A few more of my favorite pictures from Washington, DC

Washington Monument from across the tidal basin

Jefferson Memorial

The Capitol building

DC Day 3: Walking, walking, and more walking. (And Monuments)!

Our third day in DC, we planned to hit the National Mall for monuments. But first, the International Spy Museum!

We stopped at a Starbucks on the way to the spy museum, and then headed straight there. The Spy museum is a fun museum if you like James Bond movies. Nile wanted to go since Nate went two years ago. We moved through it fairly quickly, as I don't think he liked it quite as much as Nate had. We were through there in about an hour.

We stopped on the way back at Paul, the coffee shop where we had eaten breakfast the prior morning. Nile had been wanting to try one of their macarons, since Nate had talked about the "horrible pistachio macaron" he ate there. Nile opted for vanilla and thought that it was great.  While we were there, we put together a game plan for the rest of the morning.  We discussed heading to the White House, but Nile wanted to skip that and just head to the monuments. So, we started at the Washington monument after a quick walk through a sculpture garden on the way.

Holding up the Washington Monument

We made our way through the whole Mall, hitting all the major monuments. Nile liked the WWII monument best.

WWII Memorial

On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial

Selfie at the Lincoln Memorial

FDR memorial

FDR memorial

We finished up around 12:30 after walking around the Tidal Basin to the Jefferson Memorial. It was lunch time, so we found a small sandwich shop a few blocks away and walked there.

After lunch we headed back to the hotel, where Nile lasted about 10 minutes before wanting to head back out. So we walked up to the Hirshhorn art museum and spent an hour looking at modern art. The main exhibit was on 80's art, so it was colorful and interesting.

Back to the hotel to regroup. We rested about an hour, then decided to walk to the Capitol building on our way to an early dinner.

Just one more picture, please?

Dinner was at an English pub, literally tucked away in a corner. It was a small place but the food was good.

After that we were pretty tired so we headed back to the hotel and called it a day. We had an early flight and we had walked just over 11 miles. We watched some TV and hung out there for the rest of the night.

It was a great trip.

Washington, DC Day 1: The Snow

One of our traditions is for me to take each boy to Washington, DC when they are in fifth grade. The reason for fifth grade is to make sure they are old enough to appreciate the trip, and to be able to handle all the walking.

This year it is Nile's turn. The start of our trip was ominous. For the week prior, the weather forecast had gotten progressively worse, with a winter storm bearing down on the region and promising 8-10 inches of snow. And the predictions of snow were very much guesses as the line between "a few inches" and "a foot or more" crossed straight over the QC region. It was scheduled to start overnight Friday. And we had a 6:15 am flight Saturday.

We went to bed Friday night not knowing exactly what we would wake up to. I set my alarm for 3:45 and settled in for a restless night of sleep. Finally at 3:30 I gave up and looked outside to see a blanket of new wet snow.

Ugh.

I was worried about the drive to the airport. I was worried we would get there and wait for a few hours only to have our flights cancelled. I was worried I would drive off the road. All things that had kept me from sleeping well, and I woke to find they were still true. I had hoped to wake and find the snow had tracked north.

Tom decided to take us to the airport. The drive down Wolf Road was perilous. 25 mph, as there had not been a snow plow through. My instinct to turn around was still there. It took us more than 25 minutes to go the 9 miles.

Once we got to the interstate, things looked up. It was mostly wet and 45 mph felt like 90. Once we got to the airport it was raining. Remember that line I mentioned? Seems it really had crossed right over the metro area, with snow to the northeast and rain to the southwest. It had taken us 45 minutes to make the normally 20 minute trek to the airport.

Everything at the airport was on time, so we checked in, got some breakfast, and sat down at the gate. Soon the airline was boarding - the gate attendant told us they were trying to get us out early. We were on board by 6 am, with 10 other passengers. The flight was supposed to be full, but it seemed nobody else had shown up.

After another hour wait on the tarmac for de-icing, we finally took off around 7 am. Our trip was finally on, and my stress level dropped significantly.

Portland Vacation Day 3 - the coast!

We had to take one day of vacation and make a trip to the coast. Tom had never been to the Pacific Ocean before, and I had only briefly seen it on a family vacation years ago. 

We headed out early-ish Wednesday morning for a drive out to the coast. The forecast was for clouds and a bit of rain so I wasn't quite sure how it would be. 

We headed first to Astoria, Oregon. The first place we went was this little coffee shop on a pier. And when I say it was on a pier, I mean that we had to drive on a wooden deck/road/bridge to get to it. It was kind of nerve wracking.  So much so that I didn't get a picture. So here is one thanks to Google. 

Yes. We parked on. the. dock.

The coffee was great though, and the scenery was pretty good too. 

 

It was still cloudy and cool, and I was regretting my sleeveless dress (more on that later).  I almost bought a Coffee Girl sweatshirt to take the chill off, but at $40 I didn't love it enough to own it forever. 

