Our DC trip as seen through the snaps

While on our DC trip there was a lot of snapping going on. We blew through so much data and didn't look back. It's always about the data. We had to move some gigs around to share the wealth. Instead of moving money around, we move gigs. Robbing Peter to pay Paul. Or rather, taking gigs from John and putting a cap on Owen. That boy can blow through some data. But snapping makes the world go round. OK, that's not really true, but it sounded good so I said it. 

This snappy post encompasses the entire trip, which means my future posts about the trip will be out of order. I hope I can sleep tonight. But I felt it might give a better picture with just the snaps being what we are talking about. SO. A snap here, a snap there, a snap everywhere....and BOOM the trip was over. 

Lets see how the trip played out in the form of snaps. 

This was on the way to DC. We were barely out of town. 

This was in Alabama. I don't know if there was a garbage man strike or what, but I couldn't squeeze a toothpick in this thing. So gross. Clean up your mess Alabama!

After we arrived in DC, I was trying to wake up the Beba. This was Beba ignoring my wake up call. Get up Beba!!

One of my deepest regrets was not getting a group pic of us at the tea party place. The best I could do was steal this snap.

Yes, it WAS fantastic.

On the day of our tea party we had a jam packed schedule, so after we strolled through Georgetown we grabbed an Uber and met the boys back at the apartment and were off to a Washington Nationals baseball game that night. It was there, I got bored. Baseball is just too long, and even though it was a lovely, cool evening, I once again had multi people sitting in front of me blocking my view and I didn't know the players and I was sure there was something more interesting going on somewhere else. Pick any of those excuses in that deliberate run on sentence. I didn't really mind going, but for me, the highlight of the night was the president's race.......not THAT one. 

This one.....

There were two races involving these things and Beba missed em both while out of her seat for one reason or another. She was very sad.

Between the boredom and the races, I turned my attention to snapping little gems like these.

He looks weirdly like someone I know, but I'm not sure who.

We've already established that this is Owen's signature selfie face. 

John may have been bored too...now that I think of it.

So so good.

I think this is Emma, but that's not a total 100% confirm.

The Beebs.

That other one was for sure Emma, since this is Kit Kat.

While we were pirating in DC, Bill was also in Louisiana. Argh there Bill. 

This Sangria was bought in the restaurant at George's house. To be clear, that's Mt. Vernon. THE George.....for me. On that day we walked all over George's property. The sun was out. It was hot. People were becoming delirious. People meaning the six of us. The girls didn't do the house tour, so they went to the restaurant and ate before John, Owen and I got there. It was nearing the time of day where we needed to sit and be still and not walk another 100 miles. You could feel the tension in the air. I had the mother of all blisters on my heel from walking in tennis shoes!! So annoying! I downed someone's unfinished drink the moment I walked in and sat down at the girls' table. No one challenged me. It was wise. Also it was weird because the girls had a table for four so I sat with them and when John and Owen came in they sat at another table not even near us. If anyone there that day knew we were family, they would think us feuding. We were beginning to lose it. 

After all people at both tables had eaten, we stopped in the gift shop and then left the venue, As I hobbled back to the car with my heel hurting so bad I thought a knife was sticking in it, I felt the need to say every time I put my foot down, "That hurt. That hurt. Yep that hurt." 

We left Mt. Vernon heading to Colonial Williamsburg which was a 2 hour drive that ended up being a 3 hour drive because Virginia is too big for its britches. While I believe that to be totally true, the traffic was the cause of the long ride to the city. Once we neared the area of the historic triangle of Yorktown, Williamsburg and Jamestown, (that's what they call it) we had no idea where to go. It was getting dark, we hadn't formulated a plan and the Jamestown settlement was closed, so we rode around, found a road and took a turn.

It was on that road we discovered it ended at the James River's edge. Out on the river, we could see a ferry boat. Owen and I immediately panicked and agreed it was a bad idea to get on a boat, in our car, when there were multi cars getting on as well. That's too heavy. So Owen and I were all like, "NU UH." The girls and John were all like, "A FERRY RIDE!!!!! HECK YES!!" Our car was third in line to ferry and therefore instantly hemmed in. We were trapped. I didn't want to be one of those people who yell back at everyone, "Excuse me!! Could all ten of you and your cars back up down the road so we don't have to go on the ferry please?!?!" 

