Snow in Gettysburg, PA

Today we made our way north to Gettysburg, VA and to Thurmont, MD. At Gettysburg we were able to bring Oscar with us since it was an 'auto tour', where you basically hop from spot to spot and plague to plague from the comfort of your car. Since this all happened during Sophie's nap time, she wasn't exactly the best traveler today during our tour of Gettysburg. However, when she was good and we took some time to let her stretch her legs, she went directly for the snow. She loved the snow. Without fail, every time we let her out of the car to walk around, she went directly for the snow, picked it up, looked at it, and put some in her mouth. It was cute. (Don't worry the snow wasn't brown or yellow... I made sure to check).

Next we went to Thurmont, MD which is where Camp David is located. Or at least, the town closest to where Camp David is located. Even the town citizens do not know the exact location of Camp David. In Thurmont there is a cafe known as the Historic Cozy Inn & Restaurant, which has served meals to presidents in the past. We ate there for lunch; however, the food wasn't as good as I was expecting. In the resturaunt they also had a 'Camp David Museum' where we went that showed newspaper articles about the president when they were at Camp David, and how Thurmont, MD was chosen for a presidential retreat. Overall interesting, but not something I would exactly recommend to others unless you were in the area and needed something to do.

Tomorrow we plan to finish up our adventures in Washington DC and then head west to Ohio to see some of Brian's family. While there we will most likely not have access to a computer or internet so tomorrows blogpost may be the last one until we return to Arkansas on January 2nd or 3rd.

2 More Smithsonians

Today we went out to the final two Smithsonian museums on our list- the Holocaust museum and the Air & Space Museum. Unfortunately the Holocaust Museum would not let us take pictures inside, but we saw piles of personal affects of the concentration camp prisoners, pictures taken by U.S. soldiers, and other items from concentration camps like a railroad car they were stuffed in, the bunkbeds from Aushwietz, etc...

Then we went to the Air & Space Museum. There we saw equipment provided and constructed by NASA.

The Spirit of the St. Louis flown by Charles Lindenberg across the Atlantic Ocean.

Predator Drones...

WW2 aircraft...

... and then the Wright Brothers airplane.

They also had where you could do flight simulators, but we ran out of time and it was so crowded that we decided against it, and Nick decided to perhaps do it another time with Amanda.

Santa Comes to Maryland

Even though there wasn't a fireplace, Santa made his way to the Barton household and to Sophie. After Sophie's first birthday, Sophie has figured out how to unwrap presents. Santa brought her a tea set. She's enjoyed playing with it pretending to drink from the cups and also pouring "tea" for Uncle Nick and Aunt Amanda. Also, she was very kind trying to help Aunt Amanda and Uncle Nick with the unwrapping of their gifts as well.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas as well!

Preparing for Santa

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the apartment
Uncle Nick and Daddy played games from a compartment.

Aunt Amanda, Mom, and I baked cookies with chocolate chips
And I hope Santa will find me since I made several trips.

I'd been to Virginia, Mount Vernon, and Washington DC
And now I'm near Baltimore and I hope he can find me.

Mom assures me he will and points to the tree
She promises I'll find a package that says "Sophie"

Before I head to bed, I look and I search, but I can't find Bunny.
A possession so dear and important it can't be bought with money.

So Mom, Dad, Aunt Amanda and Uncle Nick all look down low
and eventually find him outside of the car laying in the snow.

I hug my sweet bunny so I make sure he gets warm.
And off we head to the bedroom to sleep before the morn.

Mom reads Bunny and I the story of Anne of Green Gables
Then kisses me 'goodnight' and places the book on the tables.

As I drift off to sleep with 'Bunny' beside me.
I pray I will find a gift from St. Nick under the tree.

I'll pray for my mom, dad, grandparents, uncles, and aunts
and for Jesus who was born in a stable with animals and plants.

And lastly for Santa to find me and think I've been good.
I've tried so hard to be all that I should.

So I've said my prayers and I hold 'Bunny' tight.
All I need tell you now is "Merry Christmas" and "Goodnight"

Visiting Mount Vernon

Today we made our way to the other side of the Potomac to visit George Washington's plantation- Mount Vernon. In addition to the house itself, which we were unable to take pictures on the inside of the house, we were able to see the grounds. The grounds included the smokehouse, stables, carriage house, slave quarters, greenhouse, and George Washington's grave.

Afterwards, we attempted to spend some time in Arlington. But we only really made it to JFK's grave because our legs were SO tired from our walking around the grounds at Mount Vernon. Perhaps if we have some time, we'll return to Arlington Cemetery. Plus... after spending all day in the cold weather, it felt good to just return to a warm house. Besides... we didn't want to get back too late, because as everyone knows... Santa Claus is coming tonight and you need to be in bed when he comes.

Two Smithsonians & One Station

Again Brian, Sophie, and I trekked around DC around the National Mall and finished the 3rd floor of the American History Museum. While there we saw military uniforms

We saw Abraham Lincoln's hat and personal articles.

Ruby slippers, Kermit the Frog, and Archie Bunker's chair.

Then we went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History where we saw...

Dinosaur bones

Bones from the Ice Age

A Giant Squid

Metor rocks

And the Hope Diamond!

Then we went to Union Station for food!

American History Museum & Tower

Again on Tuesday we trekked out again in the snow and slush of Washington DC. But we learned from our mistake last time and spent most of it indoors at the Smithsonian Museum of American History and the Post Office Tower. On our way there we saw the Capitol building and the Smithsonian Castle.


In the Smithsonian American History Museum we saw...

A naked George Washington

World War 2 Memoriabla

Dresses and jewelry worn by the First Ladies

History of Americans' Favorite Toys

And Julia Child's Kitchen and a Nuclear Reactor from the 1950s and the power board used in the Manhattan Project. However, we only saw 2 of the 3 floors, and spent probably 2 hours in the museum itself.

Afterward we headed to the Old Post Office Tower for lunch. It had several souvenior shops and a food court, but also you could go up the 12 stories and to the outside of the tower and look out at the surrounding DC area. So we took the elevator up 9 stories.

And checked out the DC area.