Monday, August 3rd: Disaster Strikes

Monday, August 3, 2009

Day #4 of our Disney adventure, and today's theme is "National Treasures." Fitting, since we watched the Disney movie, "National Treasure," just yesterday!

After a delightful and restful sleep in our luxurious room (no sarcasm - totally serious here!), we load up on our rock-star bus around 9:00 am and immediately head towards Arlington Cemetery.

Arlington is the best known of over one hundred national cemeteries in the United States. It's 624 acres shelter the remains of over 320,000 servicemen and women, veterans from every way and major conflict in U.S. history.

A short history: George Washington Parke Custis, the grandson of Martha Washington and step-son of George Washington inherited this land in 1802. Between 1802 and 1818, he built Arlington House as the centerpiece of his 1,100 acre plantation. It was our nation’s first memorial to George Washington and a home for Custis’ growing family.

In 1831 Custis’ only surviving child, Mary Anna Randolph Custis, married Lt. Robert E. Lee of the United States Army in the front parlor of Arlington House. For over 30 years Arlington House became home to one of America’s most famous soldiers and his family.

The Civil War brought about dramatic changes for the people and the land. Lee resigned his commission from the US Army at Arlington House on April 20, 1861. By the end of May, 1861, the Lees had vacated the property and federal troops occupied the estate, using Arlington House as a headquarters. (Ultimately, the Lees were compensated for the loss of their property by the federal Supreme Court.) Eventually, the Union began burying soldiers on the property - and the cemetery came into being.

We are given red carnations by Disney so that we may place them on any grave we choose to honor - with the exception of the Kennedy graves - as the Park Service requests those be kept clear of flowers in order to allow photos.

Speaking of Kennedy, that's the first site we visit. President Kennedy and Jackie are buried side by side near the Eternal Flame, where the words from his inaugural address, "with history the final judge of our deeds," are inscribed.

Our next stop is the Changing of the Guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The Tomb was established in 1921. A guard maintains vigil around the clock - the guard paces 21 steps alongside the tomb, pauses 21 seconds, and then returns. The changing of the guard takes place every half-hour and is quite the ceremony to watch. Before the new guard gets to "guard", his weapon and uniform is inspected before the crowd.

The ceremony was very moving; the crowd was respectfully silent while watching.

We spend approximately 2 hours here, seeing various other notable graves, including Lee Marvin and Joe Louis, the boxer.

We also all have the opportunity to lay our red carnation at a soldier's site.

After leaving Arlington, we drive a short while over to the Iwo Jima monument - which was larger than I had ever imagined.

We then drive to Columbia Island Marina for a picnic lunch. We have a great view of the Pentagon.

We are taken to a blue tarp over some picnic tables – they have a buffet of hamburgers and hot dogs and stuff. We sit at a table - it’s very hot – they have 3 ceiling fans wired around the tent pole - and the one over us is going full blast.

All of a sudden – there is a tremendous crash and the fan over our heads come down – swinging a little to the right – most of lands on Dear Hubby and then hits Pilar – an 8-year old – right in the nose and lands on her wrist. Shock – confusion – everyone is stunned for a moment. Then we see Pilar holding her nose and shaking – there is blood coming out everywhere. I immediately get all the other kids out of the area and over to another area so they can’t see the blood; not to mention, there is now shattered glass everywhere.

We get ice and a towel on Pilar – assess the damage – she has a very bloody nose but it doesn’t appear to be broken – her wrist is a little sore – an ambulance is called and a policeman shows up to take a report. Pilar is a trooper – she doesn’t even cry even though there’s blood everywhere. I tell her it looks worse than it is – that noses bleed very easy and create a lot of blood – we try to get her cleaned up. The ambulance shows up and take her to Arlington Hospital for x-rays. Hubby has a cut on his finger and a bruise on his back – I think he saved Pilar from worse damage by taking the brunt of the fan's fall.

Everyone is shaken up a bit – but I go over an tell the kids that Pilar will be okay and they’re just taking her to the hospital for a check-up and to not be startled when the sirens and ambulance come. We talk with the kids to make sure they’re all right.

