Visiting Our Nation's Capital...and the Spaz

Whew! Things have been a little crazy around here lately! We got back from our trip on Monday night, and literally did not unpack our bags until last night because we've been so busy! But here is my belated vacation post!

Our good friend Tristan moved to Washington, D.C. last year for a job, and Kevin and I decided it was time to make a trip back East to see him. I went to D.C. when I was 11 as part of a school trip, and Kevin went for Christmas when we were freshman in college, so we were both excited to go back and see it from a new perspective, adults! We stayed in a great bed and breakfast for 2 nights, and then Tristan graciously hosted us for the rest of our trip and got to spend the whole weekend hanging out and showing us around the city and beyond!

Day 1

The spazzes reunite! Tristan met us after work at our B & B located in Logan Circle. It was a really cool Victorian home that the couple has tried really hard to maintain its original character and design. It was a great place to stay, we would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a charming place to stay! After we got a little settled in and freshened up from our plane ride, we headed out to dinner.

We went to a great Ethiopian restaurant right near our inn, and it was delicious! Ethiopian is becoming a favorite for me! After that, we headed to the famed Brickskeller Bar. A few of my girlfriends who have lived in the area had recommended it, for it has a very insane beer list, and I love me some beer!

The problem is they don't actually have everything on their list, so it's kind of trial and error trying to find something! Kevin asked for a Kenyan beer, which they did have, while I wanted a local Hefeweizen, which they did not. The waitress brought me a German one instead.

It was....bad. Really, really bad. If you like to drink cloves, this is your beer. However, I am not a fan of liquid cloves, so I was pretty bummed. And it was 16 ounces. That's a big beer! But it was still great to hang with my favorite boys, and I think if we ever go back, I'll have a better idea of what to expect and ask for! :)

Day 2

We headed off in the morning to visit monuments and memorials around the city. It was a beautiful if extremely windy and chilly day, but that didn't stop us from hitting every site we could!

It was such a clear day, there was 30 mile visibility from the top of the Washington Monument! Funnily enough, neither one of us had been to the top because is was closed both in 1993 and in 2001 when we each visited. It was really awesome! I'm so glad we were able to go up, and I would say it is one of the must-sees in the city. Especially if there is blue sky like this!

The World War II monument is new since we visited. It's hard to believe that there hadn't been a memorial built sooner than this, but I guess there was a lot of controversy about changing the look of the mall to accommodate one. I think that it is a beautiful memorial, and am personally really glad it was built. If only a WWI memorial would come along, too.

It was definitely a different experience for me to see all the memorials as a 28 year old, as opposed to when I was 11. I kept having to choke back tears all day as we wander past all these places of remembrance and reflection upon the sacrifices so many have made to ensure I have a life of freedom. It seems so silly, but I had this moment of clarity when I realized how important winning WWII was. What would our world be like if Germany had won? Kind of an eerie thought for me.

Each of the stars on this wall represented 100 soldiers. There were 4000 stars. 400,000 soldiers died, just from our country.

I'm not in any way a proponent of war, but it still made me feel patriotic and proud of the men and women who make the choice to defend what seems to be right and just in this world.

Now for a little silliness.

We also visited the Natural History Museum for a spell. One of the great things about D.C. is almost all the museums are free, so even though we only had an hour or so before the museum closed, we still could go visit! So we checked out the Gems and Minerals exhibit, big surprise! :) You can take the boy out of a geology career, but you can't take the geologist out of the boy!

Our legs felt like rubber after visiting all the memorials. We saw the Lincoln, Jefferson, World War II, Korean, Vietnam, WWI D.C. residents, FDR, and probably several others I'm forgetting! SO we found ourselves a nice little bench on the Mall to watch the glorious sunset!

We peeled ourselves away and headed to a fantastic dinner at the Logan Tavern. We shared portobella mushroom caps stuffed with pesto and sundried tomatoes, and I had portobella mushrooms ravioli and chicken, while Kevin had an awesome blackened sirloin steak smothered in red wine and mushroom sauce. It was a really popular place to go, we had to wait awhile for a seat, but we had a great time people watching and feeling like we were at the hip place!

Day 3

This is the view from our room at the inn looking onto Logan Circle.

