If it's Wednesday we are at the Capitol...

...and the Supreme Court...












And the National Museum of Art...












and the World War II Monument..








.and the White House Neighborhood...

Tomorrow: Lincoln Memorial

& Newseum...
& Rain
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Location:Jefferson Davis Hwy,Arlington,United States

Day 4-5 ...June 8-9

Under threatening skies we found the Yorktown Battlefield and a Park Ranger beyond compare! She clearly loved the site and shared the pain, disappointment and exultation of the various combatants . Seeing the deep, wide trenches as well as the size of the siege and infantry canons...hearing the strategy of the 8,000 French and Patriot troops ...we could feel Cornwallis' frustration at having chosen a defensible site only to be outwitted by Washington and the Colonies' new ally, France, this, the pivotal defeat of the British effectively assured independence even though the Treaty of Paris was two years away.
Harrison was impressed with the variety of canon balls and the soldiers' ability to make some that explode independently. None of us immortalized the canons...but the view of our history was memorable...




Don't know her name, but the Ranger brought tears to our eyes...for Cornwallis as well as the Victors.




We drove on to DC...in pouring rain and monumental traffic, arriving at the Driscoll's about 5.




So gracious...the kids had been " a little nervous" about meeting new people and ...immediately felt at home and like family. " they are very nice, with a beautiful home and they can turn a rainy day into a sunny one" to quote Victoria.
Their backyard was, as ever, lush and warm








After dinner we walked around their Capitol Hill neighborhood, saw where "the boys" ( youngest is 52!) learned to swim...went to their church ...wonderful choir ( Bill is in it!). Viewed the Capitol at night...only blocks from their house...magical ( of course I was standing in the middle of the street...Tom just loves it when I do that)




The Kennedy Center for Brunch! Who knew??
The dining room is spare and almost Spartan...but the food was Fantastic...and plentiful




The buffet was in the KITCHEN




We DID check out the desserts on the way to the real food....ultimately sampling all...the Creme Brûlée was amazing, however the chocolate on the lower right was a killer




Seeing the bust of Kennedy...half the younger , half the older ( did HE get older???) was unexpected...








These are the flags of countries contributing to the Center








One more view of the city and off to meet the Road Scholars!
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Location:Yorktown to Washington DC

Day Three

The destination appointed for today was Busch Gardens...but we awoke to Noah's Flood. Gardens closed...the front desk ( interestingly) had an envelope of " rainy day activities"...we explored Jamestown...an exquisite historic collection explaining the timeline here from 1607...cool, dry and 90 minutes indoors...until we went out to the steaming hot fort and ship replicas: a LOT of people traveled here on relatively TINY ships.
Not many photo opportunities in a deluge! We were returning to the cafe and made it to the Blacksmith's where he was making nails ( hard to find 17th century nails at Home Depot) and kindly invited us under his overhang when the heavens again opened. Exhausted by our personal encounter with Mother Nature, we returned to the pool at the Marriott.
When the thunder & lightening arrived there we retreated indoors to the hot tub...hard to catch a break with the weather here .
This afternoon : a movie...the storm is expected to be worse.



Harrison seems to have a lot of fun. He spent a lot of time in the pool making new friends...and he would rather dictate that to me than write it...

Fortunately we have a good story from last night ( not clever...just good)

We wanted seafood so we thought the "Whaling Company" should serve up. When we realized that the children's menu was a list of deep fried "stuff" we ordered three adult entrees for the 4 of us. To their credit, the kids said...nothing...And we ALL enjoyed shrimp, scallops, cod and stuffed flounder, with some of us cleaning up the sauces with bread. The only item unfinished was angel hair pasta...even the 4 of us could not finish it off! Everyone loved everything!
So...feeling rather healthy and smug, we decided on one dessert...it was to be a democratically voted on "choice". The key lime pie was instantly voted down and three of us voted for the " mudpie...withOUT the whipped cream". The waitress was clearly shocked...knowing we were depriving the children, she promptly said she would bring it "on the side"...to which the kids replied "No we don't want it" ( we were also surprised by this...). Muttering something about " it's part of the presentation..." She left us.

The Mudpie was THE BEST...someone in our group often says " I only want a bite..." But I can tell you that no one held back...
And Victoria commented as we left that it was "just the right amount"... and the cream would have diluted the chocolate...

Proof:







I have a second story for yesterday, but I am still deciding if it should be shared on line. Stay tuned.

Tomorrow to Washington to visit with the elders of the Larkin Clan: Patty and Bill Driscoll...Must admit I hope it is NOT raining...I would have a hard time living in this weather




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Location:Jamestown Settlement

A Journey Through the Past

It paid to be at the Old Town early because we had the place essentially to ourselves!
The townspeople were assembling to march on the governor's palace to protest the theft of all the gunpowder the night before...




Fortunately the exuberant mob was calmed and we were able to listen to the voice of reason in Colonel George Washington. He was quite concise in explaining the current ( 1775) situation , knowing that we must do all we can to maintain the rights of all free men to be represented in the government!! He answered all questions and re-affirmed that there is no plan to sever ties with England




We moved on to the gunsmiths...most guns were imported, the gunsmiths repaired them...a leisurely carriage ride around town behind Jefferson and Mark ( draft mixes) and we found our way to ...Food. At the Kings Arms.








The Locals are friendly...the wigmake : a hoot. She never missed a beat when Tom asked if she had a remedy for hair loss...it had something to do with frogs and mud..




The working blacksmith was a girl...




And we finished for the day with a quiet walk around the all-but- deserted campus of William and Mary...the second oldest college in America



We all hang out our own way at the end of a tour...


We finished, of course, AT THE POOL




Hi everybody! Its tori. I just wanted to say hi and that the day was really fun. Last night was a little rough because i kept waking up but i woke up excited for the day. My favorite thing that we did today was the carriage ride and being able to pet the horses. Anyway I just wanted to say hi..... So hi. And miss everyone already!
Love ,
Tori (but for grandma Victoria)

Harrison is not up for blogging yet but he reports that his favorit thing of the day was storming the Governor's Palace.




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Location:Williamsburg Virginia