No one had much of an appetite after that, so we hopped back on the bus and we now have free time - and Disney will drop us off where we want to go. Our family decides to visit some of the Smithsonian Museums (there's 19 in all) - and the American History Museum is our first choice.

We wander through the exhibits - but I have to admit, each exhibit was on the small side - I'm actually rather disappointed as I expected much, much more. We stand in a long line to go through the First Ladies' Dresses exhibit - and the room is not much bigger than my living room at home....this is the freakin' Smithsonian!!! It should be massive!!! Oh well.

Being the good American Red Cross volunteer that I am, I always take photos of Red Crosses that I find. And I find one in the Museum.

Downstairs, there are Simulator Rides – there are 6 rides to choose from; we chose Bermuda Triangle Adventure 3D. The description said, “Embark on an undersea excursion into the majestic and mysterious depths of the Atlantic Ocean. Explore legends and lore surrounding the “Bermuda Triangle.” All I can say is, the ride wasn’t as good as the description. Tickets were $7 apiece and the ride lasted all of maybe 3 minutes – and we were like, “That’s it??!!” We had more fun taking pictures of ourselves with our tricked-out 3D glasses on.

We leave and go next door to the Natural History Museum where we go to the Dinosaur Exhibit – it is huge and it is crowded. Very crowded. It appears every other barbarian in Washington has decided to invade the Dinosaur Exhibit at the same time we do. We’re all tired by now – and hungry – and it looks like the dinosaurs are hungry -so we go to the café on the first floor and have gourmet cafe food for dinner. Yuk. Pizza. Overpriced and no flavor. Not known for their culinary skills here apparently.

We leave and it’s 5:00 pm – Hubby wants to walk 20 blocks to the hotel – are you kidding me? We walk outside and there is a cab right there – God had sent it to us – and I see it as a sign. We hop in and I tell him our hotel and told him we were going to walk and he says “That would hve been a long walk!” I have to agree and shoot Hubby a dirty look.

We get back to the hotel and clean up and soon it is time for a Trolley Tour of Washington, DC - this was not part of our Disney package - but they were kind enough to set it up for us. We meet outside at 6:30 and the Trolley is there waiting for us. We have Frenchy for our driver – he’s a character.

We do visit quite a bit of the same Memorials as we had seen before - but it was neat to see them in the dark with the lighting. The Lincoln Memorial looks really neat at night -

...including the statue of Lincoln inside. The lighting was incredible.

The Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial really reflects the Washington Memorial at night.

The Jefferson Memorial at night (well, dusk) was cool, too.

We go from one end of DC to the other - seeing everything. The tour ends up going until 10:30 pm - yikes! We're tired and we head to bed.

So - we did see some treasures today - Arlington is certainly a treasure, as is the Iwo Jima monument. The Smithsonian is a treasure - but it would be nice if we hadn't picked one of the busiest days ever for visitors! It's hard to appreciate things when you're fighting a crowd.

Washington, DC is a treasure - it instills a sense of pride to see the beautiful and moving things in this city and to know you're an American and this all belongs to you. Sorry - getting a little patriotic here - but it really is an amazing city.

Peace.

Sunday, August 2nd: No Wheels for Me

Sunday, August 2, 2009

It's day #3 of our adventure, and today's theme is "On the Wheels of Liberty."

We're saying goodbye to Philadelphia this morning and loading up on the bus (our first "Wheels" of the day) to head to our 2nd stop, Washington, D.C.

I thought our bus would be a rickety, old school bus....but oh, no - Disney has style. Our bus is a tricked-out HUGE bus that is loaded with every creature comfort imaginable - DVD screens, recliner seats, overhead luggage storage, foot rests - Wow. Because there's only 19 of us (well, 21 if you include our guides), every person on the bus gets their own seat. I feel like a rock star.

As we drive south to the capital city, it rains- hard. So, we don't get to see much scenery - but we're at least sheltered from the weather. And we get to watch "National Treasure" on the DVD screen - which fits perfect with everything that we've been seeing. (Remember - part of the movie was filmed in Philadelphia, which we've just left.)

We arrive in Washington around noon - and we do what everyone does when they first arrive in Washington, DC - we head to the ESPN Zone, of course. What??!! You mean people don't normally do that?! Well, that's what we do - we have a nice buffet lunch waiting for us, and we're each given a game card to go play some games. Even us old parents. How fun was that?! Nothing like Disney to make you feel like a kid again.