We headed back into the city to visit the Capitol, the American Indian Museum, and the Holocaust Memorial Museum. The Capitol Building was cool, it's such a beautiful building and we had a nice tour of the rotunda.

We had lunch with Tristan at the American Indian Museum, which was superb! Definitely a place to go for good eats! They served regional Indian foods from all over the country. We had a mix of Southwest, Northwest, and Eastern foods, and each one was excellent! I highly recommend the Chicken Indian Taco on fry bread!

The museum itself wasn't all that we had hoped for. It seemed very scattered and not particularly informative, and we wished for more information. It might have been a bit of a food coma working, too, though, so I'm trying to not criticize it too much!

After that, we headed to the Holocaust Museum. When I visited in '93, it had just opened and the chaperones were the only ones to go, to see if it was appropriate for future classes to visit. It was a huge disappointment for me at the time to not go, so it was a huge priority to go this time.

If you go, leave yourself an entire day. It is huge, full of incredible information, photos, videos, and items, and you need time to digest everything that is being shown. We had less than 2 hours, and only got through 1 of 4 floors. It was by far the best museum in the city, and I wish that we'd had more time to see it all. It's amazing how you think you know a lot about a period of time, and then walk into a place like this, and get completely floored by the sheer amount of information that you didn't know! Another must see, and be prepared to just feel drained afterward.
We met up with Tristan again that evening, and headed to a D.C. landmark, Ben's Chili Bowl. Holy moly, it was good! We all had chili dogs, which were good, and split an order of chili cheese fries, which were amazing! SO GOOD! I could have eaten those all night long! My belly didn't appreciate that amount I had, but my soul did! :)


That night we checked out of the B&B and headed down to Tristan's apartment for the weekend.

Day 4

If you walk out Tristan's front door and stand in the middle of the road, this is what you see. 4 blocks from the Capitol! Wow!

We decided to rent a car on Saturday and head up to Baltimore to check out the aquarium! The three of us were excited to go on a mini road trip! And it was well worth it! The aquarium is great! Very, very busy, but it was very nicely laid out and had great exhibits!

The coolest Barnes and Noble I've ever seen right next to the aquarium. It's built in an old coal power plant that ran the trolley system way back when! Wish mine looked like this!

The waterfront in Baltimore is very pretty, and we enjoyed hanging out in the sunshine taking it in!

We then need crabcakes. Instead of eating in the city, we decided to head out on the road and find a little town to get them in. No particular town, so we just drove on the Delmarva Peninsula for a couple hours! We crossed the Bay Bridge, which is an incredible sight! It's 4 miles long, and crosses the Chesapeake Bay. We ended up driving out to a really cute little town at the end of a marshy spit, the name of which is escaping me, and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset! We found a restaurant in St. Michaels that looked good, and gorged on the best crabcakes I've ever had! It was a great day!

Day 5
We headed out to the Eastern Market on Sunday morning, which is a sort of Farmer's/Flea market. We got there a little too early, everyone was still setting up, but it was fun to wander around the vendors and see what they had!

Look Taylor, letterpress stuff! Looks like you should go visit Eastern Market on your next trip back east! :)

I love all the houses! It's great compact living, and all the houses have such great character. Seattle's townhouses are such eyesores in my opinion, and should start looking more like these!

We visited the Postal Museum, too, which was a really fun and informative museum! I was surprised, but we all had a great time wandering around learning about the postal service and stamps and collecting!

Then we wandered out way over to the White House to try and get a peek at the First Family. No such luck, but you have to walk by at least when in town!

We thought this was a funny little sign. It used to say "Push Button". My how times have changed!

That night we ate in and enjoyed watching the Oscars together with Tristan's roomie Mack. It was a nice way to end our time together and rest up a little before our return!

Day 6

On the last day, we headed back to the Capitol to see if we could watch some sessions of the House or the Senate. The House wasn't in session, but we still got to check the gallery out, and it's a pretty cool place! We headed back to Tristan's to have some lunch, then Kevin went back in to see the Senate, while I found a spot near the Reflecting Pond to read and relax before we flew out. Kevin said it was cool, though there weren't really any Senators there. Just 2 or 3 while he was there.

