Final Day in South Carolina!

My parents front door


the front of the house

So this is the last post of our trip to the East Coast. We had so much fun and got to do and see some really great things. D.C was a blast and so rich with history. We went at such a great time with the weather and how not crowded it was. We met some really great people that have been great friends to my parents over the year. I'm glad they are enjoying their life over there(such a 180 from Poway) and we miss them everyday. We got to see old friends with is always great and it had been a long time! (thanks again Neal and Gab for your hospitality. We can't wait to go back and visit again and see more that we didn't get to see this time around...I'm hoping for a trip to Wilmington! Here are some pictures of Shandin's Place (as my good friend Ali calls it) or TWB and JoJo's southern home! Thanks Mom for having us and we love you guys!

The Last D.C post...

me and suzie in front of washington monument


at the World War II monument


abe lincoln monument


sister


One of the things I really wanted to do was go and take pictures around D.C at night..it was a must on the list. The little all the monuments up at night so you can still take a venture to see them. We had a lot of fun and it was kinda of cold out....some of my favorites are from that night! Also none of these are photoshoped or altered(all natural!)

Arlington National Cemetery

JFK and Jackie O's graves


tomb of the unknown soldier


the soldier watching the tomb


some handy footwork


After our 3 hour tour of DC on the segways, metroed it to the Arlington National Cemetery. We got to see John F Kennedy and Jackie O's grave sites. As well as Robert Kennedy and Edward Kennedy. We even made it to see the changing of the guard at the Unknown Soldier's tomb. What a sight to see especially with all the veterans there watching as well.

Segways Part 2

the family in front of the White House


Suzie and Mike


on Capital Hill


TWB and Jojo in front of the Supreme Court


The cool thing for the most part we were traveling in the street with the traffic of DC. The whole time me and my dad where concerned about where my mom was how she was doing....she did great (white knuckled the whole time but didn't get injured) There were two accidents...one my dad and my sister bumped wheels and my dad went down like a tree on the sidewalk then no joke 2 minutes later right in front of the White House I swear I saw my sister coming right for me...so I did the only thing I could think of jump off the segway (that didn't work) and jump off the curb...well I did that but still on the segway. So there I went down right in front of security. They thought it was the funniest thing. No one was seriously injured which is the good thing. We got to cruise up Capital Hill...thank god we didn't have to walk up that...that would have sucked. Up there we saw the Library of Congress and The Supreme Court. All in all it was a super fun experience and everyone still talks about....as my mom said "its the most fun with pants on!" that's JoJo for you.

Cruisin Through DC on Segways... part 1

my dad...everyone says he looks like the guy from Son of Anarchy(this picture totally looks like he's going to ride a Harley!)


me and my mom (pre-video)

sister and I

i loved my pink helmet!


(ok this is the best picture...its my mom about to run into the wall...me trying to help her and after she told my sister.."I can do it myself and leave me alone! me and sister laughed at this picture for days! we love you mom!)

So this post is getting divided up into numerous parts because it did take up our whole Thursday morning and its so fun to talk about. So our good friends Neal and Gab told us about the cool segway tours we could do through the city. Me and Mike thought it sounded pretty cool and we had never been on one. The first words out of my mom's mouth are..."Well you guys have fun then.." basically you two can do it yourselves but i'm not doing it with you. After getting to the hotel and seeing a flyer for it...Mike and I totally talked my parents into doing it..plus we knew my sister would be so down on riding one of those. So we booked the 3 hour tour online for Thursday(thank god for no rain!). It was pretty funny getting the training. The video showed every scenario on how you can get injured on the segway (totally freaking out my mom in the process!) We then got to go test drive the segways and ride around an alley before we hit the streets of D.C.....more to come on the actual tour!

Dinner at the Charthouse

the best molten lava chocolate cake!


After a long day of sightseeing we had an awesome dinner at the Charthouse. One of my favorite restaurants...who can say no to seafood and the best dessert ever! Its rare that all 5 of us are together and enjoying each others company. Love the fam bam and had a great time together. Can't wait to share our experiences through the city on.....SEGWAYS!!!!

Capital Hill

After all the sightseeing around the memorials, we decided to hop back on the bus so it could take us to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing(its where the moneys made folks). Mike really wanted to go there and see how moneys made. On the bus I got some really good pictures of the Capital building. We didn't get off to explore cause that was going to be the next day(different post...can't wait to share that one!) but got some really good shots with the trees. We did get to the Money Factory and learned lots. Mike bought a sheet of ones uncut which he thought was so cool. We then met up with Dad and Suzie and went to the Holocaust Museum. That was so unbelievable. It took us 2/ 3 hours to get through it and we didn't even see all of it. All the information was crazy...definitely mind blowing.

World War 2 Memorial

The group of veterans there


what started the war


arizona


After looking at the Vietnam and Korean War Memorials, we walked right over to the World War 2 memorial which is on the other side of the reflecting pool. The thing that was so awesome was there were a bunch of school kids there lined up at one of the entrances and a bus full of World War 2 vets were coming to see the memorial the kids would clap when they walked in. I thought it was very touching and the vets loved it. The memorial is set up two sides...the Pacific and the Atlantic with different quotes all around from that time.

Vietnam Memorial and Korean War Memorial

The start of the wall at the Korean War Memorial


The soldiers


POW bracelet


me and mike


After visiting Abraham Lincoln monument we went to see the Vietnam War Memorial. It was so surreal seeing all those names of all the people that lost their lives over there. My mom ended up finding 2 people's names she knew that died over there. After that we made our way to the Korean War memorial. The statues of the soldiers are so amazing to see. The wall was hard to see the faces cause it just rained that morning.

Abraham Lincoln Monument

The Reflecting Pool


Big Abe


Wednesday was a very busy day...while my dad went to Baltimore to pick my sister up from the airport..Mike, mom and I went to all the monuments/memorials on the National Mall. First stop Lincoln Memorial. Man is Abe a big guy holy smokes. It was such a beautiful monument and such a great day to see it. Me and Mom were quoting the famous scene from Forrest Gump when Forrest is speaking to the Vietnam protesters and Jennie jumps in the Reflecting Pool and screams FORREST!!! all the way through the memorial!

Rain Rain Go Away!

Mom and Dad at the monument with Washington in the bachground


me and mike


the statue of Jefferson


the monument


cool flag banner outside the star spangled banner

Day two in D.C it rained all day which was kinda of a bummer. So we decided to hit up some museums. We went to the Natural History museum and saw some dinosaurs. The American history museum and saw the first lady dresses and pop culture artifacts like Dorothy's ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz. Also in the American History museum we saw the star spangle banner. We then headed over to the Artifacts museum which is where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are located. Fun fact is that they are going to be taking these items off of display pretty soon cause they are deteriorating so I'm glad we got to see them well they are still available to look at. We then braved the weather and jumped on a hop on hop off bus that took us to the Thomas Jefferson monument. It was so cool cause its a little further away then the other monuments but got pictures of the Washington monument with all the autumn colors.

Day One in D.C

washington monument

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me and mike in front of the white house


loved the pink ribbon!


So after leaving Neal and Gabrielle's house it was now on to our nation's capital Washington D.C. The weather was so nice and cool...leaves were turning colors..it was just so awesome. Our first stop was seeing the White House. It was so cool that they had a pink ribbon put up for breast cancer (big points there Obamas!) In fact they just put it up that day we arrived which was even better. We worked around a bit seeing Washington's monument as well. We were so beat from our drive we headed back to Alexandria for a great dinner!