Take a Walk

Day 3, Part 2. After the disaster at the Capitol, Anthony had had enough of the tours and him and Dad went off to get coffee and sit in the sun. I, however, was pretty set on going to the Library of Congress. We got there super early for our tour, so decided to self tour instead. The architecture of the building is beautiful and the sheer amount of knowledge it holds was a little bit awe inspiring to me. Also, the bookstore was awesome. I was super tempted to by Biblio Bears or Metaphorical Mix.

Afterward, Mom and I headed to meet up with Dad and Anthony at the Air and Space Museum. On our way, we passed a loan bagpiper who was just playing his bagpipe in the middle of a field and a man with a box on his head who wants to be dictator. Mom, of course, took pictures. It pains me to say this, but I was starving after our crazy morning and was pretty excited to go to the McDonalds when we got to the museum. The Amelia Earhart exhibit was cool as was the mom landing stuff. At this point, we were all really tired and our feet ached. Everyone was pretty much minerals and complaining. But, we carried on.

Next we went to the White House, which was much smaller than I had imagined. We buzzed passed there and headed to the Vietnam Memorial. It was incredibly sobering and was maybe one of the only places where the massive amounts of school groups we saw actually acted appropriately.

Finally, we went to the Lincoln Memorial, which is also gigantic and has many stairs. Whether or not we would all make it up and then back down the stairs was in serious question, but I'm happy to report we all made it.

Once we finally made it back to the room, everyone collapsed and vowed never to walk again. At least until we went to dinner at Chipoltle a half hour later.

Song of the day Take a Walk by Passion Pit. Quotes follow.


Sucks to be you guys. oh wait, we went too. Sucks to be all of us. - Anthony

Oh, you're stupid! - Mom to the girl running the Lincoln Monument stairs

Fine, I don't need you. I just need my dinosaur toys and a beer from the fridge. - Anthony

Liz just hit dad in the face with cheese - Anthony

My feet are saying "fuck you! What are you doing asshole?" - Elizabeth

I'm Just a Bill, Yes I'm Only a Bill

Day 3. Part 1: This day was a whirlwind. It was our last full day in DC and so we thought we had to fit in as much as possible.

We started out at the National Gallery of Art. We only had about 45 minutes here, and I could have spent days. But, I got to see the pre-Raphaelite exhibit, so I was happy with that.

Next we had a tour scheduled at the Capitol. First of all, the Capitol is huge and the signage around it isn't awesome, so by the time we got in I was already worried we were going to be late. Luckily, we weren't and we toured with a very nice and knowledgable guide names Hope. She clearly cares a lot about her country and it's history, but unfortunately she got stuck with a group who wasn't particularly interested and/or didn't understand what she was saying. No one wanted to stay with the group, no one listened when she told them not to do something. It was annoying. However, what she had to say was really interesting and the architecture is really spectacular.

Next came my favorite part of the day. We had tickets to sit in on the house. So, I have all four of our tickets and we follow the signs to where we are supposed to drop off our electronics and head up. So I'm in front with the tickets and am asking if we're headed the right way, and there are three guys in suits sitting next to the door on a bench. Suddenly, the one on the end jumps up and starts yelling at me.i nearly jumped out of my skin. And the best part is, I have no idea what he's saying. He's speaking in English, but its not making any sense. Finally, the guy closest to me who is kind if chuckling, says "he wants you to pass out the tickets to each member of your group." Needless to say, I was scared out of my mind and embarrassed to boot. The kicker is, we dropped off our electronics and headed to where we needed to go, and no one even asked to see our tickets. Not once.

Anyway, sitting in on congress was interesting. Most of them weren't there.

Following are some quotes. 2nd half of the day to come.

I think I just realized why I can't stand you. You never just do anything, you have to talk about it when you're doing it. You narrate everything.- Anthony

Uh oh there are ducks. Somebody watch Liz - Anthony

Lets go see this national landmark and get the fuck out of here. - Anthony

That's What I Want

Upon further consideration, I've decided I didn't give the Bureau of Engraving and Printing a fair shake. So, here's a little bit more about how our paper currency is made.

First of all, there are no pictures, because picture taking is forbidden in the Bureau. They are very serious about this, and make sure you know it with signs posted everywhere about the likelihood you will be tackled by armed guards and your pictures will be confiscated if you do. They were also very serious about the prohibited nature of cell phones and the importance of making sure your phone was on silent. That is, until the woman in front of us phone started ringing. Loudly. She answered it in what I think was intended to be a discreet way, but was anything but. It didn't help that the woman she was with was holing a suit clad three year old who was wailing and squirming in her arms. The tour guide said nothing.

To be fair, the poor tour guide seemed at her wits end. She tried to be nice, but she was so painfully aware of how boring her job was, she was struggling.

In an effort to make it seem more light and fun, signs had been hung around the stations. They said witty things like "You feel bad? I just saw my entire life salary pass through my fingers in less than ten minutes." They were mostly just depressing. Also, I'm not sure who they thought they were fooling. There isn't a chance in hell the employees who actually worked the floor wrote any of those signs.

At the end of the tour was a gift shop, of course. In it, they sold bags of chopped up money and plastic necklaces with giant dollar signs on them.

So, now you know the joys of touring the BEP. You're welcome.