Overall, it was a fabulous visit and a much needed vacation! I look forward to going back again in 10 years with some kids in tow, and make them appreciate our history! :)

We got home late Monday night, and have been going nonstop since! Tuesday we were going to relax, but Kevin ended up working late, so we only had time to go grocery shopping and make dinner. I came down with the sniffles and was worthless.

Then Wednesday, my wonderful husband celebrated his 28th birthday! We had a nice dinner at home, and then headed into the city to see Legally Blonde at the 5th Avenue Theater. It was a really fun show, very cute!

Thursday, we went to the Sounders vs Timbers match at Qwest Field. It was a charity match, and it was fun to get a peek at the boys before the season started! Adam and Erin came down, and our friends Nikki and Mark came also, so we had a great time, despite our 1-0 loss. Hopefully we do better next week when the season really starts!

Friday, we headed to the island to celebrate Kevin's birthday with his family. It was great to have everyone together, first time since Christmas! Corbin was a riot as always, I love that kid! :)

Saturday, we had a nice lunch with my parents, and then headed to get our Mariners tickets! Then we spent the evening hanging with friends playing games.

And finally, today we worked in the garden, getting it ready to plant some peas tomorrow, and we put some radish seeds in also. It felt great to be outside and getting our garden a little more ready. I also cut some flowers and made a pretty little bouquet for our dining room table. I love spring! I love my house! I love my life! :)

The Great Kauai Adventure! Watch out, it's long!

Susan and Mark invited the whole family to go to Kauai this year! We took off on July 12th for a 9 day adventure with them, Adam, Erin, Corbin, and Neal. We've been looking so forward to this, I've been fairly desperate for a vacation, and was so excited to revisit all the places we went on our honeymoon last year. It was a fabulous trip, with lots of swimming, hiking, eating, reading, sandcastle building, and luxuriating in the beauty that is Kauai! A huge thank you to Susan and Mark for this incredible trip, you guys are so awesome!

All set to take off from Seattle. Neal was moved to first class shortly after this photo was taken, leaving loads of space for me and Kevin in our emergency exit row! Nice way to fly, I'd say!

We stayed on the north shore, in Hanalei. We arrived pretty late on Sunday night, and did the drive up from Lihue in the dark. I love that, arriving and not really knowing what's around you, and then waking up in paradise!

Hanalei Bay, a very convenient 2 block walk from our house! It's a great swimming, reading, sandcastle building beach!

Adam and Corbin get right to work on their sandcastling!

Corbin wasn't so sure about the water the first few days, but eventually he started to really like it!

But he conquered the sand!

Hanging out at our fabulous house!

Fish tacos from Pat's Taqueria near the Hanalei Pier, soooo delicious!

Kevin and Corbin reading in the evening

Beautiful sunset from out deck, looking out toward the bay

Checking out one the many incredible rainbows (a nue nue) that Kauai boasts. I went running that morning and was in awe of how beautiful they are, plus having the incredible mountains and the water on either side of me. That makes a girl feel like getting up to go running!

Adam is our french toast extraordinaire, made with Hawaiian sweet bread!

We checked out the Hanalei Farmers Market, and came back with lots of loot!

Neal made us great homemade pizza that night!

The next day we headed up the Waimea Canyon, which is one of my favorite places I've ever been. It's so gorgeous, and looks pretty unreal in places.

Mark checking out the sights!

Corbin's favorite thing to say is "Ohhh, wow!" and he said it plenty looking down into the canyon!

Pu'u o Kila Lookout looking down onto Kalalau Valley. This is quite possibly my favorite place on earth, it is so unreal looking! This is the penultimate valley of the Na Pali coast trail.

We decided to check out the Alaka'i Swamp Trail from here, which is a pretty crazy trail leading through the world's highest swamp. There is a boardwalk along a fair amount of the trail, but those parts that aren't become very mucky when it rains, which it does all the time! So we slipped and slided our way along, and had a great 8 mile hike! This was supposed to become a road to the north shore, but it was clear that it was not a great idea the further along we got!

Adam carried Corbin the whole time, and Corbin was a trooper.

Neal was not thrilled about hiking, and liked to refer to this as the armpit of the world (I'm pretty sure that New Haven, Connecticut has that title though!). But he carried on, even if he claims he doesn't like hiking!

Pretty view of the boardwalk in the fog

Neal was thrilled by the view at the end of the trail. It literally just ended at a platform looking out into white foggy nothingness, which was pretty cool to some of us, and a bit of a disappointment to others!

