Ok, so we've been pretty busy this summer. Most of June was filled with camps, and July as well, but at the end of July Bryan and I were lucky enough to take a family vacation to the Washington DC area. Bryan's parents took all of us (minus Jack) so that we could bury his grandfather (WWII veteran) at Arlington National Cemetery. We were also able to bury his grandmother along with her husband :). So we were able to spent about 8 days there.
Before we left on our trip, Bryan and I reviewed the Travel Channel, and Food Network, for places of interest in the DC/Baltimore area.
Before we left on our trip, Bryan and I reviewed the Travel Channel, and Food Network, for places of interest in the DC/Baltimore area.
Part 1: Hershey, PA/Amish country/Annapolis
We left College Station at 2:30am, to catch a 6:40 flight out of Austin. We were going on about 2 hours of sleep because Bryan had a hockey game that night that wasn't over until 9:30, by the time we got done packing it was almost 11:30, so we decided to take a 2 hour nap and get on the road. We landed in Baltimore, and drove to Chap's Pit Beef. Place #1 on our list. This place was really good. Bryan's sandwich was huge, and CJ's burger was bigger than his head.
We left College Station at 2:30am, to catch a 6:40 flight out of Austin. We were going on about 2 hours of sleep because Bryan had a hockey game that night that wasn't over until 9:30, by the time we got done packing it was almost 11:30, so we decided to take a 2 hour nap and get on the road. We landed in Baltimore, and drove to Chap's Pit Beef. Place #1 on our list. This place was really good. Bryan's sandwich was huge, and CJ's burger was bigger than his head.
Then we headed north to Hershey, PA. CJ slept most of the way, poor kid, he was tired.
This is one of those places, that as I child I have very fond memories of. We went to Hershey Park when I was CJ's age, and I wanted to share that with him. Unfortunately, he's kind of scared of roller coasters, so we didn't actually go to the park. We did a few other fun things while we were there....
...visited Chocolate World, were we got a tour of how the candy is made...
...got to see the whole story...
...then we headed up to Amish country...
...it was amazing. One of my favorite parts of the trip. Then we headed over to Annapolis, home of Chick and Ruth's Delly. This is one of the places we saw on Man vs. Food.
It's famous for their colossal challenge, which includes a 6 lb milkshake. We decided to try it. It was huge, and we couldn't even finish it. CJ drank so much he actually threw up, it was an "experience."
Part 2: Arlington/Washington DC
On Thursday, we buried Bryan's grandparents at Arlington National Cemetery. It was an amazing thing to see. Complete with a 21-gun salute, and taps played on a trumpet.
Carter's souvenir here was a gun shell. He was excited.
The 2nd 1/2 of the day was spent exploring the Smithsonian We went to the Air and Space Museum and the Natural History museum. Our goal of course was to find everything we could that we had seen in movies or on tv. It was going to be a busy day, but luckily, Rick was able to get a cat nap in on the subway ride to the National Mall. :)
...Able the monkey from Battle of the Smithsonian...
The Natural History Museum. This was one of CJ (and my favorites). It had sooooo much interesting facts and displays. Way too much to post here, but they do have the Hope diamond, which was cool to see in person.
...it was educational for both of us...
...and therapeutic...you can't even tell I was crying. (Side note: I can't really look at the picture now though...hahaha)
The next day we headed to Mt. Vernon. A big part of the trip that we were looking forward to was this. It had what was called a National Treasure Tour. It was was based on the movie National Treasure 2, and gave you a behind the scenes look at the movie since part of it was set at Mt. Vernon. Very fun...
Jonathan being, well Jonathan...
Next stop on our food tour was dinner at Ben's Chili Bowl, it was a "must see" in DC. It was pretty good...but being from Texas, I've had better :)
The next day, was "on our touring" we started with the art gallery at the Smithsonian. I've never seen so many interpritations of the crucificition in my life....
...the next 3 pictures were also in a movie...
...it was really hot, so we decided to find a place to eat, and rest before heading to the American History museum...so we found a sports bar, where we felt right at home...
...pop culture time...
...then we rented a van, to drive around and see all of the sights. We managed to see just about every big landmark in DC....
...US Treasury...
...White House...
...and lots of Boy Scouts...it was their world wide jamboree that week, and they were everywhere. You'll see them throughout the pictures...
...this picture is funny, not only because of the pose, but because of the weird tie-dyed lady smelling the boy scout in the picture...
On our "tour" day, we got caught in the rain, so we took shelter at a nearby hotel, and waited...
...heads we brave the rain, tails we stay here...
...Chinatown...
...world best lemonade tea...
...our last dinner...
So that was our summer trip..in a nutshell. We took over 700 pictures, and this is just a glimpse of everything we did. August was more camps, and lots of family visits, since we don't travel during football season (unless it's to a game).
...and lots of Boy Scouts...it was their world wide jamboree that week, and they were everywhere. You'll see them throughout the pictures......this picture is funny, not only because of the pose, but because of the weird tie-dyed lady smelling the boy scout in the picture...On our "tour" day, we got caught in the rain, so we took shelter at a nearby hotel, and waited......heads we brave the rain, tails we stay here......Chinatown......world best lemonade tea......our last dinner... So that was our summer trip..in a nutshell. We took over 700 pictures, and this is just a glimpse of everything we did. August was more camps, and lots of family visits, since we don't travel during football season (unless it's to a game). I'll try to keep up with this a little better, but now that football season is upon us, so we are super busy. I will however, post more blogs about football seaon.
Gig 'em Aggies!
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