Day 8

What a full day. We were up at 5:30. Ran to Safeway which is a block away and got some breakfast, soy milk & muffin for Shara - chocolate milk and danish for Neal. We sat on a bench outside the Safeway store to eat our breakfast. Neal said we looked like two high-class homeless people! I'm sure we were a site!

Our first stop for the day was Mt. Vernon. We did such a good job of riding the Metro today. We had to change from the Red line at Gallery Place/Chinatown to catch the Yellow line and take it all the way to the end of the line at the Huntington station. Then we had to catch bus 101 to Mt. Vernon. One thing that has impressed both Neal and me is how quick people are to help. When we got off the bus at Mt. Vernon we weren't sure just where to go. We were just kind of standing there looking confused when the bus driver asked us what we were looking for and headed us in the right direction. The people here have been so friendly.

Mt. Vernon was so worth the trip. It is so amazing to be walking the grounds where history took place. We started our self-guided tour with a short movie about George Washington. It was a real good movie and really set the tone to begin our tour. We took the guided tour through the manion and walked the ground by ourselves and took millions of pictures. I've always been the picture taker in the family, but I think Neal got the better pictures today!

After Mt. Vernon we went to the Capitol Mall. What an amazing place! The sites and people almost make one dizzy! The first stop on the Mall was to get a hot dog from a vedor! We were famished and couldn't take in another site till our tummies were full. Then it was off to the Archives building where we got to see the original copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Again, how amazing to see these documents that were penned so long ago.

Our next stop was at the Old Post Office tower to see the "second best view of Washington D.C." How beautiful! Again we took a million pictures. After coming down from the tower we just HAD to get an ice cream cone at Ben & Jerries. Sorry Alicia they didn't have key lime. Shara had chocolate peanut butter swirl and Neal had coconut almond cookie dough. Then it was off to see Ford's Theater. It was closed for renovation, so we crossed the street to the Peterson house where President Lincoln died. Yet again, the emotions of standing amidst so much history.

Then it was on to the White House (Yep, the ol' puppies are getting pretty tired by now!). We go merrily walking down Pennsylvania Avenue when we come across the White House so we start taking a million-and-a-half pictures only to find out we are taking pictures of the Treasury building! The White House is next door! Do we look like STUPID TOURIST?????

The real White House is gorgeous. We took almost a million pictures there. The one picture I didn't get was the throng of people all taking pictures of the White House! Funny story here. We asked a guy if he would take a picture of the two of us and as we were waiting for him to take the picture we were noticing he had the camera at the oddest angle and he was taking forever! The lady next to him took the camera from him and took a couple pictures herself. She didn't do much better, she chopped Neal's head off! So after they were done taking pictures for us we waited a bit and walked a few steps another direction then asked another man if he would mind taking our picture. He was really cute. He didn't speak any English but he understood what we wanted and did a great job. When he was through a lady came up to us and said he was from France and didn't speak English!

After this it was time to head home so we caught the Metro back to Bethseda. After dropping things off at our room and washing our faces, we headed back to the Metro to go back to the Friendship Heights station and have dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. Oh My Goodness! Neal and I shared an entree of Lemon Herb Chicken (which was a whole half of a chicken!), then for dessert I had key lime cheese cake and Neal had chocolate peanut butter cheese cake. This was our fancy meal of our trip. The walk back to the Metro this time was very slow!

Question for the day: If you are celebrating your 30th wedding anniversary, are you supposed to act like adults?