Last week, Scott and I were in the Washington, DC area visiting Sarah and Doug. I took lots of pictures, and thought I could share the highlights here. Let's just say I had a little time on my hands today to do some blogging!
Scott and I arrived last Wednesday night and began our sight-seeing on Thursday sans Sarah and Doug who had to work. Before boarding the Metro into DC (we got a special deal after all the commuters at 9:30 am), we walked around in Old Town Alexandria. This photo is of Sarah's very first place when she moved to the area. At the time, it was a rental, split with three other girls, and poorly maintained by the landlord. He decided to make a profit, sold the property (which is one of very few to have a backyard and driveway), and this is what it looks like today. Sarah had the top right bedroom, I believe. It's so charming!
Georgetown
We walked across the Potomac and visited the campus of Georgetown University. Technically, Georgetown is in the District of Columbia, but I always thought the campus and surrounding city were "Georgetown, Maryland". Everyone just refers to the area as Georgetown, so I suppose I'll continue to do the same.
We also enjoyed walking around the streets of Georgetown, looking at all the gorgeous homes. I can only imagine the pricetags!
National Archives
We paid a visit to the Natonal Archives Museum to see some real, live documents! Not very exciting, but free and neat to know that (most) of these are the real deal, written and signed by our founding fathers. 
National Postal Museum
Seems like we always ended up at the free museums. Here's one of the Smithsonians (which are all free, by the way), the National Postal Museum. It was interesting, and something we hadn't seen before.
Towards the end of the exhibits, patrons could post personal messages about their postal carriers or their own personal service to the USPS. I found one from Royal Oak. 
Euchre
Friday was the day to do nothing. We sat around most of the day, trying to figure out Sarah and Doug's channel lineup while they were gone. In the evening all of us went walking around Old Town, then came back to make up some drinks (non-alcoholic for me, of course) and play Euchre. 
Annapolis, Maryland
The four of us spent Saturday in Annapolis, seeing the sights and enjoying the beautiful day. Here's Scott and I in front of the State House.
Christmas Spirit
This is the store where Mom and Dad bought Sarah and I some of our first Christmas ornaments when they vacationed here in the early '80s. I still have my heavy, noodle, angel ornament to hang on the tree every year!
fall vacation
fall vacation part 2
...still in Annapolis.
Chase Lloyd House
This is the Chase Lloyd house, built in 1769 by Samuel Chase, signer of the Declaration of Independence. In 1888, one of the Chase decendants bequeathed it to the Protestent Episcopal Church to be used as a home for elderly women. The upper two floors are still used for a ladies home, but the first floor and gardens are available to tour. It's only open for tours during a two-hour window, and we just happened to be walking by at that time. It's very beautiful, but very old!
US Naval Academy
Our next stop was the US Naval Academy. Didn't seem too apealing, but it was nearby and free, and it was a beautiful day to be walking around. Once we were inside the gates, though, I quickly changed my tune. We spent just an hour on campus, and probably only saw a small sliver of it. The historic buildings are really neat to see. I love the beauty of old architechture.
These are the living quarters for very high ranking officers. It almost looked like a movie set with the porches and flags waving all in a row.
This is the Chapel on campus where weddings on Saturdays are held every hour! To be married here is an honor, and it books up quickly.
Ice Cream!
After all our walking, we decided we needed to refuel before heading home. We found the best ice cream... homemade and reasonably priced for a tourist area. Very delish!
18 weeks
(Ignore the torn-up wall. We're in the middle of taking down painted-over wallpaper. In fact, you might see that same wall for several weeks if we don't get our act together!)
homecoming 2006
Last Saturday, Scott and I drove to Mt. Pleasant for CMU's Homecoming festivities. We had a nice time, even though we were shocked to discover that our beloved Chip ID's would not allow us free access into the stadium like other students. The University had finally decided to change the look of the cards, and since ours weren't current, we were denied and forced to pay $20 each for a ticket (which I thought was a little steep).
After the game we drove around town and saw all the new developments, as well as some favorites that still keep Mt. Pleasant familiar in our minds.
Uncle John's Cider Mill, just for Scott
for the record
We put our heat on last night before going to bed. What a delight to get up this morning to a warm house! It's funny... 67 degrees from the heat being on is so much better than 67 degrees without.
super sports saturday
This is how we solved the dilemma of sports at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. Tigers earned the spot on the high definition television, while the Spartans and Wolverines were basic cable on mute. Our evening was complete with pizza and salad!
This is Scott's fist as he cheers for Craig Monroe rounding 3rd base after a homerun. Way to go, Tigers!