The rain has now stopped, which is a good thing, as we are now supposed to have a bike ride around the National Mall. (Our second "Wheels" of the day - the theme, remember.) So, around 1:00 pm, we board the rock-star bus and drive a short distance to the bike place. I put on my helmet, climbed on the bike, rode about 5 feet, got off the bike, and took off my helmet and walked away. No thank you.

You know that old saying, "It all comes back to you - just like riding a bike"???? Not true. I haven't ridden a bike in 32 years. And it showed. It did NOT come back to me. I opted to take the tour on the rock-star bus, like some of the other parents. (And a few of the kids).

Our bus takes us around Washington, and we have a step-on guide, Greg, who politely informs us of what we're seeing. Our first stop was the Jefferson Memorial - hasn't changed much since I last saw it 38 years ago. Construction began in 1939, the building was completed in 1942, and the bronze statue of Jefferson was added in 1947. The architect used elements of the Pantheon, in Rome, as one of his inspirations - which, since we just saw the Pantheon 2 months ago, was pretty cool.

While we were at the Jefferson Memorial, three Marine One helicopters come swooping in, right over our heads, on their way to the White House. These, of course, are the preferred means of transporting the President - and they always fly in groups with identical helicopters. One of them is carrying the President, while the others serve as decoys for would-be assassins on the ground. I waved - and I'm pretty sure President Obama was waving back at me as he flew over.

We load back up on our bus and drive a short distance to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial...and all I can say is, wow.

There are four pavilions - all outdoors - each representing one of his four terms in office. They each have sculpture, quotes and a waterfall that represents what happened during his terms.

For his 1st term, we see sculpture of the infamous bread line and the fireside chats.

The 2nd term had an impressive relief sculpture showing his Works Project, as well as a waterfall representing the dams built during the Tennessee Valley Authority project.

The 3rd term (pavilion) had granite boulders strung haphazardly everywhere - showing the chaos and upheaval of World War II. The waterfall was broken, unfortunately - and has been now for 2 years. They don't have the money to fix it.

The 4th pavilion depicted his death - the waterfall was a calm pool, very still - with a relief of his hearse.

I loved the way the artist used water and rocks and sculpture to tie everything in together...in fact, the FDR Memorial ended up being my favorite thing that we saw while in Washington, D.C. I highly, highly recommend it.

After reluctantly leaving this beautiful Memorial, we drive over to the Lincoln Memorial. It was dedicated in 1922. In the movie, "National Treasure", Nicholas Cage's character meets with "Riley" here to plot the theft of the Declaration of Independence.

Our guide points out the "face" in profile that is on the back of Lincoln's head. Rumor has it the artist added it on purpose and the face looks towards Arlington Cemetery.

The Memorial is the place where Martin Luther King delivered his famous, "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963 - and there's a marker where MLK stood during the speech.

We meet up with the bikers here for a quick group photo opportunity, and Disney treats us to ice cream. Yum.

We walk a few hundred feet over to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, completed in 1982. It's heartbreaking to see over 58,000 names inscribed on the Wall - and also very powerful. This was the one Memorial I really wanted to see on this trip - after reading so much about it, and hearing about the controversy surrounding it, it was nice to finally be able to see it and to appreciate it - and to remember the names of the men who are inscribed on it.

When a visitor looks upon the wall, his or her reflection can be seen simultaneously with the engraved names, which is meant to symbolically bring the past and present together.

A short distance away from the wall is another Vietnam memorial, a bronze statue named The Three Soldiers (sometimes called The Three Servicemen). This memorial was added due to the controversy surrounding the wall - some people felt there needed to be a memorial depicting "people" and not just a wall. The statue was unveiled in 1984 and depicts three soldiers, purposefully identifiable as White American, African American, and Hispanic American. The statue and the Wall appear to interact with each other, with the soldiers looking on in solemn tribute at the names of their dead comrades.

After quietly reflecting at the Wall, we walk back to the bus, hop on, and drive to the bike rental place to pick up the bike riders from our group. As we drive to our hotel, Greg, our guide, points things out on the way - and gives us interesting tidbits along the way.

