Vacation Day 3: Washington D.C.

On day 3 of our vacation we left Baltimore and headed toward Washington D.C.  Jule and Connie were in charge of getting us there.  They figured out how to buy train tickets and which train to catch to go from one city to the other.  We rode the MARC train from the BWI airport to Union Station and then took a taxi from the station to our hotel.

We arrived and settled at our hotel around 3:00 in the afternoon.  We were hungry, so we set out on foot to find a decent restaurant.  We walked to Logan Tavern where Jule had her first French Onion Soup.  (I'm pretty sure this was her first time having it.)

After we returned, we decided to walk to my favorite bakery.  On the way, we ran into an interesting clothing store with a cool vibe called the Buffalo Exchange.  The girls wanted to go in, and it was a great store!  It sold used clothes (or, we say "vintage" clothes to make it seem better.)  But the clothes in here were special.  You could tell that they were very careful with the things that they take in.  We spent about 30 minutes "oohing" an "ahhing" over the cool stuff in there.  Both girls bought a piece of clothing there.  Jule got a Banana Republic jacket and Connie took home some odd looking skeleton shoes.

So, we reached the bakery just before it started raining.  The bakery is sugar heaven.  It's called Crumb's Bake Shop... and oh my... it's delicious.  

By the time we returned from Crumb's, I was tired.  I took a nap while Jule and Connie played on the internet and ate some snacks.  When I woke up, I was ready to go!  We decided to walk around the city at night, but we changed our plans once we noticed the bike rentals just outside our hotel!  This is such a great idea, and I'm sure it's common in larger cities, but I had never seen a "bike share" like this one.

Capital Bike Share

We rented our bikes and began riding around the city.  This was my favorite part of the trip.  Seeing Washington DC at night is awesome, and these bikes allowed us to get around easily, especially since there was nobody on the sidewalks at night.  We biked for about two hours around the city, and here were some of the things we saw...

The Lincoln Memorial
IN THIS TEMPLE
AS IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE
FOR WHOM HE SAVED THE UNION
THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
IS ENSHRINED FOREVER

World War II Memorial

Well, you can't see it here but Jule's pants were ripped open on the rear from the bike ride.
I laughed so hard that my stomach hurt!

We didn't have a specific place that we were riding when we began our nighttime bike ride.  We knew only the right direction to go and we started pedaling.  We spotted a guy (looked like police, but he wasn't wearing a police uniform) standing near a sidewalk and we stopped to ask him why there was so much police presence in the area.  (I thought that maybe the President was on his way or something.)  He pointed directly behind us... then we turned around to see that we had rode right past The White House.

The White House

Here is a map of some of the places that we went while on foot / bike / metro / bus.

We walked approximately 10 miles (16 kilometers) while in DC.

This is a map of the metro.
We learned how to buy tickets, get to the right platforms, and get off at the right stops.

After biking for two hours, we returned to the hotel and ate cupcakes before bed!  :)

Vacation Day 2: Baltimore

We started out our day in Baltimore with a stop at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company at the Inner Harbor.

After eating lunch, we boarded a trolley for a 1.5 hour tour of Baltimore's neighborhoods.  We heard some interesting things such as how the city was started, how Edgar Allen Poe died (and saw where he died) and we took a lot of pictures.

A few of the pictures we took along the way...

Fells Point neighborhood of uniquely decorated houses and shops.

Katyn (Polish) National Memorial

PoPo on horses.  (PoPo is the way Jule and I say police.)

Washington Monument of Baltimore

Fort McHenry

After our tour, we took a water taxi to Fells Point neighborhood and walked amongst the locals.  We wanted to try a local sweet, so we chose Pitango Gelato Shop.

Pitango gelato shop.

We walked all the way back to the Inner Harbor visitor center and decided to stop at Hard Rock Cafe to rest our feet.  We also went into the Barnes & Noble bookstore.

We stopped in a really cool store called Urban Outfitters as it got dark and started to rain a little bit.  It was a very unique place to shop.

To end our day, we decided to eat dinner at a place called Noodles & Company.  I won't give it much more mention.  It was okay, but made me sick to my stomach!

After a full day, we were ready for some rest!  We headed back to Glen Burnie (a suburb of Baltimore where we stayed) and went to sleep!

Gorgeous day in Baltimore!

We're currently eating lunch at Bubba Gump's Shrimp Company and then headed for a trolley tour of Baltimore's harbor and cultural neighborhoods.  :)

Baltimore Inner Harbor at Night

We flew from Little Rock, Arkansas to Atlanta, Georgia to hop a flight into Baltimore-Washington International airport around 7 p.m.  By the time we got our luggage, car and checked into the hotel it was dark outside... but I had plans.

You can read the history of Baltimore here.  

One of the unique things about the U.S.A. is that we have a sense of humor about pretty much everything.  We make fun of ourselves more than anyone else ever could.  It's probably the biggest difference in most Americans and other cultures... if you insult us, we'll probably agree with you and laugh harder than you are laughing.  We are lighthearted about our failures.  One of my favorite funny restaurants is called Dick's Last Resort.  This place is famous for one thing:  PURPOSEFULLY RUDE SERVERS!

