Tuesday, August 3rd, 2004
I’ve posted a slide show with my photos from our vacation to Washington DC and Virginia beach. If you have any pictures to add (Dad?), please send them my way.
Also, Jessica’s pictures are available in a zip-file.
home > vacation
Saturday, July 24th, 2004
Special restaurant ratings brought to you by Jessica (my 9-year-old sister).
Her main requirements for a good restaurant center around the available food options. If they serve plain pasta with a large helping of parmesan cheese on the side, an A or higher is guaranteed. Her other dining favorites include peanut butter and jelly, crab legs, and ice cream.
Washington DC
- Bobby Van’s Steakhouse: D
- Old Ebbitt’s Grill: B
- McCormick & Schmick: A+
Virginia Beach
- Fish Bones: A
- Dairy Queen: A
- Lunch on Beach: A
- Dough Boy: A
Monday, July 19th, 2004
Question - D.C. Resident Voting
How do Washington D.C. residents get to vote? I don’t understand this district thing.
Update: Quickly searching the wikipedia, I found out that Washington DC residents do vote for President but do not have any representation in Congress. For more details, check out the wikipedia entry yourself.
Monday, July 19th, 2004
Monday (guess what lovely lady wrote this and you will be an honorary spy)
I awoke to my beautiful wife ready to see D.C. We had a lovely bagel at COSI and then we were off on our first mission to the SPY Museum!
At the museum, I realized my true calling. I must leave my job as soon as we get home and begin a new life of secrecy as a man of international mystery.
Monday, July 19th, 2004
Today, we took off at 9, grabbed a light breakfast at Cosi, and then headed to the International Spy Museum.
Jessica was very excited about seeing the spy museum and was telling us all types of James Bond facts along the way. We saw all types of recording devices, mini-cams, radio transmitters, and so on.
One of the most memorable artifacts was a fancy round seal that was given as a gift to a US Official from Soviet school children in the 1970s. Many years later, it was revealed that the gift had a listening device cleverly hidden within.
Then we headed on to the Smithsonian History Museum. We saw the insect zoo, gemstones (including the Hope Diamond), and the animal bones.
For dinner we had McCormick and Schmick. Jessica was thrilled — see her rating system.
Later on in the evening, we visited the Lincoln Memorial and captured some great images.
Sunday, July 18th, 2004
Discovering Our Nation’s Capital!
Walking
We woke up excited about our first day out exploring D.C. — a quick start at Starbucks for bagels and coffee and we were on our way.
On foot, we explored around the White House, Decatur House, Washington Monument, the mall, a cool sculpture garden, and then the Space Smithsonian Museum.
Then we headed out to the National Gallery of Art, where Amanda really was into the impressionist drawings. One of her favorites was Children Playing on the Beach by Mary Cassatt. I really liked The Bridge at Argenteuil by Claude Monet.
Finally, we ended our walking tour by checking out the newly opened World War II memorial.
Construction
Much of the capital is currently under construction, probably for a combination of security and beautification purposes.
The White House’s surrounding grounds are being updated and you really can’t get to close to it … although this squirrel could:
The Washington Monument’s grounds were all torn up and the public could only get near it via one path. Also, the reflecting pond was empty and full of stinky gunk — yuck.
Boxers and Dinner
I was a little forgetful with a particular undergarment that is nice to change often, so after getting back from our walking tour, Amanda and I headed over to Filene’s Basement to pick up some boxers for me.
Then, on our way back, we noticied the Old Ebbitts restaurant and got our name on the list. It was a great dinner — I loved the Chicken and Crab Saltisoma.
Saturday, July 17th, 2004
Today, we left for Washington at 4:45 AM — now that’s early! My mom is a good morning driver, so she took the early shift. We started off on I-72 and I-74 from Decatur to Champaign and then to Indianapolis. Then, our route was I-70 all of the way.
It was a 14 hour tour: we arrived at the Sofitel at about 8 PM eastern time. We were excited because our hotel is about a block from the White House. We then went on a mission to ease our hunger, settling on Bobby Van’s Steakhouse after walking around a bit and realizing that this area’s restaurants are mostly open at lunchtime.
The food was tasty (I had a crabcake) and we were satisfied.
We went to sleep and enjoyed our room (Manda was getting decorating ideas).