Owen and I sucked it up. I was better at it than him.  

I put on my trusty pirate face and we were off.

I sensed a theme happening before my eyes.

Yep, there's your theme right there.

You have no idea how sad I am I don't have a picture of Beba as a pirate on the ferry. I WILL be checking her phone for pirate evidence and get back here. Update: She says she doesn't have one. I don't believe her.

So we rode on the ferry across the James River and then we had to ride back on the ferry and it was fantastic and we enjoyed it immensely and now we are ferry people. Serious ferry people. There was no danger of tumping at all. BUT. Owen remains in the non ferry people category. He never even exited the car at any moment while on the ferry. He was a chick chick chicken. 

The next day we did many things I'll talk about later, but when we drove through Yorktown I felt the need to put on an explorer hat. I was feeling a little jungle like adventure coming on. It just so happened the Snapper accommodated me quite nicely. 

After our adventures in the historic triangle we headed back to DC, but that traffic on that highway in Virgina is a little ***** so we stopped at a Target on the way to get some things and wait for the traffic to clear out. 

In the foreground are ugly sandals. In the background there are two daughters on two different aisles shopping. 

Then I guess nothing else happened with snaps because the next thing I knew, we were on our way home.

And I was feeling the vibe in the pink hat.

This is one of the great stories of all time to happen on this trip. We shall never forget it. John gets SO pissy when ordering in a drive thru. It's just gonna happen. Even if he is fed the order, he gets pissy. Just after Caitlin told him what to say, he said, "Mach-ar-lotto." I managed to hold it together until after we got past the speaker. I then laughed for the next....rest of my life. As I was writing this I just asked Owen, "Remember when John ordered a mach....." Owen finished the sentence, "ar lotto, I do indeed."

It's important to be in the central zone. It's in our bones. 

By now we were soo punchy. It was game on for snaps.

Is that ice cream? Where did you get ice cream,?

I felt the need to do some twofers. 

Caitlin obliged. 

The Beebs as a sunflower center.

You must recognize there is always payback when snapping. 

And there is our Washington DC trip in snaps. I don't know about anyone else but I thoroughly enjoyed that. 

I'm now off to Hobby Lobby and other places getting ready to decorate my cluttered house for Fall. Yes, I have clothes to fold, but errands matter more than folded towels. Besides it's 80 degrees outside and I haven't set a toe in the outside world and it's 2:20! I have to catch up with the day.

Now it's all about the wagon wheel of life rolling on down the road.

Later!

Our first day in Washington DC

The Sunday ride was successful, but I found no fake country roads in Louisiana that looked like Texas, seems like all we have here is asphalt. I don't think there's anything I can do about it. Louisiana will never be Texas, sorta sucks. 

After I shamed Fall with my words on Sunday, it decided to show up and cool off. We needed it to be real for September. I take full credit for getting in its face and saying to get on with it or shut up. It's currently 79.3 degrees and let me say hallelujah, thank you Jesus.

I'm currently winning at life like a boss with the blogging....working on this one, while I have others I'm working on as well. We shall see how long it lasts. Who knows, I might even have 10 posts in 15 days. It will be a new record for my current blogging abilities. But I shouldn't get ahead of myself.

It's very, very quiet around my house and I think it will soon be even quieter. That's all I can say for the moment. 

It's 6:05 and I just got back to blogging after a full day of moving all of my furniture and mopping every square inch of my den. I don't know what I was thinking. It was so much work and currently I don't even care that my floor looks a tiny bit cleaner than when I started. What I found over the course of the afternoon is the number of tiny spiders in my house is very disturbing and I don't understand why they have come to live here. I've squished so many today. It's a problem and am considering calling a family meeting about it.  

In the meantime, the temp plummeted to 77 and we are having our first taco soup of the fall. I'm ready for fall food, whatever that is, but it includes stew for sure. 

