Washington D.C., but really Baltimore; Nora and heading home

So, we actually slept in Frederick, MD...which means LouAnna and Chris drove about an hour "home" after the Oriole's game last night to take showers and then crash for about 8 hours.  This morning, we left Frederick, and headed to a little town called Boonsboro, MD.  We all went there because LouAnna's favorite author, Nora Roberts, was doing a book signing there today.  (By the way, if you want to get LouAnna anything for a birthday or holiday, gift cards to Amazon work well so you can buy e-books of Nora's to read on her iPad!)  We got to the town and LouAnna stood in line at 9:40am.  By about 11am, LouAnna and Chris got their "letter" G which told them to come back at about 2:30pm to get in line to meet Nora.  This is Daisy waiting on Nora...but making friends with the Boonsboro natives and guests...

Well, after dawdling around Boonsboro, the whole family (Chris, LouAnna, Rachel, and Daisy the dog) went back and checked at about 1:30pm and they were already on letter "H".  So, LouAnna and Chris got in the "lets-meet-Nora-line" and by 1:57pm, LouAnna had met the woman she's been reading since 2006.  It was awesome!  Here's a pic and their dialogue.

LouAnna: I went to Ashford castle and did the hawk walk.
Nora:  You did?!!  Did you love it?!
LouAnna: Oh, yes.
Nora:  It's one of my FAVORITE things I've ever done!
(She signed book)
LouAnna: I'm here all the way from Indiana; it's so nice to meet you!
Nora: Aw, it's nice to meet you too, thanks for coming today!
(took picture)
LouAnna: Thanks again!

After that, it was 2pm and the family headed home on their 9 hour journey.  Chris drove about 2 hours through the Appalachian mountains.  Then, LouAnna drove about 2 hours.  Then, Rachel drove 3 hours.  Then, we stopped for dinner and Chris drove the rest (1.5).  We arrived home at about 11pm, unpacked, showered, and just relished in our arrival/home/bed/our stuff.

During Rachel's shift of driving, we chatted about our vacation.  We came to a mutual consensus that we all liked Arlington Cemetery's Changing of the Guard as our favorite part of vacation, followed by the Lincoln Memorial as a close second!  We all also agreed that we expected more of the 9-11 Pentagon Memorial...we expected it to be...MORE.   Chris and Rachel both thought it was pretty cool to ride the subway for the first time, too!  We loved our condo in D.C, our trip to Baltimore and seeing LouAnna's fave author; it's been a GREAT family vacation!!!

Final shower count: Chris (16), LouAnna (16), Rachel (14 - she didn't go to the baseball games and sweat it up).

Also, on Rachel's driving shift, we decided that next year, we would not only make a week's vacation of Pittsburgh/NYC/Philly, but also take a short trip to Chicago, and then another long weekend trip to the Seattle-ish area to visit friends.  This year isn't even over when we think about our first cruise in October (we WILL blog, but post them ALL when we get back mainland), but that we are already excited about next year's vacations, as well.  We'll have a FOURTH member of the family on those trips next year...

...as we hope to adopt a greyhound (Henry) who will share in our adventures starting in 2017!  Stay tuned friends; these Eichrodts are just beginning to "adventure"!!

Washington D.C. - Bye; Hello Baltimore!

So, we said goodbye to D.C. today and headed up to Baltimore for the night.  We made a stop at Charm City Cakes, home of the Ace of Cakes TV show because R & L used to watch that show!

Rachel and LouAnna met Geof and LouAnna got a photo!

After that, we headed to the hotel to drop off our stuff and grab lunch.  After lunch, it was a quick nap for LouAnna and then Chris and LouAnna headed to Camden Yards to watch the Baltimore Orioles play against the Angels.  At this ballpark, Chris and LouAnna decided since they are on a mission to watch a game at every MLB ballpark, that they should also blog about these along the journey.  They have already been to 4 together (and LouAnna's been to 5 others) and started writing down notes of each park so that we can put together blog posts about those another time.  Anyway, here's the photos of today's fun; they were giving away free t-shirts to each fan to celebrate the 50th anniversary of when Baltimore won the World Series and there was also about a dozen of those players who were there and honored today.