Cecelia

Day 2 Part 2: So the second Smithsonian museum we visited today was The Natural History museum. This museum was also awesome, and included many fossils. Anthony's favorites were the sea creatures, shocker, but we also got to see the Hope Diamond and a ton of triceratops. Have I mentioned I love the triceratops? If not, I have lots of pictures to prove it.

Next, we had tickets for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. This is where paper money gets made. It was cool to see and I now know a lot about the process, but I'm going to be honest, guys: it was boring. Cool learning experience, but it just couldn't live up to the triceratops or Julia Child's kitchen. However, I've now seen more money than I will ever have in my lifetime.

We had dinner back in Virginia, in a diner that used locally grown food. It was amazing, and I had the best milkshake I've had in a long time. The only downfall was that there were about a hundred small children just running around the restaurant.

Finally, we went to a little bar down the street called Don and Clare's Beach Shack. We sat on the back patio, which was covered in Christmas lights and surf signs, and drank beer and mixed drinks while a band played folk music with a banjo and a mandolin. It was awesome. Anthony made friends with the bar tender. Mom drank one of the strongest drinks I've ever tasted.

The night ended with all four of us having a dance party in the hotel room to Simon and Garfunkel's Cecelia. Yeah, I'll just let you all picture that. Did I mention how much fun it is to blog a little bit tipsy?

The first picture is, of course, the fossils of a triceratops. The second may be my favorite of the day, and shows Anthony playing with the toys he bought at the museum. Next we have the diner we ate at for dinner. Finally is a picture of Mom and my drinks followed by a picture of Mom and Dad at the bar.

Quotes follow. See you all tomorrow!

Evolution trail markers. Huh I wonder if many church groups come here - Anthony

I just spent 15 on dinosaur skeleton toys -Anthony
Eh, you're on vacation - Mom

Did you go to the fish museum? - Mom

I need to wake up so that I can go drinking - Dad

I don't want to seem like a lightweight - Mom
You are a lightweight- Anthony

It's impolite to leave a man hanging with his hand- Elizabeth
It's inappropriate to leave a man hanging with other things as well- Anthony

Whiskey Johnny

Day 2, Part 1: We are such tourists. It's not even funny. Seriously, this morning we found our way to the metro after much debate, but once we got to the station the four of us could not figure out the ticket machines. Eventually, Mom and Anthony walked away and pretended they didn't know us and Dad and I stood there discussing it until the worker came out and showed us what to do. That wasn't embarrassing or anything.

Anyway, we headed to the mall with the intention of going through a bunch of the Smithsonian museums. We actually only made it through two. The first, which this post is mostly about, was the America History Museum. It was spectacular and almost overwhelming. It was then, after it took us almost an hour to get through one floor of it, that we realized our plan to just pop in to a bunch of them was flawed. A lot of cool stuff was seen, but in the pictures below you'll see some of my favorites. First of all, yes, that is a picture of me with Kermit the Frog! My excitement about this probably can't be explained. Also, Anthony had a really good time talking about and looking at boats. Next, is a 1930's addition(!) or Moby Dick which Anth and I salivated over. Then is a (terrible) picture of me and Julia Child's kitchen. Finally, I've posted for you a picture of the saddest sign ever seen.

The song is an old whaling song we enjoyed at the museum. More info in our afternoon will come later. Now, the only quote of the morning:

I like boats - Anthony

Howlin For You

Day 1: We are scheduled to leave at 7 am. We actually leave at 9 am. The most surprising thing about this, is that it was not my fault we were late. I won't go in to much detail about this, but if you want to picture dad standing outside a house and Anthony sleeping on the second story of a house and think about the title of this post, it might give you a good idea.

Ultimately though, we got on the road and didn't have too much major incident along the way. Once in Virginia, we checked on to a hotel in a very nice neighborhood and decided to walk around and find a place for dinner since we hadn't eaten all day (Anthony would probably argue that I had in fact eaten all day long. But I don't consider a banana and some pizza rolls much of a meal.) After a 20 minute walk, which somehow seemed all uphill both ways, we found a nice gastropub called The Mad Fox where Anthony fell in love with a beer and got meat sweats from some pretty excellent pizza.

The night capped out with us driving around looking for a target for mom and ending up in a very fancy mall. Not a bad day overall.

I'll leave you with some favorite quotes of the day. Song for this post was Howlin For You by The Black Keys

"Nothing good ever came from Pennsylvania. Except Yuengling. And democracy." Anthony

"I need a bar." Dad, at 3:21pm

"Well Virginia is for lovers, so they're all rushing home to get busy I guess." Mom

"We don't really care about these people. We're just being mean to each other." Elizabeth

Time Won't Let Me Go

Just because we haven't been on a family vacation together in ten years, doesn't mean that there hasn't been some traveling involving any of us. Mostly, these road trips have included some combination of myself, Anthony, and Dad going to or from Spokane, Washington. These trips often included inclement weather, excellent conversations, near death experiences, and buffalo. When this current trip was first discussed, Mom insisted she wasn't getting in a car with the three of us for any extreme distances. We reminded her of these westward travels and the fact that we survived them, but she continues to seem less than convinced. We'll just have to see.

Song: Time Won't Let Me Go, The Bravery

On the road again

For the first time in nearly ten years, the Powers family is going on vacation together. As such, some certain family members have requested that we start a blog to chronicle the next week. Partially to hear about the things we'll see and the ridiculous things we're sure to do, and partially to be the first ones to know who's still surviving. I hope you enjoy!