Attempting to show off how muddy I got, but we decided I just look like a midget body builder!

After all that hiking, we needed a day of rest and relaxation! Susan, Erin, and I hit Hanalei for a bit of retail therapy, while the boys hung out at home.

Corbin getting his cute on!

Shave ice, the best thing ever! Especially with ice cream on the bottom!

That evening we headed out to Secret Beach to try out some boogie boarding/body surfing, but the surf was a little too rough for it, so we just got pummeled by the waves!

View of the Kilauea Lighthouse from the beach

Does it get any more picturesque than this?!

Corbin desperately wanted to play in the water here, of course, where it was far too dangerous for him! But eventually he played around in the sand.

My three little duckies, waiting for a wave to thrash them about! I nearly lost my swimsuit bottoms to one of the waves, and called it quits!

Still feeling pretty worn out from hiking, we had another beach day! In the morning some of us headed out for some snorkeling at Tunnels, one of the best beaches for snorkeling on the island we think! No pictures of that!

Had to have some shave ice in that heat!

Neal grilled up some awesome mahi mahi for us that night, it was delicious!

Here is one of our many gecko friends! His name is Gary!

There were canoe races happening in Hanalei Bay the next morning, which were fun to check out! It was impressive to see how they worked together, and some of the groups were pretty young! And strong too!


More snorkeling the next day at Tunnels! We had planned on going to Ke'e at the very end of the road, but saw a prime parking place at Tunnels and couldn't resist stopping there!

I made a LOT of guacamole on this trip! We had an avocado tree in the yard, but none of them were ripe while we were there, so we made do with ones from the Farmers Market!

A centipede hanging out on our walkway! Those things are scary looking! Neal removed it from the premises.

On our last full day, we headed out for another hike, this time on the first few miles of the Na Pali coast and then up to the Hanakapi'ai Falls. It was another 8 mile hike round trip, and this time it was HOT! Kevin and I did the same hike last year, and it rained on us nearly the whole way back, which made it an extremely difficult hike. This time, it was just like being baked in a clay oven, but a much easier hike for us!

Next time we come to Kauai, Kevin and I have vowed to do the whole trail.

View of the Na Pali cliffs. They are gorgeous!

The river crossings are always fun! This time, we came prepared wearing our tevas and chacos, but its always funny watching people who don't want to get their shoes wet trying to cross!

There are awesome bamboo stands all along the trail up to the falls, and they make the best sound when the wind blows!

Adam once again was baby carrier awesomeness! What a champ! And Corbin was great too!

The falls are gorgeous, with a very inviting pool at the bottom. I basically immediately got into the water when we reached them! It was cold, but so refreshing after a long hike!

Adam and Kevin couldn't resist jumping underneath the falls. I stuck to just floating around!

Erin and Corbin gaze at the beauty around them!

Yeah, I rock at stream crossings!

Back at the beach before the trudge back in the sun to the end of the trail. There are really cool caves down around the left side of the beach.

It was an excellent hike, and I felt like I had a much easier time with it this year! Much more in shape, and doing a hike that I did a year ago was confirmation of that! That night, we had awesome pizza from Tiki Man pizza, which I highly recommend if you are planning a trip to Kauai!

The next day we cleaned and packed up to head out. Mark headed out early on a bus to Lihue to check out some museums, while the boys stayed behind at the house for the afternoon to watch the Sounders game. Erin, Susan, Corbin, and I left in the afternoon to go visit with some old friends of the family, who Kevin's family stayed with 18 years ago on their last family trip to Hawaii! Kevin and I graduated with their son, Gary, and it was nice to catch up a little bit with them! W grabbed some dinner and then headed off to the airport! Kevin and I got to ride first class on the way home, which was a real treat for me! I had never flown first class before, and very much enjoyed the special treatment! Thanks Mark, for getting us up there!

What a wonderful trip and a great chance to be with our family for a long period of time! Kevin and I have been going through major Corbin withdrawals, and can't wait to see him next weekend when we head up for a wedding in Bellingham. It was really fun to vacation somewhere I had been before, since we had some ideas of things we really liked and things we knew we could skip out on. A major thank you once again to the best in-laws a girl could ask for!