Two MLB games in two ballparks in one week; good week!

Tomorrow is a little more fun and then the long drive home to end the vacation.

Washington D.C. Day 5 - Last full day here

We started by riding the Metro to the closest stop to the Lincoln Monument.  Here's our selfie; all fresh and not drenched in sweat yet.

Now, from this Metro stop, it was over a mile to Lincoln.  Luckily it was probably about 50% shaded along the trek which helped it not be a TERRIBLE walk.  Chris proved to be a great navigator again today, walking us right up to Abe.

We did cheat by taking the elevator instead of the stairs since LouAnna and Rachel were both sporting mighty large blisters on their feet from the ~15 miles we had already walked in our first few days in the capitol.  Chris took his camera and walked down the stops to get the great view you see here while Rachel and LouAnna were looking at Abe.

Then, he rejoined them and took these great shots!

We then found the Hop On - Hop Off bus that took us to our next stop, which was the National Archives.  Unfortunately, you can't take pictures in there, so here's a stock photo so you get an idea of what we saw; Original Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and all the Amendments.

Stock photo since we couldn't take pics inside  :(

We then left and walked to the nearest Metro and headed to McDonald's for lunch.  We are trying to do D.C. on somewhat of a budget since Chris is in school full time and working part time, so lunch had to be on the cheap.  We then walked to 2 CVS's to try to find more bread and cheese for sandwiches (since we still had plenty of lunch meat that we brought from Indiana) for dinner tonight.  Then, in the morning, we head to Baltimore for one night.

Now we are back at the condo after logging almost 6 miles today on our tennis shoes (let's not talk about the size of the blisters for L and R after today - OUCH!)  Next up, relaxing a little bit, then on to the pool to tan/burn/freckle some more!  Aaah, vacation!

Washington D.C. Day 4 - Memorials

We stepped outside for the day (at abt 10:30am) and instantly started sweating.  The humidity was so high, as were the temps.  We rode the Metro (aka subway) to the Pentagon and went to the 9-11 memorial.  We could also see the Air Force memorial really well, too.

Air Force Memorial

Pentagon Memorial, each one of these in memory of each person that died on 9-11 on flight 77.

Then, we hopped back on the Metro and went to Arlington National Cemetery.  It has a shuttle that takes you all around the grounds.  We stopped at the Kennedy site, as well as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and saw the changing of the guard ceremony.  Although there are no Eichrodt family members in Arlington, there are dozens with the last name Engle.

Kennedy grave site and eternal flame

JFK

Rows of head stones, lined up in military formation.  Beautiful and overwhelming.

Soldier guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Laying of the Wreath Ceremony

Rows and rows

Women in Service Memorial

To all ~35 Engles at Arlington, we remember you.

After spending abt 3 hours there, we headed home for a very late lunch (at 4pm).  Then Rachel and LouAnna headed to the pool for some tanning (Rachel) or burning/freckling (LouAnna) and Chris did homework (he's taking two classes this summer 2 term).  Then, we made dinner, borrowed kitchen from our condo neighbors for the french fries.  Rachel and LouAnna watched TV and Chris did more homework.  Nighty night, DC!

Washington D.C. Day 3 - word of the day? Humidity!

Hello again, friends!  We are back to recount the day's activities.  Today, we awoke and got ready for our adventures.  We walked to the nearest Metro station (just 3 blocks away) and headed to the Washington Monument so we could hop on the Grayline tour to Arlington National Cemetery.  After almost 2 hours, we were no closer, were MUCH sweatier (today's high 91 degrees and 450% humidity), but had seen the Capitol Building, Smithsonian Castle, and 3 helicopters leaving the White House Lawn - meaning the president was on board!!

