An evening treat

After a tiring day at the Air and Space Museum we were, of course, very hungry.  We are all tired of fast food so we decided to find a grocery store so we could make dinner at camp.  We found a grocery store and it was a very unique experience.  As you might remember from a few posts ago when we got to DC there had been a big storm and the power was out.  Well the power ended up being out for about 12 hours so the grocery store had signs on most of their frozen and refrigerated items that they could not be sold due to the power failure.  So there were lots of empty cases and shelves.  It was kind of eerie and we didn't have our cameras to document it!!!  Any way we got back to camp and started making our feast right away. Spaghetti, sasauge, toasted bread, cherries, and cantalope were all on the menu.

Enjoying the "homemade" dinner!

Tonight we saw our first fireflies of the trip!  It was also Jonah's first time to see and catch one!

Concerning U.F.O.'s and the night sky

The new Air and Space Museum has finally come and gone. It, not unlike the other museums, was packed with things to see. We learned alot of cool things and many of the planes had their own personal history displayed. It was very interesting. Some of the more famous planes were the Enola Gay, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, and one of the space shuttles. Without further delay, here are some of our favorites.

Like I said, there were a huge amount of things to see.

This is the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, and it is, in fact, every bit as impressive as it sounds. It is 107 ft. long by 55 ft. wide, and 18 ft. high. It can climb up to 85,000 ft. at a rate of 11,810 ft. per minute at a speed of approx. 2200 mph. That is 32,500 lbs of thrust! This may sound a bit complicated so to put it into perspective, this thing flew from Los Angeles to Wachington D.C. in just under an hour and twenty minutes!

Needless to say, we have come a long way!

The Enola Gay, its history speaks for itself.

Space Shuttle!

Once again an example of how far we have come. This is what they used to shoot people into space with. These along with other pre space shuttle craft are responsible for a majority of the UFO sightings of their time.

We did not spend too much time with the helicopters because we were cold and hungry, but some had interesting stories.

DC continued...

After the Smithsonians we were starving again so we got some more food before heading over to check out the monuments.

Jonah's first experience with the 

Washington Monument 

Sarah and I were jealous when we realized after all the times we've been here we've never actually touched the Washington Monument so Jonah did something that we have yet to do.  I was planning on touching it after taking the picture but then I got distracted and forgot. 

Next was the WWII Monument...

Then we headed over to the Vietnam Memorial

 After that we were hungry again (all that history really takes a toll on your appetite), so we found a place to buy some sandwiches and really good apple juice.

The Lincoln Memorial was after dinner

This was the first time Sarah and I had been to DC without

Heather.  We always took a picture of the 3 of us on the big

steps.  We were sad she wasn't there.

Last we went to the Korean War Memorial.  We didn't spend much time because we had to hurry and get back to our Metro bus or else we would have had a very long walk back to the campsite.

As we were walking the sun was setting over the mall.

We were tired and still had to walk about 11 blocks to the Metro!  But we made it in time to catch the Metro and the last bus back to our campground.

History Buff

We finally arrived in Washington D.C. After being stuck in bumper to bumper traffic we ended up getting there alot later than we had anticipated. We arrived late and the power was out, apparently we had missed a huge storm which would leave huge parts of the city without power for days. Consequently it was so incredibly humid we had to swim around the campsite. It was quite miserable. It got better in the evening though and by the next day, the weather was perfect. A nice acquisition for our dilemna the day before. So we wandered what they call in D.C., "The Mall." (We had not had food and I was quite dissappointed that there was no food court in this "mall" that they were speaking of.) There was so much to see in the Smithsonian Institutes that we did not even scratch the surface. But it was fun nonetheless. We went to the American and Natural History Museums.

First, it was a trip on the Metro Bus.

Then we transfered to the Metro and rode into Wachington D.C. to The Mall.

Since there was not a food court, we settled for a hot dog stand.

The ladies were pretty excited to see this exhibit. Julia Child's kitchen.

Some of the other cool exhibits included ships, trains, and cars.

This guitar was incredible! The detail work that went into it was so elaborate. It was, hands down, one of my favorites!

I also liked this voting campaign poster because I "can dig it."

Some more of my favorites were the dinosaur fossils! I had never seen any real fossils up until that point. Here are a couple of the more popular, the Wooly Mammoth and the T-Rex!

And of course, a ladies best friend. Drum roll please! The Hope Daimond!

To Be Continued....

Day 9

Sunday morning we got up early enough to see the sunrise over Atlanta.

We checked out of our hotel and were on the road by 7am. The drive to our campground near Washington DC was supposed to take about 10 1/2 hours; however, due to trouble finding places to eat and lots of traffic, it took much longer.

On the road in North Carolina. We were stuck in traffic for at least an hour in the late afternoon and were getting really hungry. But after all the fast food we have eaten lately, we were craving something more wholesome. Michelle suggested baked potato and chili from Wendy's, so we kept our eyes peeled. However, as we inched along with no signs of Wendy's, we were about to give up hope when suddenly we saw one! With as crazy as we were from being in traffic for so long, we were overly excited.

Finally eating our baked potatoes and chili. With a frosty to top it off, it really hit the spot. We hit more traffic after dinner, but finally arrived in College Park, MD where our campground is. There was a big storm that had gone through earlier in the day and the power was out in a portion of the town so all the stoplights were out, which made for a hairy situation. While we were checking in, two firetrucks came into the campground to respond to a call about a lady suffering from heat related illness. We made it to our site and had to set up our tents by flashlight in the muggy darkness. The freeway ran just on the other side of the fence by the campsite, so we had to yell to hear eachother. Needless to say, it was a long day and we were thankful to finally get in our tents and go to bed.

The World of Coca-Cola

Saturday we slept in, ate breakfast, worked out, showered, then had lunch at the food court. We also took the opportunity to use the free wi-fi there and buy cookies.

After lunch it was time for World of Coca-Cola!

We walked the four blocks down to the building, but the line was super long to buy tickets, so Mom decided not to go and gave Dad her combo ticket from yesterday.

The tour started in the red room where they have artifacts from the original Coca-Cola. Then we went through an area talking about the origins of Coca-Cola. Michelle and Jonah are chilling at an old fashioned soda fountain.

There was lots of memorabilia.

There was a working bottling line that produces mini bottles of soda that they give away at the end of the tour. They have it slowed down so we could see what was happening.

We got to watch a 4D movie about the Search for the Secret Formula, which was pretty goofy. The most unique part was a dragonfly that flies into your back and your seat pokes you, really hard, it hurt.

More Coke memorabilia; I thought that little guitar was so cute.

The last part of the tour was the tasting room where you got to sample beverages from around the world. We tried most of them and didn't like more than we did like. A lot of them were really sweet, some didn't taste like much, others were super carbonated.

Here Jonah and I are trying a soda from Italy called "Beverly" that some of the ADA guys told Dad he had to try when he came. We weren't sure what to expect.

It tasted fine at first, but the aftertaste was powerful and stringent.

Bringing the soda from the bottling line through the tasting room.

As we left the tour, we each got to take a bottle of Coca-Cola home with us.