I saw while sitting and waiting for the traffic to move...

Hey...you can't be Pat...I B Pat. I B Pat, maybe I have a new way to sign my blog. Then again, maybe not.

Computer access has been iffy here at best....but next up is our trip to Historic Williamsburg. See you there.

We're Walking...Part 2

As Billy and my mom headed off on their bike excursion, Eric, Brian and I continued our walking tour and walked along the reflection pool towards the Lincoln Memorial.

These ducks were swimming in the reflecting pool. They don't have to walk, they can swim or fly. Lucky ducks.

We walked along this wooded path...the trees were beautiful and the shade a welcome treat.

We stopped on a bench for a little rest. Pretty soon I heard that distinctive clip clop, clip clop of horses coming. One of them stuck his tongue out at us. Clip clop...um hello, Mr. officer, could I please, pretty please just hop on the back of your horse with you and catch a little lift to the Lincoln Memorial? Please? Hey...where are you going??

Look at those two riding away, leaving me to walk the rest of the way. "Did that crazy lady just ask you for a ride?" "Yep, thought I'd have to pull our my billy club if she got any closer!" "Tourists, sheesh." Hey, if it weren't for us tourists you wouldn't have a job!!

We rested a bit, then walked some more. We met up with Billy and my mom...whew...we didn't know if we'd ever see them again!! :-) We stopped at the Vietnam Memorial. There was a veteran there answering questions and speaking to the crowd. The sculpture near the wall was beautiful.

The details were amazing. The men looked haunted, like I imagine they felt when they returned from the war. Seeing all of the names on the wall was very eye opening, and very sad. I'm glad that they have a memorial, I'm sad that they need one.

After visiting the wall we walked some more. We came across this guy on a bench...he looked like he was tired of walking, or riding too. Weird.

Finally we got to the Lincoln Memorial. Can you make it up those stairs guys? Sure enough, they did. My mom and I found the elevator. Ahhhh.

Abe was looking statuesque as ever.

Brian thought the memorial was pretty cool.

Next was the Korean War memorial. There was a phrase engraved on the wall there that said, "Freedom is not free." Painfully clear after seeing all of the memorials.

Time for the bus ride back. What do you mean you had the wrong schedule and we have to walk? Ack! Then...as long as we were this far and it was "sort of" on the way back and Brian really, really didn't want to miss it, we decided to walk to the Jefferson Memorial. I agreed and then saw how far it was around this lake. Oye.

Billy and my mom decided not to make the really long hike and were to meet us back at the Smithsonian Institute.

Brian said, see mom, it's not that far. Oh yea, tell that to my bunions.

On the way to the Jefferson Memorial we came upon the Franklin Roosevelt Memorial. And you know what, it was my favorite thing that we saw all day. It was worth the tired feet. There were several big water features....it sounded like we were standing at the bottom of a giant waterfalls.

Peaceful and calming and cool and...I loved it. And the inscriptions were inspiring.

I am not very into history and don't have a clue about what each president has done...but on this walk around DC I decided that I really like FDR stood for....especially where preserving nature was concerned.

And he had a cute little dog.

I wish I had a video of the water to share with you. It was a beautiful thing.

And then we hit the pavement again. Did I mention that we were walking? And finally, the Jefferson Memorial. Brian liked that one best. It felt good to have made the full loop....sort of.

The warm night skies were especially pretty.

Oh look...who did we find? Not by the Smithsonian, but luckily on the road we were on. We'll be working with Billy on his map reading skillz. :-)

Speaking of Billy, look at my baby's feet....how did that happen? Another pair of size 13's to trip over in my house.

A few more miles or blocks or something and we arrived at the Metro station.

The train was a welcome sight....just ask our feet.

We're Walking...Part 1

We arrived at Washington DC safe and sound on Friday night. Our morning started with a short walk to this fine dining establishment...yum, donuts!

Here's the crew...Brian, my Mom, Billy and me. Eric took the picture...duh.

We caught the Metro...the train into the city.

Our first stop was the Holocaust Museum. The donuts weren't sitting well by the time we were done. The museum is very moving, but wasn't set up very well for large crowds.

Then we started walking. We walked from the Holocaust Museum to the Washington Monument.

Hey boys, what are you waiting for? A bus. A bus? Hah! Nope, we are walking.

Some people got to rent Segways to tour the city. At $80 each for about 2 hours for 5 people we decided that we could walk. They looked cool though!

I loved the flags that surround the Washington Monument.

The nice breeze helped with the heat of the day.

The boys wanted to touch the side of the Monument...touch!

Eric said, come on, we are walking to the World War II Monument next. He looks like a nice guy don't you think?...

...how about this cool bus dear? Nope, walking.

This tractor looked like a Farmall M to me, it reminded me of my dad...so I took a picture.

There were beautiful fountains there. I loved seeing the water, it was peaceful somehow.

Each of these over 4 thousand stars represented 1000 soldiers lost in WWII....a moving and eye opening tribute.
.

There was no wading allowed, but the pool made a good spot to take some heat out of our feet. Did I mention we were walking?

From there we walked to the Lincoln Memorial....yep....that building far, far away.

Kilroy was at the WWII Monument. He wasn't walking.

Billy and my mom needed a break, so they got to ride in the back of this bike. Sorry the picture is blurry, I thought that they would go right past us, but nope....they headed out in another direction....

....I hope that we will see them again!

to be continued...

Flying Away...

In a few short hours we'll be heading to the airport to catch a big silver bird for a nice family vacation. The house is being sat, the cat is being taken care of, the dog is heading to the country for a vacation of her own. Everything is set....

...except that I'm not packed yet! How come there is always so much to do to get ready to get away from doing all that stuff? Good-bye forever, or at least until I'm packed!