We arrive at our hotel - the Mayflower Renaissance - and all I can say is, wow. Again. The lobby blew me away when we walked in - if you're ever visiting, just take a peek inside. This is a 4-star, 4-diamond luxury hotel located very near the White House; President Harry Truman once said it was Washington's "second-best address." I believe it.

Disney has already checked us in and delivered our luggage to our room, #661. This is a corner suite and has all kinds of space. It's about 4:30 p.m. in the afternoon - so we relax and unpack and unwind.

Disney is providing a pizza party/movie night for the children tonight at the hotel, and the adults go to the hotel restaurant, Promenade Cafe, for a very nice dinner. For 10 people, our bill was $717 - which did NOT include drinks - but Disney picked this up for all of us. The food was outstanding - I had crab cakes to start off with, as well as Boston Clam Chowder. The filet mignon and mashed potatoes were very good - and for dessert, chocolate mousse. Michael had a martini - which was $14.50. I kid you not. I drank diet soda - much more reasonable!


Around 8:30 p.m., it was time to pick up Dear Daughter from her pizza party and head back to the room.

Peace

Saturday, August 1st: (Don't) Let Alarm Clocks Ring

Day #2: Saturday, August 1

Don't you hate when you're sleeping in a hotel and the alarm clock goes off - LOUD - at some ungodly hour??! An alarm that YOU did not set, by the way. Oh no - the previous hotel guest set it and then forgot (we must assume) to unset it upon checking out of the room. Our alarm at the Hyatt decided to go off at 5:45 a.m. in the morning. Joy. Of course, I am unable to go back to sleep. I can only lie there and pray for karma. Grrrrrr.

Eventually, it really is time to get up and begin Day #2 of our Adventure - "Let Freedom Ring" is today's theme. It was NOT "Let Your Alarm Ring" at some ungodly hour.

Our first adventure today is a trolley tour of Philadelphia. We step on the Victorian trolley at 9:00 am and are greeted by Miss Kay - who can only be described as Bonnie Hunt in period costume. She is our guide for the tour and can be described in two words - a hoot. She was funny.

We are taken all over the streets of Philly. We go through Chinatown, where we get to see the internationally-known Friendship Gate, located at 10th & Arch Street. It was dedicated in 1984, and is quite stunning.

Another highlight was the Comcast Center, (17th & Arch), the tallest building in Philadelphia, and the 15th tallest building in the United States. We all get off the trolley and head into the lobby, where the Comcast Experience Video Wall can be seen. This is simply jaw-dropping. Wow. It's a 2,000 square feet high-definition LED screen, the largest 4-millimeter LED screen in the world. It spans 83.3 feet wide by 25.4 feet high - and displays spectacular video to visitors 18 hours a day. My picture below cannot do it justice - google it on You Tube and you can see some videos for yourself.

We make our way over to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for a run up the famous "Rocky Steps" - of which my daughter had NO idea what made them famous. Try explaining the movie "Rocky" to a 9-year old. We all got the opportunity to recreate the famous run up the seventy-two steps; we just needed the "Gonna Fly Now" song playing in the background!

And of course, when you reach the top of the steps, you MUST do the famous "Rocky Dance" and pump your arms in the air. Hey - it's required.

Our next stop is the National Constitution Center, located on Independence Mall. This is America's only museum devoted to the United States Constitution. We spend about an hour here by visiting the Center's permanent exhibition, "The Story of We the People", which tells the story of the Constitution, its history, and its contemporary relevance through more than 100 multimedia exhibits, film, photographs, text, sculpture, and artifacts. We begin by watching an amazing prefilm entitled, "Freedom Rising", a powerful, award-winning multimedia production which left me choked up.

We then went into the hands-on area, which could take days to do everything. Dear Daughter gets "sworn" is as President on a giant TV screen; she dons a Supreme Court justice robe and sits at a desk - all very fun stuff, but no photos allowed in this area, so we had to take pictures in our minds only. No Kodak moments.

We finish our visit here with Signer's Hall, where we wander among life-sized bronze statues of the 39 delegates who signed the Constitution (and the 3 dissenters) - all sculpted with historical accuracy. Photos are allowed here. I'm sure you've heard of "Dancing With the Stars." Well, here we have "Dancing with the Delegates."

