Babymoon, sort of

We had some free hotel nights to use before they expired and some good friends in West Virginia we haven't seen in too long, so we took a quick road trip right after Christmas.  Our first stop was Pittsburgh.  We had just over 24 hours in Pittsburgh and we could easily have stayed for 3 times that long.  There was plenty to do, especially for kids.  Upon arrival we went directly to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and were greeted with a very impressive dinosaur display, including a few skeletons personally acquired by Carnegie himself.

This is just a portion of the dinosaurs on display.

 

While walking around, we found some very fierce beasts.

 1 of 2 complete T-Rex skeletons.

The museum also has lots of interactive activities for all ages, 

including digging for fossils,

 bug themed puzzles,

dinosaur footprints for climbing into,

 a huge box of odds and ends where kids can make their own collections and put them on display for other kids (Caleb gathered an entire box of plastic frogs and Isaac opted to go digging for shells),

 and a huge gallery dedicated to native peoples of North America where we learned about Eskimos and made flour from corn.

In addition, there was a massive display of minerals and precious metals, a temporary exhibit showcasing all of Madeline Albright's pins (it's huge!), and a gallery dedicated to Egypt.  Your admission ticket also gets you into the Carnegie Museum of Art.  Our guys were pretty worn out by the time we made it there, but we did manage to see that they have at least one work by every major artist of the last 600 years including several modern art installations (not my favorite) and some excellent photography exhibits.

The next day we rode the Monongahela Incline.  Built in 1870 is the oldest continuously operating inclined railway in the United States. 

 Pittsburgh is built on a series of hills and at one point there were 11 of these railways.  Only 2 exist now, but they operate almost non-stop everyday.  

Our boys are lovers of all modes of transportation so despite a very dreary, rainy morning, they were thrilled to take a short ride up and down the hill.

 It's hard to see, but just in front of the football stadium you might be able to make out a circular tract of land jutting out into the water.  

This is "The Point" and marks the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers where they form the Ohio River.

 They're smiling, but it was raining and they were not

exactly pleased to be posing for this photo.

They're reward for being such good sports was a visit to the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh.  It was a pretty great reward, actually.  We only had a couple of hours, but easily could have stayed all day and gone back again and again.

 This is the gravity room where the floor is at a 25 degree angle, this picture was very difficult to capture as they kept falling forward.

 Museum fun.

This room was fabulous and full of all kinds of physics experiments.

 Not surprisingly, they're favorite part was the rocket launcher area.  First, you had to make your own rocket (with some serious parental assistance) and then you went over to these air launcher things and went crazy.

 Dragging them away was tough.

Our last stop before leaving was to press pennies.  It was a four step process and after exerting some serious brute force, turned your penny into a ridged oval keepsake from your museum visit.

 From Pittsburgh we made the short drive to Morgantown, West Virginia, to see our dear friends Heather and Carlos and their adorable boys.  We were with them for just a few hours, but it was wonderful to catch up.  They are our dearest friends from Peru and we have seen them hardly at all since leaving Lima.  Now, they are permanently back in the US and we are heading to China so this was our last chance for the foreseeable future.  That is one of the difficulties of this lifestyle.  You make friends and then you inevitably head to different continents and crossing paths again, sometimes ever, becomes very challenging.

The morning we left for DC we met them for breakfast at this fabulous diner.  The pancakes were amazing and it was the perfect end to our Babymoon.   

Does it count as a Babymoon if you take your other kids along?  

Probably not, but it was a good trip nevertheless.

We Love Washington, DC, #23

After more than a year of Caleb asking, "When can we go in that big building," we finally made it inside the US Capitol.  We scheduled a staff tour through Senator Mike Lee's office after failing miserably with our own Congresswoman, Eleanor Holmes Norton.  I can't figure out why Norton's office was too busy to help us with out request, considering that she is a non-voting member of the House of Representatives, has one of the smallest constituencies in the country, and she and her staff don't have to travel to go home, but we are thrilled that Senator Lee's staff were so accommodating.  Our tour was atypical is that both Kenny and I have given the same tour many times ourselves and so, more than anything, we just needed an escort into the building.  Hannah, our guide, did point out some recent additions and tried to think of things to keep the interest of our boys, but overall we sort of blitzed our way through, bookending our visit with rides on the Capitol Subway System.  And, let's be honest, those few seconds on the trains were the highlight of this adventure for Caleb and Isaac. 

Yes, it is the middle of December and we are walking around without coats.

My favorite statue - King Kamehameha I.  This statue used to be housed in Statuary Hall, but has since been relocated to the new Capitol Visitor's Center.

Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor of the television and one of two statues from the state of Utah.  Several statues line the Capitol Visitor's Center which is a huge, underground building completed in 2008.  Neither Kenny nor I had been inside and it was definitely worth stopping in.

After a stop at the Crypt and the Old Supreme Court Chamber, we headed to the most impressive part of the tour, the Rotunda.  Despite being told that it would take 45 Caleb's standing one on top of the other to reach the ceiling, Caleb was unconvinced that it really was 180 feet from where we stood to the top.  He was. however, impressed by the gigantic paintings of major events in US history that ring the walls.  And, all on his own, pointed out the painting depicting the battle of Yorktown, reminding us that we had been there earlier this year.

