Gabe was scheduled to head up to Philadelphia to take his PE boards at the end of August…another requirement for the ole’ medical students…anyways we were about to book his flight up there and on a whim we decided that the two of us would just make a little trip out of it and drive! I called my Omi and Pop-Pop to see if they would be willing to come watch Maddie for a couple of days and of course they were over the moon excited to be able to spend some time with her. So not only was I going to get to spend a lot of car time with my husband, but we had plans to go into Philadelphia for a few hours and on our way home we were going to stop in Washington D.C.! I have never been, so I was so pumped!
Being ridiculously OCD (about certain things), I had this trip meticulously planned out-all hotels booked, things to do planned, train schedules just about memorized, and bags packed. We left on Wednesday afternoon and right before we left we (stupidly) decided to update our GPS. We then set out on the road only to discover that the maps had not loaded correctly-everything was completely wiped clean. After countless attempts to get the GPS to start working (we used Starbucks, Microtel Inn, and a parking lot of a Super 8 wireless internet connection) and a call to Garmin customer service we finally were able to get our GPS working on day 3 of our trip!
We made it to Philadelphia late morning on Thursday, parked our car at the hotel, grabbed our backpack and ran to the train station to catch the train into the city. We had fun exploring the streets of Philly. We saw the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and Ben Franklin’s old neighborhood. We also ate lunch at the Reading Terminal Market. It was so neat and there was so much food everywhere! Gabe had a Philly cheesesteak and I ate a pot roast sandwich from some really nice Amish people. It rained most of the day, so I didn’t get my camera out too much. But here are a few pictures that we captured---
Independence Hall
Grave of the Unknown Soldiers (of the Revolutionary War)
Room where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed
No big city is complete without China town
Old Library (I think?)
Betsy Ross’ House
Beautiful Cobblestone streets
Carpenter’s Hall
Liberty Bell
While Gabe was taking his test on Friday I stayed in the hotel until check-out glued to the TV watching Hurricane Irene’s every move. The one time we are away a major hurricane was about to hit the northeast…and this only happens once in a decade, right? Our plan was to be in Washington DC all day Saturday and Hurricane Irene was expected to make an impact with heavy rains and high winds in the late afternoon, so against our better judgment we headed down to DC on Friday night right after Gabe was finished with his test. We hurried and made it DC on Friday night to see all the major monuments-Washington, Lincoln, Vietnam, Korean, and World War II. There was definitely something special to see the Lincoln Memorial at night-we spent most of our time here and we even listened to a talk about our 16th president.
After a long day we headed back to Bethesda (a suburb of DC) where our hotel was and got a good night sleep in preparation for a whirlwind of a day ahead of us…
Our plan was to walk through the monuments one more time so I could get daytime pictures of them first thing in the morning. We decided to get off at a different station that was closer to the monuments in the “Froggy Bottom” neighborhood. We started walking in the direction of the monuments (or what we thought was the direction of the monuments) and the whole time I was asking my dear husband “are we going the right way?” and all along he (the one with the map) kept assuring me that we were. We passed through several hip DC neighborhoods and even saw several colleges a long the way. After walking for nearly 30 minutes Gabe quickly took a look at the map and said “Oh My God we have been going in the wrong direction.” Yep my boy scout, map-lovin’ husband took us due North about a mile in the WRONG DIRECTION!
Nonetheless we FINALLY made it to the Lincoln Memorial right when the rain started. Hurricane Irene was on its way…but I got the pictures of everything I wanted. We then headed to see the White House and to explore the Smithsonian Museums. We saw the American History, Natural History Museums and visited the Archives where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution are held. By the time we tried to go to the Air and Space Museum the winds had picked up and they started shutting the city down. It was an insane day to say the least, but I can finally say I saw the nation’s capital. I definitely want to return because there are many things that we didn’t get to see, including the Library of Congress, US Capitol, Arlington Cemetery, and countless museums and monuments.
Vietnam War Memorial
Korean War Memorial
Lincoln Monument
World War II Memorial
The White House
The Boy Scout Monument
President Lincoln’s top hat he was wearing when he was shot
Dinosaurs-definitely my FAVE!
The Hope Diamond
Short visit to the Air and Space Museum before they closed everything down
After leaving D.C. we traveled to Richmond where we had a room booked for the night. Thank goodness we had a reservation, because our hotel was turning people away who were from the coast trying to get a room for the night. We got a lot of rain and the winds definitely picked up by the time we checked in. Gabe just about blew away trying to unload our things onto a cart.
We had a fun little trip away, but we were so happy to be home with our little princess. During all our travels we kept a picture of her on the dashboard so she was with us the whole time. We never worried about her though, because she was with Omi. I asked Omi one night how everything was going and Omi replied “me and Maddie are like two peas in a pod-we are having a great time!”. Thank you Omi for taking great care of Maddie. We love you so much!
Maddie cuddling with her Omi
Mommy and Daddy are HOME!
On Saturday we headed to the Simpsonville Labor Day festival. It was a hot day, but we still enjoyed walking around with Maddie. She had many firsts, including her first bounce house, first pony ride, first time being on a fire truck and big tractors, first petting zoo, and first time getting her hand painted (we attempted the face, but she was not having it). She is growing up so fast and can do so many neat things now. It is so much fun! I almost cried a few times throughout the day because I kept looking at her and saying “she looks so much older today”. She is getting so tall and the little bit of baby fat is melting away by the day. I love our little family outings and watching Maddie discover new things. We really had a great day! 