After coffee we hit (can you guess??) another brewery for lunch. I didn't take any pictures, but they had a beer called the Truffle Shuffle. You see, the movie Goonies was filmed in Astoria. I was in 80's geek heaven. We are definitely watching the movie with the boys very soon. 

We then set off for a drive down the coast. We stopped in Seaside at Seaside Brewery for a forgettable beer sampler. It really wasn't good at all. 

The first beach we went to was Arcadia Beach. Holy smokes, was this gorgeous. 

I took a minute to write a name in the sand. A friend from college and his wife lost a baby at birth and now they collect photos of her name written in the sand from all over the world. You can see the wave coming - a second later this name was washed away. I barely got the photo. 

After this beach we drove further down the coast to Oswald State Park. Here we found a beach that was so far off the road you had to walk down a heavily forested path along a creek to reach it. You don't see this in Illinois. 

Yes, this is the way to the beach. 

Completely gorgeous. 

This is where that sleeveless dress came back to haunt me. Remember the forecast for clouds?  See the sky?  The sun was intense, but the air was cool, and I got a bit sunburned. I know better but, well, I know better. 

After this beach we headed back to Portland.  Our navigator (Siri) led us on a journey through 13 miles of tight S-curves before reaching a main highway. Apparently there is no shortcut or easy way through these (mountains? Hills?). 

Portland Vacation Day 2

On Tuesday, we decided to just stay in the city and explore a little bit on foot. 

We started with a run in Forest Park. This park has 80+ miles of trails - talk about a running and hiking paradise!

The pictures don't really capture how beautiful this place is. The trees are dark and the shades of green are so beautiful. It was also 58 degrees - perfect for running. 

The main trail/road has nicely marked miles. 

This was a really cool valley. 

After running we went to a coffee shop, then headed back to the hotel to shower. The rest of the day was shopping and visiting breweries.  I found a local yarn shop and bought some beautiful yarn dyed by local artists. 

I've sampled more beer in the last few days than I could have ever imagined. Believe it or not, this is a coffee stout. It tastes just like an iced coffee. Amazing. 

Portland Vacation Day 1

Tom and I are on a kid-free vacation to Portland. Our first trip away alone in what feels like forever. 

We arrived Sunday evening and visited a few breweries and ate dinner. On Monday, we headed to the Mt. Hood area to see waterfalls. And oh, did we see waterfalls!

The first one, Latourelle Falls, turned out to be our favorite. Probably because there was nobody else there. It was also beautiful. :)

We then hit Bridal Veil falls, which was a nice 0.3 mile "hike":

(I wasn't brave enough to climb out on the rock.)

I think this was Wahkeena Falls. We ran into a family wearing Hawkeye gear here. 

The last one, Multnomah Falls,  is the most famous tourist attraction in Oregon. The parking lot was packed and the visitors center was full. (This is why we loved the first waterfall best. No crowds.)  But it was also gorgeous. 

After the waterfalls we had a lunch at Thunder Island brewery. Just look at the scenery. 

After lunch we debated whether to drive north to see Mt. St. Helens, or drive south to see Mt. Hood. We chose Mt. Hood. We were surprised that there wasn't an official route, but we were able to find Trillium Lake, which was gorgeous and offered postcard like views of the mountain. 

This view?  Doesn't stink. :)

That was pretty much the end of Day 1. We drove back to the hotel and went out for dinner and a few drinks at a bar. 

Spring Break Day 3

On Day 3 we woke up to this:

37 degrees and the ground was covered in snow. 

So, fishing was out for the morning. We decided to head back in to Des Moines for museums. But...most of the museums are closed on Mondays. So we headed to one that was open. The Botanical Gardens. 

Touching the leaves. 

Weaving a reed into the display. 

Getting dripped on. (He is so hard to get good pictures of!)

Case in point. 

We hit the gift shop, where everyone found something. Three bird finger puppets, a gardening book, and a coffee plant. 

After the excursion and lunch at a local brewpub, we headed back to the cabin and Tom went fishing. It was cold but he caught 11 fish before taking Nate and Nile out to catch two more. Tom has pictures on his camera. 

At 2:15 am I woke up Nate and Nile and we headed outdoors to see the lunar eclipse. This was the first (and only) clear night we had here and the stars were amazing. The moon was pretty fantastic too. :)

Spring Break, Day 2

The second day of our trip started much like the first one ended. Thunder, lightning, and rain. Lots of rain. 

The trend continued all day long. Rain. Rain. Wind. Rain. 

(At least the hail we had overnight didn't continue...)

30+ mph winds and a steady downpour did not bode well for fishing. So there was lots of this:

And a mid-day trip to Des Moines. 

Tomorrow it's looking like 40 degrees will be the high, so it's likely we will again be looking for activities that don't involve being outdoors. 

Tom's a little bit (okay, a lot) bummed that we aren't able to continue to catch some of those big largemouth bass...this was not how he planned to spend this trip.