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"!!