April 11, 2001

On Wednesday of last week we started on our vacation to Washington DC. We were told that the drive could take over 3 hours so we were prepared for the worst with a back seat full of toys and snacks. We strapped Liza in and were on our way. We left just after noon so that we would miss traffic and so that Liza could get her nap in the car. As we left Pennsylvania we entered into Delaware and then into Maryland and then Virginia were we stayed with our Friends Amy Jo and Brian Oliver. As we pulled into Virginia Liza started to whine that she had to go potty, so we began looking for a place. She was really upset and whiny, we were looking for a place to pull off when she did what she called “A big cough.” Throwing up all over herself and her car seat. Lucky for us we pulled into a pharmacy, bought some wipes and cleaned her up the best we could. Then we headed for our friends house, but first a stop at the mall to kill some time. We had a fun night and then the next morning we got up and walked to the “Metro” station and figured out how to take the train to all the places we wanted to go. Lucky for us Amy and Brian live right by a station and of course the train goes to all the big things we wanted to see. The train was the highlight of Lizas’ trip! She loved every single ride on the train, it never got old, the whole time we were there. She has asked to go on the train a few times since then too. Thursday we went to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. And parked right at the front door is the “Sun Stone” from the Nauvoo Temple. It is accompanied by a story about the early Latter Day Saints, it was interesting, and we have a picture by it that we will post later. We saw quite a few things in this museum, submarines, boats, American flags, a lot of information on past presidents, the list goes on and on. With out children one could spend days looking around these places. We then took a lunch break - word to the wise - if you visit these sites take a lunch because the museums are free, but they get you with the food! We then took Liza to see the Museum of Natural History. This Museum had dinosaur bones, and animals. We thought that she would like it a lot more then she did. I guess that when the animals don’t move or are made of bones, it is not as much fun. She looked around and was excited about the dioramas where the dinosaurs were biting each other, but other then that she wasn’t as thrilled as we thought. We got to see the “Hope Diamond” in this museum, it attracted quite the crowd. There were a whole lot of people at the Smithsonian the whole time we were there. About 90% of the crowd was under 18 years old. Most of them were just walking along talking to their friends, not really even reading anything. Just taking up time I suppose. We then walked up to the Washington Monument and from there we could see the White House and Capital Building. The Monument however was closed for renovations so we couldn’t go up it. We were fortunate however that a friend here in Philly suggested that we go up to “The Old Post Office” to get a view. That we did, and after wandering around for a while trying to find out how to get up the tower, we made it to the top for a view of Washington DC. Brent made the climb with Liza to see the “BIG BELLS” which was a highlight for Liza. She talked about those for a while. Anyway, after Lizas nap she got to have a ride on the Merry Go Round (we’ll bill you for this later Grandma Tiffany) Then we headed back to the Smithsonian and decided to try to find a McDonalds or something along those lines. Apparently there is no such thing in the downtown area, and after asking a few locals we ended up on the Metro again headed for a Mall. We shopped around and had some dinner and then headed back to Amy and Brians house. It was a fun day and we were all pooped right out. We did so much walking!! And even Liza walked a TON! She was a really good little girl all day! The next morning after a good sleep we were up and raring to go again. ( a little later this morning however because we were so pooped) We got back on the train and headed for the Air and Space Museum. There we got to see lots of different kinds of planes. And some information on wars. We spent a lot of time in this Museum. Liza really enjoyed a little walk through the front portion of an airplane. Just like the ones that she has been on before except that she could see into where the pilot sits and could see all the gages. She actually walked through this twice because she liked it so much. We got smart this time and took a lunch with us and ate out in the yard. It was a rainy day so we didn’t spend too long outside. It was nice though to visit somewhere so green. The trees were in bloom and flowers were up. There were daffodils everywhere and green grass! It was nice, it felt like summer! After the air and space museum we walked clear back to the other end of the Smithsonian to see the Korean Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial. Both were impressive, but I must say the long list of names and all the items and flowers that people left behind at the Vietnam Memorial left a stronger impression on me. We then walked to the