We board the Trolley and our next stop is the Liberty Bell.

The line is long; the sun is hot...note for next time: take a hat and water. We finally get through security and get to see one of the more prominent symbols of the Revolutionary War. This first photo is a miracle in itself: there is not one person in the shot. Believe me, this is NOT easy to do - but the stars all aligned with the planets and the moons and I got the perfect shot of the Bell!

This is us in front of the Bell, with the 10,000 other Barbarians behind us. NOW you know why it's almost impossible to get a "person-free" shot of the Liberty Bell.

Next stop: Independence Hall. Our free timed ticket says we cannot enter until 12:00 pm, so we must wait. Patience.

Noon arrives, and we get to enter the historic building that was completed in 1753 and was the location where the Declaration of Independence AND the United States Constitution were signed. Our park guide, Mike, gave a very good tour and kept the children's attention by using them to represent the delegates while telling the history behind the building. Dear Daughter was the only one in our group who asked a question - she actually asked 2 questions - and Mike rewarded her after the tour by giving her cards as a prize. I'm so proud. I've obviously passed down my skills as a great orator.

We visit the Great Essentials Exhibit, located in the West Wing - which exhibits original copies of our founding documents, as well as the silver inkstand that was used for signing both documents. We took photos - but because the room is dark and the documents are behind glass - our photos stink. Sorry.

It was now time to say good-bye to Miss Kay, our wonderful guide all morning. Before saying goodbye, she passes out pins for our lanyards - the pins have the theme, Let Freedom Ring.

It's now time for lunch, so we walk across the street to The Bourse, a restructured building which now houses shops and a food court. We have enough time after lunch to run over 2 blocks to the Visitors Center and get our National Parks Passports stamped. That's always important.

Whew - the day's only half over - and look at all we've done so far! But we're not done yet - nope, far from it. We now meet back up with our group and participate in the Colonial Kids Quest.

The Declaration of Independence is missing! We had to help Phineas Bell search for clues at historic sites that will save the day. Along the way, we found his runaway dog, Freedom, and we met helpful two-legged and four-legged friends. Dear Daughter had a ball, running around the streets of Philly while searching for important clues. Her colorful hat drew quite the attention from everyone. Her face drew even more attention when she ate something sour.

After the Quest, we had a group photo with the characters, and the group all split up for the rest of the day.

We decided to head to Franklin Court and visit the Underground Museum, created in 1976 to interpret the remarkable life of Ben Franklin. Placed approximately 20 feet below ground to protect the remains of his home, the museum contains portraits of Franklin and his family, furniture, inventions, exhibits, and 3 films highlighting his extraordinary accomplishments.

It's now time to eat. We stumble across the Jones Restaurant - and we realize we've stumbled across a treasure. The decor is 60's funky; the food is down-home comfort. I can recommend the raspberry chocolate martini. (hiccup)

For our last adventure of the day, we hop on the Philly by Night bus tour. This was very good - a 90-minute tour that took us down South Street (which was a virtual parking lot),
Broad Street, the Avenue of the Arts (all lit up in blues and greens at night), and many, many other places.

We were beat. We were exhausted. We were ready to crawl into our bed. We hailed a cab and got back to the hotel around 11:00 pm. A long day.

A side note here: we were struck by how much art there is in Philadelphia. We learned that since 1959, Philly has had a program that requires new or remodeled construction to give back 1% of its funding into public arts. What an awesome thing! I wish every city had this - can you imagine the legacy we would leave for our children? Just a thought.

Anyway - time for bed.

Peace.

Friday, July 31st: We The Barbarians

Friday, July 31, 2009

Although today is officially #3 of our vacation, it's our official #1 day of our Disney Adventure! Woo hoo! We will find out later that each day of our adventure has a theme - I just love themes - and today's theme is "We the People." Love it.

We spend a leisurely morning hangin' with aunt and uncle; my uncle is the best storyteller in the world, and we need all morning to hear some of his whoppers. My dear daughter looks at me from time to time with a look that says, "Is he for real?"