We ditched the tour and decided to see the White House for ourselves and then head to the Mme. Tussaud's wax museum.  Here are some pics.

The President being flown from the White House...he flies in one of the 3 helicopters that are seen together.

Rachel doing a press conference at the Wax Museum

LouAnna, Rachel, Michelle and Barack! (At the wax museum)

Rachel and Zac Efron

Then, we headed back to the condo to take showers/do laundry (LouAnna) and go for a swim (Rachel and Chris).  Then, we ordered Thai food (shown below - Rachel's first and she loves Pad Thai!) and watched TV until now (Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, and Big Bang Theory).

Tomorrow is more sweating and more exploring!

Washington, D.C. Day 2 - Baseball, hotdogs and fireworks!

Hello again, friends!  Since it's July 4th, Chris and LouAnna took in a baseball game between the Washington Nationals and the Milwaukee Brewers.  Here's a few cute pics!

During the Star Spangled Banner song...so cool!

The Brewers won 1-0, but it was a great game until the 6th inning when the rain set in for good.

We stayed up way too late socializing, sharing beers with "new friends" and watching fireworks on the "Mall" from a distance.

The Capitol Building from the roof of our building

The D.C. fireworks although soggy, were set to go off at 9:09pm and last for about 18 minutes.  They did start on time and the 3 of us were on the roof of our building with about 100 of our "closest friends", including a weatherman that just moved to D.C. from Texas and 3 people from Evansville, Indiana who works for Dan Coats here in D.C. and just moved in yesterday as our "condo neighbors".  The nation's fireworks didn't take place on the mall (between Washington monument and the Capitol Building) like we thought, but really more toward the Jefferson Memorial.  This, and the severe rainy weather made seeing them from our rooftop a bust.  Even though we had a great time, we couldn't really see the fireworks.  Chris and LouAnna went back to watch the fireworks from our condo since we faced that way while Rachel continued to be social with our "neighbors" from every floor of this condo/building!

Here are some pictures for you all (these may be altered as we figure out editing)!!!

Tomorrow is a day of sight seeing and adventure.  Goodnight and Happy 4th!

Washington D.C. Day 1 for real - recap and being lazy

Good morning from the nation's capital!  We made it!!  It took just shy of 11 hours to get here.  We rotated drivers when we stopped for gas, food, or just to stretch our legs.  LouAnna drove about 4 hours total, Chris about 4 and Rachel drove 2.  Here's one of Rachel's turns driving.

It turned out to be a pretty great drive without too much traffic congestion and we played the license plate game.  28 states, Ontario Canada and Washington, DC!  Here's how we looked when we finally unloaded the SUV!

We explored the condo complex a bit.  The pool and grills and some seating are on the roof.  We can look into the National's ballpark enough to see the scoreboard, but none of the action.  Chris and I will be going to a game on the 4th, so we'll post inside shots after that.
There is a sofa hide-a-bed that Rachel slept on and Daisy seems to like the small condo and slept pretty well in the living room chair and then her kennel (by choice).  We have a nice view of top of the Washington monument from the little patio just off the living room.

Here are some roof pics!

On the roof with the Nats playing the Reds in the background!

The Washington Monument and the Capitol Building.  The National Mall runs between the two.

Yes, our condo is DIRECTLY across the street from the National's ballpark!

Chris is doing homework and then we'll head to the grocery store for a few things and then lounge poolside.  It's gonna be a nice, lazy day!

Washington D.C. Day 1-ish - the getting there

Back by popular demand, we will blog during this vacation, as well!  This is our first family vacation that will be more than a few days!  Even Daisy is along for the trip!  We are road tripping it to the nation's capital to celebrate America's 240th anniversary of independence.  We will take in the sites, catch a baseball game, see a friend of mine from grad school, then head up to Baltimore for a day.  We will likely blog at the end of each day, but wanted to get you all started early!