Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Def Leppard


Winning two FREE tickets to the Def Leppard/REO Speedwagon concert on the radio . . . lucky!


Buying two additional tickets to the concert so the whole family could go . . . $137.30.

Souvenir t-shirts for the kids to remember the experience by . . . $80.00.


Chick-fil-A dinner before the show . . . $36.00.


Overpriced drinks at the venue so we wouldn't expire in the 100+ degree heat . . . $47.00.



The look on our rock drummer's face during the bonus meet and greet session with the band . . . PRICELESS!


White House & DC Day


We had several lucky things happen in our last few weeks living in DC.

One of them came along right when we were in the midst of packing and moving.  After trying four different times, and thanks to a persistent staffer in U.S. Representative Suzanne Bonamici's office, our request for a White House tour was FINALLY granted.

Photo op before getting in line for the tour
Although our "to do" lists at work and home were as long as our arms (just one week before the big move), we couldn’t pass up an opportunity to do one last “DC Day” and check off a few more items on our East Coast Bucket List.


Waiting in line and ready for the tour
We showed up outside the White House at the appointed hour and, after multiple rigorous security checks, we were eventually granted access to begin our self-guided tour.



While we didn't see the Obamas or Michelle's mom or even Bo or Sunny (the Obamas' dogs), our youngest got to see a little bit of behind-the-scenes cooking action as he passed through the kitchen on his way from the back elevators to the self-guided tour route.

The Obama's State Dinner Service
The library
East Room (site of state dinners, receptions, concerts and other events)
Portrait of General Washington (saved by Dolly Madison
before White House burned in 1814)
The Green Room (Thomas Jefferson hosted dinners in this room)
Glimpse of Washington Monument through one of the many rooms
Beautiful tapestries in the Blue Room, an
elegant oval room used for receptions
The Red Room
The State Dining Room 
The flowers from the Singapore State Dinner
a few days before were still on display!
Beautiful harpsichord in the entryway
Lantern hanging in the North Portico
One last look before heading out
After our tour, we headed to one of our favorite casual DC eateries (Merzi in Penn Quarter; www.merzi.com/), and then we continued on our whirlwind tour of some sights on our DC Bucket List that we hadn’t gotten to yet.

Next stop . . . the National Archives.  We really only had time to see Charters of Freedom (the originals of the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights), but they were well worth it!  Go see them if you get a chance.



Next stop . . . the U.S. Supreme Court.  While we'd walked by it many times, we had never seen the inside of the building.  As luck would have it, we got there just in time to join in on a tour of the courtroom.  It was packed, so we had to make our way all the way to the front row of the courtroom, which gave me a chance to reach out and touch the actual "bar" that separates the lawyers from the spectators . . . as close as this lawyer will ever get to that bar in her lifetime!



Last stop . . . the Library of Congress.  We had wanted to see the Jefferson Library ever since we visited Monticello and learned that Congress bought Thomas Jefferson's library to replace the collection that was lost when the British burned the Library of Congress in 1815.

Jefferson Library
Some of the volumes in the Jefferson Library
What we didn't expect was to see such an incredibly beautiful building on the inside.  Wow!  The photos don't really do it justice.  See this one in person if you can!





Baltimore & Annapolis


With only a few weeks left in our stay on the East Coast, we made one more trip to Baltimore in early August to check in with our youngest's amazing surgeon, Dr. S.

Thankfully, he was very pleased with how everything was healing 11-weeks post-surgery, and we got our final marching orders and reluctantly said our goodbyes to Dr. S and his staff.

Bonded through three surgeries in a year--hard to say goodbye!
As we've done with previous surgeries, we celebrated the good news by once again heading down to Baltimore's Inner Harbor to take in the sights and have some lunch.

USS Constellation (1797-1853)
When in Baltimore, enjoy seafood!  
We decided to extend our adventures that day by heading home through Annapolis, which has been on our East Coast "bucket list."  It was hard to really see the Naval Academy without actually going on campus, but we peeked through a few of the entrances and saw some of the Plebes wandering around town in their summer whites as we explored the historic waterfront area, which gave us a feel for the area and some of its inhabitants.

One of the side entrances to the Naval Academy
It was oppressively hot that day, and being near the water added to the heat and humidity. Thankfully, there's an inordinate amount of ice cream shops in the town to help one keep cool.

Historic Annapolis
One of the many historic buildings in Annapolis
We especially enjoyed seeing the Maryland State House, which has many claims to fame including that it is the only state house to serve as the nation's capitol, and during the time that it did (1783-1784), George Washington came before the Continental Congress to resign his commission as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.  It is the oldest continuously-operated state capitol building in the nation.
The Maryland State House (c. 1772)
Exploring the State House grounds
We're adding Annapolis to the list of fave places discovered in our wanderings around Maryland.  Hope we get to come back here and do more exploring another day!