My mother and her husband Patrick took me on a wonderful trip! that's right, they took me and only me! is it because i'm the favorite child... i would say yes!
we left on 6/4/2014 and came home on 6/8/2014. FOUR wonderful days!
we stayed on the Naval Academy in the Officers Inn.
{ you can only stay there if you're an officer or are related to one. Thanks again Joey!}
our first day we were there was really nice. we got up and went to the PA Dutch Amish bakery and store. they have THE most delicious pretzels you will ever have. i cant even explain the amazingness of the soft inside and the perfectly crisp outside. SOOOO GOOD!
after our yummy treat it was off to the subway and on our way to Washington D.C!
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| bad picture of me but had to show us on the subway! |
here is our adventure through the " Mall " as they call it. this is where all the museums, monuments and memorials are.
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| just off the subway and stepping into the mall. {washington monument} |
its funny, if you look you can see that the monument is two different colors. this is because they started to build the monument, then a war happened so they had to stop and when they came back to finish it, they used a different type of stone.
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| the white house |
after the Washington monument you come across the WWII memorial
{ apparently its the only memorial in Washington.. the rest are all monuments...interesting...}
when they built this memorial they tied in symbols into the design. here is a little link with just a bit of info on what the symbols are.
http://www.wwiimemorial.com/?page=design.asp&subpage=memorialdesign
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| this is my favorite quote in the WWII memorial. |
next we went on to the Vietnam monument. the first one is of the women. this statue is symbolizing Hope, Faith and Compassion.
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| faith |
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| compassion |
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| hope |
this is the Vietnam wall. if you look you can see that it starts out small and grows taller and then gets smaller again. i tried to get a picture of the whole wall.
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| just a comparison as to how tall the wall is in the middle. Pat is 6'2". im guessing its about 12'. |
an interesting fact we learned, if you look in this picture you will see that there are diamonds after the names and some have a + sign. the names with the + sign after them tell you that they are missing. Diamonds show that they are past. its just to sad to think that some of these men who risked their lives are still not found.
after the Vietnam monument we went to the Lincoln Monument.
{let me tell ya, lots of stairs!}
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| the Gettysburg address. |
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| the ceiling of the Lincoln monument. |
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| the view from the Lincoln monument. you can see the WWII memorial in the middle { look for the fountains} and then the Washington monument and then the Capital. |
after seeing Lincoln, we went to the Korean monument.
this one is neat cause its made to look like the men are hiking through the trenches.
they had a wall with soldiers engraved in it. it kinda gave the feeling of the ghosts of the war.
after we finished up at the Korean monument, we went to the Museum of American History at the Smithsonian.
sorry only took a couple of pictures there, but they had some neat things, like the flag that the Star Spangled Banner was written about, the ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz, Julia Child's Kitchen, parts of the Berlin Wall and other war souviners.
after the musem we hopped back on the subway for a a bit and went to the Ford's Theater.
we toured the house where Lincoln died.
This is part of the house that they made feel like you were on the trail to find John Wilkes Booth.
after the house tour we went and watch a short play at the Ford's Theater.
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| the box where Lincoln was shot. |
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| The house Lincoln died in across the street from the theater. |
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after the play we got back on the subway and headed back to Annapolis.
we had dinner at an Irish Pub. it was DELICIOUS!
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| my shepherds pie! yum! |
Day 2
we had breakfast at Sofis Crepes. it was really good.
after breakfast, mom and pat gave me a little tour of the Naval Academy
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This is Bancroft Hall.
this is where all the students live on campus.
it was gorgeous!
we mosied around down town Annapolis a lot. it is such a neat little town, so full of history. i absolutely loved every minute of it!
that night we had dinner at the officers club the Alley.
{once again, thanks to Joey we were able to get in.}
we took a ghost tour of Annapolis. it was fun to hear some of the stories.
we had plenty of yummy ice cream.
Day 3
this is the view from the top of the street leading down to the bay.
you cant really see it very well, but if you look you can see the water at the very end, and that's the Annapolis harbor leading out into the Chesapeake Bay.
we took a water tour of the harbor. it was beautiful.
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| here are little kids learning to sail in tiny sailboats. too cute! |
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| this is the view of the catholic church built by the only catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence. |
I had such a wonderful time in Annapolis. I honestly didnt want to leave. if i had tons of money i would have a house there. the weather was perfect while we were there and everything is so green. a little slice of heaven just for me.
Thank you to Mom and Pat for a trip I will never forget!