Isaac, on the other hand, decided to take a rest from the rigors of touring and take it all in from a more relaxed vantage point.

Kenny just finished this biography of Alexander Hamilton, so he decided it made sense to pose with the statue of the man himself.

This is Ronald Reagan, in case you couldn't tell.  What is most interesting about this statue is that embedded in its base are pieces of the Berlin Wall.

The newest addition to the statues housed in the Capitol is this one of Gerald R. Ford.  I wonder which statue from Michigan was replaced by Mr. Ford's bronze tribute added, apparently, just a few months ago?

From the Rotunda, we moved onto Statuary Hall.  Once upon a time, the vast majority of all the statues in the Capitol were in Statuary Hall.  Packed in, in fact, so that it was impossible to even see many of them.  Over the years, the weight of all that marble and bronze started to take its toll and slowly they moved statues out to other parts of the building to keep the floor from collapsing.  Now there is a much more manageable number in this room that was once the House of Representatives chamber, including this one of Brigham Young.

Hanging out in the fireplace in Statuary Hall.

Our last stop before heading back to the Senate Office Buildings was the Brumidi corridors.  I have always loved this part of the building, but, sadly, these days most of it is completely inaccessible to the public.

Family group shot and proof that I was there too, 

in all my 37 weeks pregnant glory.

Riding the Capitol Subway back to the Hart building.  We had a great tour, just the right length for our little posse.  So, now we've been to that "big building" and we can cross one more thing off our not to miss in DC list.

We Love Washington, DC, #21

We finally made it to Mount Vernon.

  

Christmastime is a great time of year to go to Mount Vernon because there is a camel, endless Christmas decorations including a miniature Mount Vernon fabricated in gingerbread and chocolate, and it is the only time of year they open the third floor of the mansion to visitors.  Of course, you can't take photos inside the main residence, so you'll just have to trust me that it is worth a visit or you can click here and see for yourself.  

This was not our first pilgrimage (it is 14 miles from DC, after all) to George Washington's home, but it was Isaac's first time and the only time we have every been during the Christmas season.  

Despite being very chilly, it was a beautifully sunny day and there were very few other visitors to contend with.  In the past we have had to share space with the masses and even though the grounds are extensive, tripping over other tourists, especially when it is blistering hot, can get tedious.  We opted out of exploring everything today and spent the bulk of out time at the mansion and visitor's center.  When the boys are older, we'll go back and make the long trek to the tomb, the wharf, the slave cabins and the 16-sided barn. 

 Our merry band of visitors posing with the Potomac River in the distance.

 The mansion from the back.

 Rolling down the hill, their reward for being so well-behaved 

during the mansion tour.

 They could have done this all day long.

 The obligatory "we were there" photo op.

 Liberty, the National Thanksgiving Turkey.

 Want to know more about Liberty?  Read this.

 Aladdin the camel.

 See those faces peeking through the split-rail fence?  They were just delighted to see and pet Aladdin.

 Why is there a camel at Mount Vernon you ask?

 Mount Vernon in gingerbread.  This was made by a professional chef and required countless hours to produce this very complete replica.

One of the many Christmas trees adorning the visitor's center 

and the man himself. 

We Love Washington, DC, #16

Last week the DC area experienced an earthquake, I'm sure you heard.  Luckily, the damage was mostly minor.  Sadly, however, the Washington Monument did not emerge unscathed.  In fact, because of the damage sustained, the Monument has been closed indefinitely.  It is impossible to think of Washington, DC, without this structure springing to mind.  It is symbol of freedom and liberty and an homage to a man without whom this Republic would likely never have been born.

On a cold, gray and dreary day this past April, we were fortunate enough to join the queue of ticket holders standing around the Monument's base waiting for our chance to ascend the 555 feet to its top.  In light of recent events, it is serendipitous that we did this when we had the chance.  The weather was miserable and we debated putting it off for a more favorable weekend.  And, although the views from the top were not as pristine as I have seen them in past visits, we saw enough to make our trip to the Monument more than worthwhile.  Caleb and Isaac loved being "so high" and pointing out the sights below that they have now come to identify with this great city.

It is interesting to note that while the Washington Monument is hollow, it is not empty.  The interior walls are adorned with 193 tributes stones from states, countries and various organizations to commemorate the heroism and valor of George Washington.  The elevator descends slowly down the shaft on the return trip and the walls are illuminated so these plaques become visible.  The lighting and speed make it impossible to capture them with more than one's eyes, but it is an impressive sight to behold.  For a list of these stones, click here.

 Waiting to go up.

 The views from the top: The Lincoln Memorial, the WWII Memorial, the Reflecting Pool under construction;

 the White House;

 the Capitol;

 and, the Jefferson Memorial and the Tidal Basin.

 A lifesized, bronze statue of the man himself.

 The interior staircase.

The end of a successful visit and one more item crossed off our DC Bucket List.