Now that I think I've caught up on my day, I'm posting my second installment of our DC trip. Our first stop was a new and different venue from what most people do. 

Lets go see where we went....  

On our first day in DC, we went to Teddy Roosevelt Island. No one but Owen had ever heard of it. It's an island sanctuary in the city where you can hike trails and get in tune with nature, and since it was Owen's number one place he wanted to see, and since he and John had never been to DC, we obliged them with Teddy's place first on the agenda. It was a morning trek that was actually quite delightful. We were #blessed with the greatest of weather while we were there. For June, it was cool and breezy during our trip and man was I #thankful for it. 

The piece of land was overgrown farmland transformed into the memorial for Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States. That sounds so official in my blog. He was a naturalist and was also interested in ecological conservation. The weirdest fact I read about him was that his first wife and his mother died on the same day in 1884. That's a pretty big blow.

Come see what we saw at Teddy's Island

This was our first Emma sighting in DC from the night before.

The boys went their way and we went ours. They were much more pumped about this stop than we were to begin with. 

There's Teddy in the background. Let me tell you it's very hard to take a selfie with a tall statue. I think I just did. Tell you that is.

There he is.

There we are all together, me, Teddy and the girls. 

After being there for a bit we appreciated it more than we did initially. 

My lovely daughters.

Emma decided to cross the divide. Did she do it successfully?

Of course.

I was amazed that this tree was still standing. 

Group selfie with Teddy!!

One more time.

Me and the boy.

This is me of course. And the reason, although embarrassing, will be told. 

I was trying....

To take a pic of.....

This....and didn't turn the camera around multi times.

It was a rookie mistake, even though I don't consider myself a rookie. But the reason I took it was because these airplanes were MUCH closer than they appeared. SO CLOSE!

Coming back from Teddy's place we rode by the Lincoln Memo.

That weird thing atop that car in front looks cartoonish.

It was actually a kayak juxtaposed by the Washington Monument....weird.

Next on the agenda was the National Cathedral and a pipe organ concert. I know. You probably don't think I'm grown up enough to go to a pipe organ concert at a church. And I see your point. Normally you would be correct, but I was super interested in seeing if I could actually pull off an adult attitude. 

This place does not fit in one picture.

It's impressive. 

Massively impressive.

After seeing it on TV many times, I expected it to be in a field all alone, with a long winding drive up to it. It is not. It's crammed in the middle of a neighborhood. I was pretty surprised.

Woodrow is in there. That would be Wilson.

It's a gorgeous place

I'm enjoying these gleaming lights in this photo.

At some point after the recital began, surprisingly, I began to get bored.

The problem being the tune selections were NOT in my wheelhouse. 

It was all very Vampirey movie sounding. 

I was hoping for more of a Here Comes the Bride themed concert. 

In case you didn't know it by now, that's the standard Owen selfie face.

Beautiful windows.

That circular stained glass window was dedicated in the presence of Queen Elizabeth. SO now she and I have been in one common place. Hmmm, isn't that something?

This is a statue of George Washington. 

Some facts about the Nat Cat...
Ronald Reagans's State funeral was held there.
Helen Keller is buried there.
So is Anne Sullivan.

Abraham

A couple more shots.

It's quite lovely and I was very mature and grown up the whole time. Well done me.

Not long before our trip, Antonin Scalia passed away and I wrongly thought his service was held at the Nat Cat. It was not. 

It was held here at Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. That's a mouthful. 

And that was day 1 of our trip to Washington DC. There is so much more ground to cover and I hope to stay focused and do it. I'm hopeful I can. In the meantime supper was delish and I feel like I accomplished some stuff today. I give myself a B- on the day. 

I'm off to do a few more chores before bedtime, so have a good evening and don't anyone tell me to register to vote. I'm a grown up that's been voting since I was 18 years old. My first presidential vote was cast for Ronald Raegan in 1980. Lord if only there was another Ronald Raegan coming along. I don't need anyone or any advertisement to tell me to go vote. That's all I have to say about that. 

Ta peeps. It's all about the laughing cow cheese.