Weekend getaway

A lot of the little trips we go on are associated with Lincoln's work.

He has a meeting or function and we get to go along.

This was a little different though.

It was a social function and so all expenses were paid by us!

Our plan was to attend the function 

and then spend the next day exploring the history of Philadelphia.

Our only challenge was that there was a huge storm in the forecast.

We debated driving back home on Saturday,

but the forecast said that there wouldn't be snow until 6 p.m. Sunday.

NOT TRUE! ha! it started MUCH earlier.

We went downtown so we could visit these places:

In all our years living here we haven't made it up to see the Liberty Bell.

It was first on this list for Sunday Morning.

Just outside the Liberty Bell Museum is Independence Hall.

When this was built in the 1700's it was in the middle of the country,

off by itself . . . . now it is surrounded by a busy city.

From looking at this picture I had always thought this room

must be humongous.

It seemed small,

but monumental events happened there.

The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed here.

On our way to the Benjamin Franklin Museum

we saw this old bank built in the 1700's also.

The columns looked cool to me

worn down by the elements.

Ben Franklin's home is gone but 

there is a very nice interactive museum on the property.

It was fun to visit.

This is a glass harmonica that Ben Franklin invented.

The museum is underground,

and by the time we got outside it had started to snow

and had already dropped a couple inches.

We ended up getting stuck in traffic

and spent an extra night in a nearby community.  

It would have been nice to spend more time in Philly.

Halley's Visit Continued

After a long wait,

I'm finishing up blogging about Halley's visit!

Here is a picture of McKay and Halley at the Skating Rink.

Before Halley came to visit I had a couple of things I wanted her to shop for.

These peaches were one of the items. 

There is NOTHING like a Utah peach.

I don't know if it is the nutrients in the ground

or just what. . . . . 

Every September my mouth waters thinking about the peaches that are ripening in Utah.

Here they are dry, woody, tasteless, and odorless.

These peaches were divine!

They were drip down the chin juicy,

and oh the aroma!

They got better as the days went by.

We only had these 7 peaches.

I would slice one up and we would share it.

They lasted a few days, 

and then sadly were gone.

We savored every fuzzy, glorious bite!

One of Halley's requests was to eat crab.

She got this deep fried crab at a restaurant,

and then we had crab at home also.

YUMMMM!

Halley hadn't been to the Botanical Gardens in DC

I ALWAYS love to go to the botanical gardens.

I was very surprised at the amount of plants that were in bloom.

There were a lot of orchids in bloom.

The cactus section had some very interesting cacti.

Venus Fly trap.

Lincoln and Halley

Daddy-Daughter!

Loved this pic of Lincoln and Me.

The Children's Garden was fun.

Always a child at heart!

After the botanical garden we went and ate at the Native American Museum.

Indian Fry Bread.

I forgot to take a picture . . . . 

We had buffalo on our fry bread.

We also had never been to the Engraving and Printing Museum.

We didn't know that in the "off-season" you don't need tickets

to get into this museum. 

We got right in and it was a very interesting tour.

We got to see the new 100 dollar bill that will soon be issued.

I highly recommend this tour.

Our Crab feast:

It was great to see Halley,

and to get to see the lesser seen areas of DC.

I was super happy that we missed the government shutdown by literally days!

DC Doings

Halley came to visit us in September.
We wish her husband could come also,
but we know that life does go on!
She actually came to go to a wedding of a friend.
We got to see her most of the time of her visit,
which was ten days.
We always love to have Halley come,
we tried to savor every moment.

We had a family dinner.

We haven't had many of them lately,

it was nice to be together again.

We filled our days with activity.

We played games,

we walked,

we were tourists.

We decided to visit some places we had never been before.

At one of the places we ate lunch at a Mexican Restaurant

that made homemade guacamole at your table.

Yummy!

We had never been to the National Harbor.

At the National Harbor we walked around the specialty shops,

and stopped to this this sculpture I've always wanted to visit.

Rather unique isn't it?

Here is Halley standing at the ball of the foot.

The Wilson Bridge is in the background.

Here is Lincoln with a different view of the foot.

And the Mexican Restaurant in the background.

Me sitting in the palm of the hand.

and Halley and I.

It is a fun sculpture to climb on and walk around.

Halley hadn't been to the Air Force Memorial.

Here is a cool picture she took.

These represent the trailings of fuel that jets leave behind.

Me.

Halley.

Linc and I at the bottom of the Memorial.

The Washington Monument encased in scaffolding

after the recent earthquake we had damaged it.

When we first moved here it was in scaffolding also.

Neither Halley or I had been to the Pentagon to see the memorial there

dedicated to those who lost their lives at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania.

There is a bench for every person killed on that day.

There is a water feature under every bench.

The benches of the people killed at the Pentagon point

to the place where the plane crashed into it.

The benches that point out towards the Air Force Memorial

represent the people killed in Pennsylvania.

The benches are arranged according to birth year of those killed.

There were 3 year olds up to one 71 year old killed on that day.

Lincoln and Halley hadn't seen the Martin Luther King Monument.

I know I have seen it at least 3 times!

I hadn't seen this though.

It's "Made in China" stamp.

I had teased that it was at the bottom of the memorial.

But NO, it is on the side of the memorial.

The view from the Martin Luther King.

I'm so glad that Halley came before the government shutdown.

Now this monument has gates all around it.

So sad . . . . . all the OUTDOOR monuments closed.

We decided to let McKay stay home from school to spend time with Halley.

He wasn't able to do anything with us because he was in school.

They had a fun day golfing, eating out and skating.

These two have always had fun together.

More later . . . . . . . . . .