nearest Metro Station, which seemed to be miles away, and headed back to Amy and Brians were we were treated to a lovely dinner of what they called Hawaiian Haystacks. Pooped again, we were far from the life of the party, and were in bed early so that we could hit the pavement again for our last day. Saturday we got to have our own guide come along with us (Amy was off work ) So, we went out to see the Cherry Blossoms, which is something that Washington DC is known for and we just happened to be lucky enough to visit during the short time that the trees are in bloom. (I will post a picture of this too.) It was very pretty. We then got back on the Train and headed for the Zoo. Liza was so excited to go to the zoo. And for all you moms out there, get this, It’s free!!!!!!!!!! Yep, free zoo, and it is a good zoo too. But before we arrived, as we stepped off the Metro, there was a McDonalds and I figured we better grab some food here so that we don’t end up paying an arm and a leg again at the zoo. So we walked up to the McDonalds and Liza uttered words that I never thought I would hear come from a child’s mouth: “No, I don’t want Donalds!” It was so funny. She knew that we were suppose to be going to the zoo and a stop for food was not what she had in mind. But don’t be too shocked, she ate when she actually saw the cheese burger and was reassured that we were still going to the zoo. The zoo was fun, they even have a couple of Pandas, and unlike the duds that we had in Calgary a few years back, these ones actually moved. They are 2 years old and played and wrestled the whole time we watched! Liza loved this, and especially the part where one ran up a tree and the other chased him and bit his bum! That was her favorite. We got to see all kinds of animals and walked our legs off once again. Then it was time to meet up with Brian at “The Cheese Cake Factory” for supper. If you ever get the chance to go to the Cheese Cake Factory, GO! The food was great, and served in huge portions. We all ate ourselves sick and then got Cheese Cake to go. It was very, very yummy! We headed back to Amy and Brians, and like every other night, Liza had more energy left in her then the four of us old folks combined, so she ran around and tried to get us to play until it was time for her to go to bed. The next morning, we had waffles for breakfast and got our stuff together and headed for Philly. We were so thrilled with the whole trip. The best part of all is that all the places we visited where free! It was great. As we drove home I kept an eye on Liza, wondering if she gets Car sick, and that was what caused the whole circus on the way there. But she seemed to be well. Not so much could be said for our poor car. About ½ way home he (the car has been deemed a male, named Dudly) started to make a weird sound, to which we joked that we should turn the radio over. Then it got worse. We pulled off at a mall about 50 minuets away from home and Brent poked around under the hood to see if it was anything obvious that we could fix and be on our way. No such luck, so we decided that we would try for home, seeing as how it wasn’t that far away. Well, as we pulled out Dudly could do the speed limit, but that was about it. So we stayed in the slow lane and crossed our fingers that all would be well. Then we had to get across 4 lanes of traffic to get to our next exit, so we headed over, making some people mad, and then he pooped right out in the middle of this free way. We were doing about 25mph while people zoomed past us. We couldn’t get to an emergency lane because there was so much traffic, and it felt as though we may stop in the middle of the road. To which Liza replied “Mommy, I have to go poopy.” NATURALLY NOW! Right?? Like there wasn’t enough going on, the poor girl had the runs, just to spice up the whole issue with the car. Well to make a long story even longer. We finally got off the freeway much later, and found ourselves in a place that can only be described as Harlem. We asked many people for help and had no one who spoke English, or that would help us. We drove around this area as best we could, trying to find a auto repair place and a motel, the only trick being that Dudly couldn’t go up a hill, so if we wanted to go right we had to find a way to do it where there wasn’t a hill. Finally a lady at the YWCA directed me up a street where there was a motel located in the same parking lot as a Strip Joint. We decided to go up the road a little further and see if we could find something a little less scary. We did, and the people there helped us find a really nice Mechanic, who fixed up Dudly the next morning and had us on the road again by about 12:30 Monday afternoon. We explained all this to Liza by telling her that Dudly was sick and we had to take him to get fixed. So when we got into the new improved Dudly to begin the drive back to Philly, Liza stated “there, now Dudly feels better.” It was funny that she put that together. We arrived back here in time to go the park and enjoy the beautiful weather here on Monday, and I am sure glad we did because it has done nothing but pour rain ever since. But hey! We had a great trip, Dudly feels better, and Liza has lots to talk about.