Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Been Gone Way Too Long!


I haven't blogged in ages. Boy, time sure does slip away. First of all, I can't believe that we're looking at May right around the corner - wasn't it just Christmas?

We had the most wonderful time sneaking out of here during the kids Spring break. We headed to D.C. with friends of ours. We left here at 1:00 a.m. on Sat. (the 14th?) and drove through the night till we got to Cherry Hill Park in Maryland. What a wonderful campground. Not the usual trees and big sites, but they were great as far as transportation to D.C., tickets & info to monuments & museums, etc. (Of course we had a ton of help from Brenda, a good friend of mine from jr. high!, honestly that woman could be a travel agent!!! We'd have been lost without her)
It was so strange going back to our old stomping grounds. David and I both grew up in Maryland and it has changed so much! At one point we pulled into a townhouse complex to make a U-turn and I thought, "hmmmmm... this looks a bit familiar" well, it ends up that it was where my cousin used to live, I spent many a summer there - but wow, it had changed A LOT!

After driving 11 hours, we pulled into the campground, got settled and headed to D.C. to the National Zoo. (now remember, we'd been up since Friday morning and this was Sat. early afternoon so we were some kind of tired!) The zoo was packed, but everyone had fun.
We even got to see the new baby panda.

We fit so much into this trip. Our days started at 7:00 a.m. and we literally walked all over D.C. till 6:00 p.m.

One evening Brenda took us for a night tour of the monuments. As beautiful as they are during they day, they are even more spectacular at night. This was probably the most structured, well thought out, busiest week "off" that we've ever had. Between the museums, monuments, tours, escalators(don't ask) and shops - we got to see it all. Our first night home we asked everyone what their favorite thing was. The answers ranged from the Arlington Cemetery to Ford Theater, to seeing the original "Star Spangled Banner" in it's newly renovated phase. The thing that I was most grateful that I went to was the Holocaust Museum. I was emotionally drained after going through - but I believe that it is a must-see if you are ever in D.C. It amazes and saddens me that it really wasn't that long ago that all of that happened.

I could write on & on about our trip, but for now I'll just say that I am very grateful that we were able to take the time off of work & spend it with the little guys and that it was a wonderful vacation.

I also want to add that on the Friday night before we left, Brenda took me out to dinner - but not just any dinner. Being on the Cape, the one thing I really, really miss is hard shell crabs. For 14 years, once a year, David has had a bushel flown up for me for my b-day, but other than that they are nowhere to be found. Brenda took me to a place called Gunners (sp?) and I got the BEST crabs I've ever had. She bought me so many that I even had some to bring home (to the Cape!) Thank you again Brenda! :) It was great seeing you and we appreciate all you did for us :)

Oh, and just one more thing... Everyone in D.C, was just so darned nice & helpful. From the guys that were at the Metro to the business people heading home in the evening - everyone we encountered were helpful, smiling, and just plain nice. Man, I miss that "southern hospitality"!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hip! Hip! Hooray! A new and wonderful entry. Boy, I missed having you online to chat with.

Thanks for sharing so much about your trip. The pictures are wonderful. I'm so glad you had such a great experience.

My husband has never been to Washington. We hope to go in a couple of years.

Dawn said...

Ingrid, your pictures are just WONDERFUL! I love them all. The night picture is just gorgeous.

It sounds like you had the best time. I'm so happy you all got to go together and enjoy your vacation.

Are those crocs I see in that picture. If you need to know anything about them, let me know...I got some info from an expert!!!

We all missed you and are glad you are home though :)

I'm glad you got to update your blog with your trip!

take care,
Dawn

Bonita Rose said...

INgrid, I need you snail mail addr for the RAK.. i never got it yet.. thks,
bonnierose

Portrait of Peter said...

Really excellent pictures and your comments - give someone like me (who lives in Scotland - and never been to the U.S.) an insight into your wonderful country of the folk there too.

Many thanks for sharing here on the blog.

Anonymous said...

Ingrid... your last title said "it's been way too long" and that was a year ago... i agree, it's been too long! ;)
hugs
marcia