They do have good food, but that's not why you visit.  You visit to be humiliated, yelled at, embarrassed.  You might even cry.  But you do it all with a big smile on your face because it's all in good fun.  (Keep that in mind as you see the pictures!)

Our server started out by telling my niece Connie to take off her "gang related jacket" in the restaurant and it only got worse from there.

Our server is the guy walking toward the camera.  I can't remember his name, but he was funny.

And ended with the server slapping paper hats on the girls' heads with very specific insults.
You'll have to ask Jule what her hat says.

After stuffing our faces with chicken and ribs, we wandered out into Baltimore's Inner Harbor and down to the Power Plant.  I like to get the real experience when I travel.  I'll mix a little tourist with a little local.  Wandering around at night is the real experience.

Inner Harbor boat gazing at night.

Like most big cities in the U.S.A., the "crazies" come out at night.  I wanted this opportunity to show the girls how to deal with the people who ask for money and those who act (and usually are) insane.  We ignore them and keep walking... never make eye contact.  These things are important to keep yourself safe in the big city.

After exploring for a while we returned to the hotel to get some much needed sleep.  Tomorrow will be a LONG day!

Sushi at Sakura!

I treated Jule to sushi tonight at Sakura.  :)

You may say "ewwwww Sushi" right?  It's a common misconception that "sushi" is raw fish.  Sushi is not raw fish.  Sushi is the rice used to make the traditional Japanese rolls that contain meats and vegetables that are cooked.  Sashimi is raw fish.  We did not order sashimi.

Ask Jule how she felt about the sushi!

For her memories, above are the ones that we ordered.  I think her favorite was the Dynamite Roll... even though she doesn't like shrimp.   :)

Wildwood Harvest Festival

Today we attended the Harvest Festival at Wildwood Park.  Wildwood is a park in Little Rock with winding pathways through wooded hills.  In the middle of the park is a lake.

It was a nice day outside (82 Farenheit / 28 Celsius).  We went to the festival with our friends Laura Womack and her daughter Maddie, as well as Jordan and Marissa Alexander.  Jule and I (well I) prefer to travel in groups.  It makes things more fun.

We went on a hayride.  The kids painted pumpkins, dressed scarecrows, shot a bow and arrow, and fed some swans.  It was a lazy kind of day just enjoying the outdoors.  Here are some of the pictures...

Jule and archery.

Marissa and Jule in the disappointing "hay fort"

Swans in the lake.

Our friends Laura Womack and Maddie

Jule at the lake.

Jule the scarecrow and her little pumpkins Maddie and Marissa.

We Have a Redneck Olympian!

As I've been promising for months now, we traveled to Clinton, Arkansas on October 13th to participate in the Redneck Games of Arkansas.  We wore our best Redneck clothes and teeth so that we'd fit in with the crowd.

I have good news to report.  Jule is officially a Redneck Olympian!  She has won a silver medal in the roadkill toss.  What is that????  I'll explain below.

Jule's friends Andrea and her sister Daani are also Redneck Olympians.

If you haven't been reading the blog, then you may not know what a "redneck" is.  To state it again, a redneck is a low-class person who is generally stuck in old fashions and doesn't care too much about how he or she looks.  A redneck most of the time has no job, drives a very old truck, and has a dog that rides in the back of the truck.  He (or she) might chew tobacco, have really bad teeth, wear pajamas to Wal-Mart and be just all-around "tacky" in appearance.  A redneck would be poor, so creativity is needed to have fun.  (For instance, instead of going to a water park, a redneck might just put some plastic trash bags on the ground in the back yard and squirt water on them to make a water slide.)  Rednecks usually have deep southern accents.  You can ask Jule about how our accents differ from one place to another in America.

The girls posing with some other Redneck Olympians.

Here are a few of the events:
1)  Redneck Bowling:  rolling a tire into empty garbage cans to see who can knock down the most.  Jule's friend Daani took a bronze medal in this competition.
2)  Roadkill Toss:  (Roadkill = a dead animal that has been hit by a vehicle.)  The Roadkill Toss game is where you throw a (fake) dead animal as far as you can.  Jule tossed a skunk the second farthest and came away with a silver medal.  Andrea got a gold medal.
3)  Wheelbarrow Race:  Put your friend in a wheelbarrow and complete an obstacle course.  Andrea pushed Jule, but the girls got stuck going around the barrels and lost.  :(
4)  Three-man Slingshot:  Two people (Jule and Daani) held a giant slingshot while Andrea slung eggs and apples at a broken-down truck.  The girls were VERY good at this.
Others:  Hay bale roll, seed spitting contest, lawnmower races, and more that I can't remember.

Redneck Bowling

Roadkill Toss

Three-WOman Slingshot

Wheelbarrow Races

Of course, I had my camera out and wanted to get pictures of everything.  So I made the girls do "Redneck profile pictures."  And here's what we got:

Andrea

Jule

Daani

I hope you laughed as hard looking at these as I did while I took them!