ROGUE-ALICIOUS: Washington DC

East Coast/Bahamas Update 3: More DC - Monuments and Memorials

This is out of photo order, but Blogspot's annoying. Here we are at Ali Baba's in Newark, DE, after our final day in DC.

Back in DC's ChinaTown with Jason, who zipped over from Virginia to see us.

The Norwegian contribution to Christmas: display at DC's Union Station.

Trolley Tour in DC. Ready to check the place out some more.

In front of the Jefferson Memorial.

It's a little dark, but that's the really big Jefferson.

Part of the grounds of the FDR Memorial.

More FDR Memorial.

With our hero, Eleanore. My favorite Eleanore story is probably the Marian Anderson story. It was the 1930s and Marian Anderson had been singing concerts, recitals, and opera roles all over Europe. She was invited to sing at Constitution Hall, but when the Daughters of the Revolution figured out she was black, they dis-invited her. Eleanore got wind of it, thought it was awful, and, with the backing of the President, set up an even better venue for her: she set up the first outdoor concert to be held at the Lincoln Memorial. On Easter Sunday, 1939, Miriam Anderson sang for a crowd of 75,000 people and a radio audience of millions.

Dane, um, riding FDR's beloved dog.

Aubrey petting FDR's dog. BTW: Aubs really misses Sharly. She wants to phone her at the Pet Resort back home.

With FDR.

With the amazing Abraham Lincoln. Incidentally, our hotel was just a block away from the Ford Theater where the president was shot and killed.

Washington Monument. We also went to the Vietnam War Memorial here. It made all of us really sad. Dane cried halfway through and said, "Mom, can we leave this one now?"

Booty from the Air and Space Museum: a Lego Space Shuttle and NASA Barbie!

Dane took this picture of Mimi with Mick and Mike at Ali Baba's.

That's all for now. It's spendy to connect to the internet on the cruise ship. Will have to post when we get back.

So... Bon Voyage!

East Coast/Bahamas Update 2: DC and the Smithsonian!

We left Mimi's around 10 AM on Thursday after a full night's sleep and headed to DC. It was snowy and slow -- there were lots of accidents in front of us -- but our little FORD Edge powered through it. Oh, and it probably had something to do with Mick's expert driving, too.

Aubrey and Dane wrote stories in the car.

After we checked in at The Hotel Harrington, just blocks away from the White House, we met up with Mick's dad, Mike, at The Hard Rock Cafe. We ate a quick bite and headed out.

The Manager made a big show of going into another room and grabbing a guitar for me, so I had to make a bit of a show of it.

The kids took the camera around while we waited for our food.

Michael Jackson's famous jacket.

"A Michael Jackson Barbie!" -Dane

You'd think she hadn't just begged me to take her picture. A little Courtney Love coming from her?

Finally out and about in the chilly weather. (But it was fun! Sometime in here, GrandDad even did a face plant during a snowball fight. But I've already mentioned that on another post, haven't I?)

At the National Museum of Natural History at last!

Sea spiders. A photo taken just to scare Grammy.

A CROCHETED coral reef. Wow.

Dane and Aubrey thought it looked like a huge undertaking. You can read about it in last month's issue of The Smithsonian Magazine.

An Early Man exhibit was fully engaging. After we took the Early Man morph photos (photos to follow) Dane and Aubrey answered questions about what it means to be human. Dane's answer is that "In my back yard I play every day . I love to play."

Aubrey's answer is that to be human is to be able to draw.

The kids with Rexy!

GrandDad and kids and Rexy.

Air and Space Museum: at Amelia Earhart's plane. This just broke on the news TODAY (Dec 18): Three bones were found on a deserted South Pacific Island where Earhart's plane went down, and scientists are hoping the DNA matches hers so an old mystery can be solved.

The Air and Space Museum was the kids' favorite place.

Back at the Natural History Museum: Early Human Anj.

Early Human Aubs.

Early human Dane.

Early Human GrandDad.

And Early Human Mick.

East Coast/Bahamas Update 1: Medford, OR -> Philly, PA -> Newark, DE

These posts are for everybody, but especially for Grammy/Mom/Janny Jan Jan, who was supposed to come on this trip but had to back out on her doctors' orders. We really really miss you, Jan -- particularly when we see things like a huge crocheted coral reef exhibit at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History, and when GrandDad falls flat on his face in the snow during a snowball fight on a lawn in Washington, D.C. (don't worry! he didn't get hurt!) -- but we trust you're healing the way you're supposed to. We love you.

So, to Jan and everybody else: we started in Medford at 5PM on Tuesday, flew all night with two layovers, and did Philadelphia when we landed.

In Philadelphia, we saw the Liberty Bell, visited Constitution Hall, witnessed the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new slave quarter site outside where the Bell is kept, and ate Philly Cheese Steaks.

In spite of all that fun and joy (and, really, it was), when I asked the kids what their favorite part of our travels had been at that point (Day 1) they said, "It's going to be going to Mimi's and seeing her." Seriously!

So, here you have it: the best part of the trip so far, according to Dane and Aubrey:

"Zilch" with Mimi.

Waiting at the Medford Airport.

Dane and Aubrey's entertainment on a layover in Portland.

Yeah, probably not very safe. Shhhh...

I'd like to mention that Dane was challenged to a race with an older gentleman that evening: Dane had to run against the current on the walkway and the older guy got to run on the parallel walkway with the current. They took off like bullets -- people were watching and howling, laughing -- and, get this: Dane won!