Washington D.C. (Day 1)

What a week we had in D.C.!

It was AMAZING!

By the end of the week, my brain was quite overstimulated with all the things I've seen there,

so just like I did with our Hawaii trip a few years ago, I think I'm gonna have to post this trip one day at a time because there is so much that I want to show you.  Between my camera and Chuck's phone, we took 872 pictures.  Obviously I won't be posting all of them, but that should give you an idea of the abundance of interesting things to see there.

As you might already know, Chuck had to go to D.C. to shadow someone in a higher management position (it was part of his "homework" for his manager training program).  Anyway, since the hotel was already paid for, he said I could tag along, and of course I jumped at the opportunity.

So, we left Monday morning, and we were supposed to get there at noon, which left the rest of the day open for Chuck to do stuff with me.  We decided the first thing we would do was go to the Arlington Cemetery because they close at 7:00, and we didn't know how much time we would want to spend there.  Unfortunately, we got a bad start - our first flight from South Bend to Chicago was an hour delayed, which caused us to miss our connection flight.  So when we got to Chicago, we got onto the next available flight, getting us to D.C. at 3:00.  So that was 3 hours wasted that we could've spent at Arlington  (argh).  But, fortunately, that did not turn out to be a bad omen; the rest of the week went really well, no other problems (except at the end of the week our first flight back to Chicago was also delayed).

Anyhoo - So we landed in D.C. around 3:00, took a taxi to our hotel, got all settled there, and then started our trek to Arlington.  Our hotel was in a really good location so it was easy to walk everywhere.  Some things were a longer haul to get to, but thankfully we are both healthy and willing to face the challenge of walking, even in the heat, and it was HOT there.  It was in the low 90s the whole time, and humid.  I made sure I had a water bottle with me at all times!

I think we left the hotel around 4:15 and started walking toward Arlington.  The walk was supposed to take an hour and 15 minutes.  On the way, we passed the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, but we didn't stop there - we wanted to get to the cemetery as quickly as possible, knowing that they were gonna be closing at 7:00.

Unfortunately, there was some construction going on, so we had to take a detour, which of course lengthened the time it took to get there, but it was still a nice pleasant walk (despite the heat) because there were so many neat things to see on the way.

We had to cross this bridge.

These pillars and statues marked the beginning of the bridge.

Yay, we made it!

By the time we finally got there, it was 5:45, which meant we only had an hour and 15 minutes to look around (thanks to our delayed flight).  We had to choose what we were gonna look for first:  Kennedy's grave, or the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  I knew that the "changing of the guard" takes place every hour on the hour, so I suggested we go there first.  On the way, we admired the beauty of the cemetery, and the size of it.  That place was huge!

They don't let you walk around in the tomb area, you have to stay on the roped off walkways.

When we made it to The Tomb, this soldier was pacing back and forth and clicking his shoes together every time he stopped or pivoted.  They take 21 steps, pause for 21 seconds, and pace back 21 steps, back and forth.  21 represents the 21-gun salute, which is the highest military honor.

"click!"

We got there just in time because the bells started chiming, which meant it was time to change guards.

Chuck got a video of this on his phone, and I really wish I could show it to you, but it won't let me, OR I am not smart enough to bypass the technical difficulties involved in that.

Bummer that I can't get it to work.

New guard on duty.

After it was over, we made our way towards the Kennedy gravesite.

It was a really nice walk.

I was surprised to see this deer strolling around in there.

Here is John F. Kennedy's grave and his wife Jacqueline, with the eternal flame burning.

The grave is set in a pretty big memorial site.

We knew it was close to closing time, so we started to make our way out.  I wish we had more time there.

So we crossed the bridge again, made our way through the detours, passed the Lincoln Memorial again, and the Washington Monument, which is really pretty in the evening.

The Washington Monument was kind of in the middle of the "National Mall", and only a few blocks away from our hotel, so it was a common site.  I'm really glad it was there and was really glad that it was so tall because there were a few times when I had to look for it and use it as a landmark so I could figure out where I was.  We couldn't go up to it and see it up close, or go inside it because it was closed off for construction.  But just seeing it from a distance was good enough for me.

