Roasting Marshmallows is Therapeutic

Location: Washington, D.C., USA

Well… here’s to another late night of work. This one was sort of my fault though. I felt so crappy last night that I really couldn’t sleep, so I figured I’d just get some work done so that hopefully I could rest some today (that didn’t happen, though, explanation later).

We were going to get up early to start sightseeing, but for some reason, we just took way too long to get up and around. We waited until Jennifer had to go in for a lunch meeting and she dropped us off at Arlington National Cemetery on her way in to town.

Now, the last time I was in DC was in 1996 when we took a field trip with my 5th grade class. I remember most of the trip, and I remember appreciating all of the sights, but I’m really glad that I have a chance to see everything again after taking all of my high school and college US history classes. As soon as we got out of the car, I knew my sweater was going to be too much clothing, and I couldn’t have been happier. We were blessed with a beautiful 70 degree day and we took advantage and spend the entire morning and early afternoon walking around the cemetery, across the bridge to the Lincoln Memorial and up the lawn to the Washington Monument. The trees that line the pond on either side of the Reflecting Pool were the most beautiful shade of yellow and their leaves were conveniently dropping and littering the sidewalks on either side. All of the sights were pretty much exactly as I left them 13 years ago, which is comforting. Even the snipers sitting on the top of the White House seemed oddly familiar.

Just after passing the White House I got an e-mail that changed the rest of my day. Unfortunately, there were a string of events that led to a serious amount of work to be taken care of. So I found some free wifi in the food court of the Federal Building and sent Dan with a map drawn on a napkin to visit the Museum of Natural History and the Capitol Building. After he got done touring around, we grabbed a quick train home and I resumed work while Dan and Tommy prepped a bonfire and ordered some pizza.

I just finished up so I’m going to stop blabbing and run out to join them outside. I can see the fire from here and it looks so toasty! Oh and Dan's never had a s'more before... that has to change.

XOXO

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Detour = Success... Cruising the Skyline Drive

Location: Washington, D.C., USA

I stayed up way too late working on the reports we are putting out for the Port of Long Beach and I’m quite exhausted, to say the least. Today was jam packed pull of fun and it all started at 6 AM. I practically crawled to the car after an hour of sleep and prayed Dan wouldn’t ask me to drive. After a quick drive by the UVA campus in daylight (to see the Lawn and the Rotunda at Ed’s recommendation – a great one by the way, we headed West towards the Blue Ridge Mountains.

We initially missed the turn onto Skyline Drive, but after stopping to chat with a chatty old Vietnam vet, we got on the right track and began the 105 miles along the ridge of the mountains. The skyline drive is basically a road that winds along the ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains from south western Virginia through north western Virginia. We got the recommendation from Hazel (the lady at the Virginia, NC border) yesterday and realized we HAD to take the detour. There were deer littering the sides of the road the entire drive, which I’m sure made Dan a little nervous, but other than that, it was a great drive. It was a beautiful day, with decent visibility and although we didn’t time it perfectly to see the fall colors, we still got quite a few great landscape panoramas.

About two thirds of the way through the drive we stopped to take a short 2 mile hike up to the top of the Little Stony Man Cliffs. The large boulders jutted out over the valley of trees below and we vegged out on the rocks for about 30 minutes just taking in the solitude and the early morning breeze. The weather was still on our side today, as it has been for the entire trip thus far. It was sunny and 65 the whole drive; perfect windows down sweatshirt weather. After doing our fair share of screaming random phrases out to the echoing cliffs in the distance and me scaring Dan by standing too close to the edge (I was going to test out the phrase “I lean against the wind, pretend that I am weightless”, but I decided against it as the odds of me falling over a 100 ft. cliff seemed too high).

From here we drove to West Virginia to stop at Charlestown and the Dairy Queen hosted there. After scarfing a dip cone, we turned back east and started the quick drive to Washington D.C. Once we arrived, we were greeted by a very enthusiastic cousin (Miss Jennifer) and her amazingly adorable colonial cottage in Fairfax. Her husband Tommy cooked us up an AMAZING meal complete with steaks on the grill, sweet potatoes and grilled mushrooms & onions. I ate for about an hour straight (I was not about to leave food on that plate) and we washed everything down with some brew before settling in front of the fire in the living room. I’ve got a decent amount of work to do tonight, but I have a killer headache, so I may have to just surrender to my sickness and go to bed. Work is giving me a stress cold right now, so hopefully, a little break this week will be just the medicine I need!

XOXO

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Now playing: Incubus - I Wish You Were Here
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