For lunch, my uncle decides we can't leave Philly without sampling a delicious Philly cheesesteak sandwich. I got all excited until I realized he said cheese STEAK and not cheese CAKE - big difference. We head to a famous corner on South Street - where two opposing cheesesteak giants battle it out, head to head - across the street from each other. In this corner, we have Pat's - and in this corner, we have Geno's. My uncle, a retired policeman, won't even let us LOOK at Pat's - his support has always been for Geno's because he feels Geno's has always supported the Philly cops. When my uncle isn't looking, I sneak a look at Pat's - just to say that I can. Don't tell my uncle that I snapped a quick photo.

When I swing my head back around to look at Geno's - I'm in for a shock. There's a line - going out into the street - and this is at 1:30 pm in the afternoon....long past time when a line SHOULD be forming for lunch. Do these people not realize I'm hungry? Go home already!

As we're standing in line, a Philly cop shows up to help manage the line. Man, the people in Philly sure do take their cheesesteak seriously. The line moves quickly and before we know it, we're at the window, ordering sandwiches either "wit" or "witout." (onions, that is - but you've gotta' get the pronunciation just right!) Delicious. I liked my first "official" Philly cheesesteak. But I think I'll stick with good ole' Kansas City barbeque.

Aunt and Uncle drop us off at the Hyatt of Penn's Landing around 2:30 pm. Hugs, kisses, promises to see each other in September follow. Good-byes are always hard.

We walk into the lobby and are immediately greeted by our Disney guides for the week - Milca and Kimberly. They give us a brief orientation and direct us to the desk to get our room keys, and tell us to head on up to our room to relax. Before heading up, we learn there are 19 people on the tour for the week - 7 of which are girls around daughter's age - and one 10-year old boy. Ugh. Can you imagine? That poor boy.

We check into Room 915, which has a beautiful view of the Delaware River below us.In our room, we have presents! Yay, Disney! We receive a nice, grey duffel bag, binoculars, luggage tags - and a welcome note from our guides. I love presents.

We have some free time before our Orientation, scheduled for 5:00 pm, so Dear Hubby and daughter head down to the pool. I head to the bed and take a nice nap.

Our Orientation was held in one of the meeting rooms of the hotel. There are some snacks and drinks set out, and we have an ice-breaker to help us all get acquainted with each other. Then, it's time for introductions. We have Anna and her 2 children, Caroline and Ben (the only boy); Tom & Therese with their daughter, Mary Kate; Rolando & Elvia with their daughters, Myka and Pilar; Marianne with her granddaughter, Tatiana; and Dave & Debby with their daughters, Natalie and Katie. It appears to be a great group and I know that Dear Daughter will be best friends with everyone before the week is out.

After Milca did a brief overview of the trip, she passed out lanyards to everyone and we got our first pin of the week- "Adventures by Disney". We also all got a bottle of hand sanitizer, pen, and a storybook that describes the events for each day as well as each day's theme.

At 6:30 pm, we all walked a few blocks to the City Tavern for dinner. The Tavern is located at the corner of 2nd & Walnut in downtown Philadelphia. As we're walking, we're following Kimberly who's holding a sign up high, "Adventures by Disney." Oh my God. We are now officially one of THEM - the dreaded barbarians - who invade cities in large groups and follow their leader who's carrying a sign or an umbrella or some other object. I can't believe the things we'll do for our children. I shake my head in disgust. Oh well. On with the tour.

The City Tavern has quite the history, as we found out.

When the City Tavern first opened its doors in 1773, Philadelphia was the largest, most cosmopolitan city in British North America. The American colonies were about to throw off the yoke of British rule in what became the most important revolution the world had ever seen.

The City Tavern itself is an imposing structure of 3 stories, built to recreate the atmosphere of an authentic London tavern, and situated very near the city’s center. As the storm clouds of revolution gathered on the horizon, City tavern soon became an important meeting place, and center of the economic, social and political life in the city.

Inevitably, when the Revolution came, City Tavern assumed an even more prominent place in the events of the day. In 1774, members of the First Continental Congress used it as a gathering place. Thirteen years later, the Constitutional Convention held its closing banquet there.

Men like George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and others whose names have become an integral part of history enjoyed its hospitality. Indeed, John Adams once called it “the most genteel tavern in America.”