On the way back to the hotel, we passed by several buildings that made up the Federal Aviation Administration, which is what Chuck was there for.  Normally, he would have to go to these buildings, but for his job shadowing, he had to spend most of his time in a different building.

It was interesting to walk around and see all the fancy buildings, with names on them that are so familiar to us like the Department of Agriculture, Department of Transportation, etc.  The Department of Education was right directly across the street from our hotel.

Anyhoo, that seemed like a lot for the first day, and it was getting late, so we went back to the hotel to get some rest.  The next morning, I was on my own so I wanted to plan my day.  I already had a ticket to go to the Holocaust Museum at 10:30, but I wasn't sure yet what I was gonna do after that.

That will be Day 2 (my next post).

I sure wish I could get these videos to work!

Apparently, I have to do it through UTube, but I am too dumb to figure out how to do that.

Welcome To Da UP, eh?

My last post was negative venting, so hopefully this one will be more positive.

I think it will be.

Chuck took all of last week off, so we took a road trip up north to explore the Upper Peninsula in Michigan, and of course we HAD TO make a stop at Sutton's Bay after Chuck discovered it on a map.

So we left Monday morning and skirted the left coast of Michigan for the scenic route along the shore of Lake Michigan.  But really, the only times we got a view of the Lake was when we stopped and parked the car so we could actually walk to a beach.  When you're driving along the coast, sometimes you can see the water, but usually there's too many trees blocking your view, or you're just not quite close enough to it.  It's a good route though, cuz there's plenty of places to stop and get out of the car and walk to a beach.

Here we stopped at a town called Empire.

After more driving, we came to this dune park and we thought it would be a good place to stop and walk around to stretch out our legs in a pretty place.

But they wanted WAY too much money, so we said, "uh-uh".

And we kept going.

Our next stop was this little historical village that was quite busy in the 1850's, but now it's just a few abandoned buildings and a tiny little shop for tourists.

On the beach I found some pretty white rocks that I took home.  A lady on the beach asked me if I found Petoskey stones.  I never heard of Petosky stones, so she examined my rocks and confirmed that I did not find Petoskey stones.  Apparently, they are a small treasure if you are lucky enough to find one.  A couple days later, Chuck was talking to a lady that he used to work with in Anchorage, and she also advised us to keep our eyes out for Petoskey stones.  I was starting to want one real bad. I guess they are rocks that are mixed with fossils that get washed up on the shore.  They have a kind of "tortoise shell" pattern on them.  I never did find one except for small samples sold in a gift shop (I didn't buy one), but after I knew what I was looking for, I tried to find one on the beach, knowing that I wouldn't find one.

ANYHOOOOOOOO..............back on the road we went.

We stopped HERE:

I desperately wanted to get a picture of a sign at the beach that said "Sutton's Bay", but this was the best I could do.  I found this sign on the side of the Post Office building.

HERE is a picture of Sutton's Bay:

The town itself wasn't anything super special, but it was still one of my favorite places on this trip.  It was a nice little town to walk around in, even though it was kinda touristy.  I really don't know what draws the tourists there; I don't see anything special there that other towns don't have.  

However, I found something there that I never found anywhere else just for me!

An ice cream stand that sells non-dairy ice cream!  And I don't mean the chemical-laden soft-serve ice cream that you get from Dairy Queen or McDonald's!  This ice cream is made with coconut milk! It was yummy!

And that was a real treat for me cuz it's been so long since I actually got to eat an ice cream cone from an ice cream stand!

The next morning we continued on our way up north along the coast of Lake Michigan.

We came to the "Tunnel of Trees".

This was something I was looking forward to and was pretty excited about it.

It was a really pretty drive, and I don't wanna sound negative here, but it was not really what I was expecting.  I was expecting to drive through miles and and miles of a long dark canopy of trees.  But this was really just a road that goes through a thick forest.  There really weren't any canopies going through here.  But it was still worth it to go through it.  There's a lot of houses along the way in there, and I kept thinking about how the mailman that has this route probably really loves his job.

