A Capital Evening

Saturday, March 22, 2008

This weekend was the last of Aimee's spring break so we decided we should make the most of it and so we spent Thursday night and Friday being tourists in DC. Thursday after I got home from class we went to Chinatown (it is a small section of DC). We had been there before but had seen it on the map and decided it would be worth checking out especially because it was close to many other popular sights. When we were leaving the metro system there was a a large fan made of lights above the exit.
The Underground entrance to Chinatown.

When we got outside most of the names of the shops were in Chinese characters so we are not really sure what was inside each of them but we are sure it was amazing authentic Chinese wares. We walked around for a little while but just a block and a half way we stumbled across this amazing ancient church. I was built in 1890 (so it is newer than some buildings but not many) and was made of beautiful stone. The doors were made of really solid looking wood and Aimee got a fantastic picture of them.

This church was really spectacular.

On our wanders through the city we walked past the police memorial which has all the names of officers killed on duty engraved in stone and a large loin representing the fallen officers. - We couldn't resist a photo shoot.

Fearless Aimee Amid the Lions.

We then spent some time in Union Station and ended up near the capital at sunset. The light on the capital was really beautiful pictures really don't do it justice.


This is a picture of us in front of the Capital's reflection pool with the capital in the background. I was a nice evening except it was windy which made it kind of cold.
This is by another fountain near the Capital from where we are sitting we are facing the Capital.Sometimes Aimee gets really nice pictures (she is definitely the photographer of the family). After wandering around for a few minutes in a shop in Union Station that sold pictures of DC we decided to test our skills with the camera and see if we could take a picture that was worth framing. We think this one might be.

On Friday my first class isn't until 3:00 and since Aimee didn't have any classes to teach we went to the Arlington Cemetery. We went there the first month after we moved here but haven't been there since and there were still a lot of things that we hadn't seen. We took a tour of the house owned by Robert E. Lee (It was the original building at the site where the cemetery was and once soldiers started dying in the civil war they started burying them around his home) it was nice but the view was absolutely amazing it has an unparalleled overlook of DC!

You can see all of DC from the front porch of Robert E. Lee's house.

We also got to see a changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown soldier.

This poor soldier has to march back and forth in front of the monument 24 hours a day but they trade soldier every hour. You can see on the concrete where all the marching has worn a visible path on the concrete.

Last weekend we went camping in North Carolina at the Beaches National park. In getting ready for camping we had emailed the National Park asking if they had camping available. The ranger said they did but that you had to arrive by 8:00 to get a campsite. Google Earth said that it was an 6 1/2 hour drive to the park so we figured we could make it if we left right after Aimee go home from work on Friday. We loaded up the car (it is amazing how much stuff it takes to camp for weekend with a girl) and left at just after 1:00. After about a seven and a half hour drive to the southern tip of North Carolina we arrived at the state park at about a quarter to nine ready to set up our camp and go to bed. However, this was not to be the case. True to the Rangers words at the entrance to the state park there was a shut and locked gate that announced that there was no entering the park after 8:00. We had known this was a possibility but had thought that we were going to make it before the park closed. We decided to follow the road looking for another private campground. We drove for about 3 miles and when it started looking like there weren't going to be any places close by we decided to turn around and go back to town and ask a local.

The road was a narrow two lane road. I found a turn out where we could see tracks from other vehicles and pulled off the road preparing to turn around. Just as the car completely left the pavement the wheels sunk and then spun out in the sand. By this time it was 9:00 at night 400 miles from home and we were on a deserted looking bit of highway. Not fearing, since I grew up on a farm and have gotten several vehicles stuck in the mud I calmly put the car in reverse to back out. It went a little ways then spun out again in the sand. At this point Aimee started getting worried. I knew that the worst thing to do would be to dig the car in a deeper hole. I directed Aimee to climb into the drivers seat and back the car out while I pushed on the front. She climbed into the drivers seat and I got in position in front of the car. Pushing on the front while she reversed we made a little ground before the tires started spinning out again. She quickly stopped and I hurried around to the back of the car. She put it in forward and with super human strength I pushed the car out of the sand and back onto the road. We then drove back into town and luckily found a private campground that was still open.

The next day we decided we wanted to stay at the campground again the following night. As we approached the campground manager to make sure we could stay another night she warned us of severe weather warnings. Looking at the sky (it was clear, sunny, and 70 degrees) we decided we would chance the storm and paid for an additional night at the campground. On our way to the beach we got stopped in traffic for about 30 minutes due to a 5K for cancer.

The Beach was beautiful and we both got sunburns.

We have now been to one end of the country to the other together (and in both oceans).

After having a most excellent picnic on the beach together we drove a few short miles to the Fort Fisher Aquarium. There were all kinds of oceanic fish, reptiles, and other wildlife.

This Alligator had no chance against me.

While this alligator was not real we did get to see them feed the real Alligators. We also got to touch a sting ray, hermit crab, and horse shoe crab.

No fear of Alligators here.

We spent the day in Wilmington but as night was approaching clouds started covering the skies and we heard on the radio warnings like, "Severe weather warning, heavy rains, gusting winds, and possible tornadoes."

This post is To Be Continued...