When we arrived, on the steps to greet us was Thomas Jefferson himself! It's not every day that one runs into Thomas Jefferson, so of course we had to allow time for photos.

We are first served various types of bread - including the famous Thomas Jefferson Sweet Potato Biscuits. These biscuits were served at the FIRST meeting of the First Continental Congress in 1774. I tasted one and could see why they're still around. I don't like sweet potatoes - at all - but these were pretty darn good!

For dinner, I had the turkey noodle soup, which was outstanding, and followed it up with salmon and mashed potatoes. Everything was very good. For dessert, I had a fruit cobbler that was just like Grandma used to make. Mr. Jefferson spoke with the group during dinner, giving us a brief overview of his life and taking questions from the group. I learned that he is known as the "3-2-1" guy. He was the 3rd President of the United States; the 2nd Vice President of the United States; and the 1st Secretary of State. He was also the U.S. Ambassador to France, and was the 2nd Governor of Virginia. Quite the multi-tasker, huh? We also learned he had "chicken scratch" for handwriting. Which is why he AUTHORED the Declaration of Independence, but he didn't WRITE it. No one would have been able to read it if he had.

One of the ladies on the trip pressed Jefferson about his illegitimate children with the slave, Sally Hemings. I looked over at Hubby and said, "I thought this was a Disney trip?" Like I really want to explain to my 9-year old daughter what "illegitimate" means.

Before Mr. Jefferson left, he handed out another pin to all of us - this time, it was a Goofy pin with "We the People" on it - to match our theme, of course!

We headed back to the hotel after dinner and got quickly ready for bed. Long day. Besides, barbarians need their rest.

Peace.

Thursday, July 30th: Under the Boardwalk

It's day #2 of our vacation....we're staying at the home of my aunt and uncle for another day in Philly. Now - I don't like to think of myself as a sloth in my everyday life - but this morning, I sleep until 8:45 am - and I'm the last one in the house to get up. Yikes! I really must be turning into a sloth.

After quickly getting ready, we all load up the car and hit the road and drive to Ocean City. Because Uncle Gene is talking to us and giving us a tour, he misses several of his exits - and so we take a really, long scenic route to get there. Apparently, I'm not the ONLY one in the family who can't drive and talk at the same time. It's apparently genetic. And he used to be a cop. Scary.

We arrive at the Shore and park and start walking along the Boardwalk - and it is hot. I'm talking, "fry an egg on the sidewalk hot." And it's also surprisingly devoid of people. Not that I'm complaining - all of you dear readers know how I feel about barbarians.

We offer dear daughter an opportunity to go jump in the waves and swim, but all she has eyes for is the amusement park. So, we head to Gillian's Wonderland Pier and much to our delight, we find out that Thursdays, until 4:00 pm, all rides are only TWO tickets apiece! Woo hoo! We do the happy dance - and then send dear daughter - by herself - on the first of many nauseating rides of the day. I think she looks happy, don't you?

While we're doing our best to get her sick - including letting her ride the Whirl-a-Gig four times in a row, my aunt and uncle engage in a serious discussion - I think they're deciding who has to provide the barf bag in case my dear daughter tosses her cookies.

Thankfully, we run out of tickets before dear daughter embarrasses herself - or us - by getting ill. I think my aunt and uncle were relieved. So, we hop back into the car and head to the Inlet Restaurant for lunch. I have to say, the loaded baked potato soup I had as a starter was excellent - I could have licked the bowl clean. And would have - but I didn't want to embarrass my relatives any further. The Jumbo Lump Crab Cake I had for my entree was so-so. Oh well. Win some, lose some.

After lunch, we head back to the house - taking a little snooze on the way. Heat and a full tummy will do that to you.

That evening, we have a big family dinner over at Cousin Karen's. The food was excellent - we had London broil, grilled chicken, green beans, potatoes, and salad. I had seconds of everything. I am seriously going to have to start exercising on this vacation. Darn it.

All in all - a very good relaxing day...spending quality time with my family on the Coast whom I don't see very often. Enjoying good company and good food - life doesn't get much better than that.

Tomorrow: the beginning of our Disney Adventure.

Peace.