So we kept driving toward Wilderness State Park and got out to walk on the beach some more, and from there we headed to Mackinaw City, which was one of my other favorite spots.

Of course this was a very touristy city, but the way they had it laid out somehow made it not seem so bad.  It's a nice place to just walk around and see the sights.

We came to this bronze statue, which happened to be a real man.  If you put money in his basket, he gives you his business card.  I asked him if his dog was real, but he didn't say a word; but the dog's name tag says "Real", so I guess you could say "he's Real".

Of course, seeing the Mackinaw Bridge was exciting, but I really enjoyed hanging out on this beach.   One thing I learned on this trip was that the bridge divides the Lakes.  On the east side of the bridge is Lake Huron, and the west side of the bridge is Lake Michigan.  So the beach in this picture is actually on Lake Huron.

Until we got this far, we were planning on going to Mackinac Island so we went to the ferry stations to inquire about schedules and fees.  But after awhile, Chuck lost his interest in going there, so we skipped it.

We crossed the bridge and spent the night in St. Ignace, which was another neat place where we found more things to see and do.

I really liked being here in this town too.  They have this long boardwalk that skirts the shores of Lake Huron.  Really nice place to take an evening stroll.

We spent the night in St. Ignace and had breakfast at this little place:

It was very "different" which made it a neat place to go.  The waitresses didn't speak the best English, and the waiter was too distracted and busy to give us good service, so they screwed up our order, but it was still a neat place to go.  We would go there again if we ever got back in the area.

After breakfast we went to this nearby attraction:

We climbed a lot of stairs to get up there, but it was all good, knowing that we were gonna be sitting in the car again all day.

Our next stop was Sault Ste. Marie, where we watched a ship come into Soo Locks, and then we walked around for awhile.

 Then we headed further up north to Whitefish Point where they have the Shipwreck Museum.

There's a lighthouse there with another nice beach to stroll on.

The lighthouse was pretty neat.  You could go up there and see the view from up there, but way at the top it was like a hot sauna, so we didn't stay up there very long.

The house part of the lighthouse was really interesting because it was an actual house where the lighthouse keeper lived with his family.  The inside of this lighthouse is a museum where you can see how the families lived in there.

And of course, let's not forget the beach:

And this is Lake Superior, so we have made contact with three of the Great Lakes in this trip!

And now on to the Shipwreck Museum:

This was a relatively small museum, but very interesting.  I had no idea there were so many shipwrecks in Lake Superior!!

If I remember right, I think the Edmund Fitzgerald was the last boat to sink in those waters, thanks to better weather technology and a change in policies.

Here is the bell from the Edmund Fitzgerald that they pulled out of the water.

I was interested in the last name on this list, since we share the same surname.  It would be pretty cool if I had any bragging rights to being related to that guy, but when I compared his ancestors to mine, I found no connection, even though he was also from Wisconsin.

So after we got done at the Shipwreck Museum, we headed west to view some waterfalls.  

By this time, it was getting into the evening hours, so first we found a hotel, and then found something to eat, which was better because by that time it wasn't quite so hot hiking through the woods.

By the way, we ate at the restaurant next to our hotel and me and Chuck both agree that it was the best reuben sandwich we ever had.

We went to see the Tahquamenon Falls where they have an Upper Falls and Lower Falls.

This is the Lower Falls:

And this is the Upper Falls:

(Gee, ya think.....?)

(I mean really, to go behind the fence is to go off the cliff......duh!)

So anyhoo, after we got back to the hotel, we spent some time outdoors behind the hotel by the water, which was nice.  The next morning we headed back home, stopped in Mackinaw City to walk around on the beach one last time, halfway home we went to Cadillac to visit my brother for a little bit.  Got home Thursday night.  I know I left out a lot of details, but I didn't wanna make this too boring.

Over all it was a very nice trip and the weather was perfect the whole time.

And guess what?!  My next trip is to Washington D.C.!!

I finally have a chance to go there!!

AFTER NEXT WEEK!!

Now that will be fun, fun, fun, and very interesting!