Travel Diary: Washington DC Day 4

*We started our morning with the breakfast buffet at our hotel. Since the food trucks wouldn't reappear until Monday we figured the weekend was good time to use our limited breakfast vouchers.
*After spending 3 days in the city we decided it was time to venture out.  Even though we didn't have a car, we were able to visit Mount Vernon by taking the metro to a connector bus.



We timed our visit perfectly because just as we were exiting the main house we were entertained by a colonial marching band.



*After Mount Vernon we headed back to the National Mall for an up close look at the Washington Monument.
*We had already "squeezed" in so many sights and sounds in DC on this trip but it was far from over.  However, up next was a dinner with family.  The Virginia Morgans to be exact.



*While waiting in the metro station for our train Mackenzie thinks we witnessed a marriage proposal. There was a large crowd and cheering but the couple ran off afterward so I'm not sure if it was a hoax or not.
*We took the train to the very last stop where Trevor and Joni Morgan picked us up and drove us to the Melting Pot for dinner.
*We all met our niece and cousin, Bryn, for the very first time. Bryn was born four months before Mackenzie. I really enjoyed meeting Bryn and sharing tidbits of information with her.  She had no idea that Darin and I had been in her parents wedding, and she didn't know that she was the first granddaughter born to Jim and Carolyn after five grandsons in a row.
*We also had the pleasure of meeting Joni's daughter and Joni's future son-in-law.
*The Melting Pot was the perfect place for a three hour family reunion of eating, drinking, laughing and reminiscing about the past. Although, it was after midnight before we arrived back at our hotel, we had a great time.



Next Post: Ford's Theater, Arlington Cemetery and an Obama sighting

Travel Diary: Washington DC Day 3

*We started our morning with what Darin likes to call "the breakfast of champions" - a donut food truck outside the hotel.
*By now I was beginning to feel old while riding the metro. Mackenzie pointed out everyone in DC is young, white, and professional. Even the other tourists on the metro seemed to be younger than Darin and I. DC appears to be one of the safest and healthiest cities that we have visited. Washingtonians are constantly running and/or biking on the streets. These young urban professionals are extremely friendly and offer advice and directions without even being asked.
*Thanks to our Senator, Marco Rubio, we had a tour of the Capitol at noon. After the tour we were debating whether or not to walk across the street to our House of Representative's office to get tickets for a House Gallery tour. A gentleman overhead us talking and offered us a private tour of the gallery. He worked in the legal department of the House and a tour group had stood him up. Man, did we feel special! Our own private guided tour of the gallery.
*So, where and what do you eat for lunch when you are on Capitol Hill? Good Stuff Eatery and of course you order the Prez Obama burger (Applewood Bacon, Onion Marmalade, Roquefort Cheese). If you're not in the mood for that you can always order the First Lady's favorite, the Michelle Melt.



*Did you know that Florida is the only state with an Embassy in DC? It is a beautiful 1891 Victorian Home overlooking the Capitol Dome. We dropped in and met a young George Washington University intern named Mackenzie from Sarasota.  She served us glasses of cold Florida orange juice during our visit.

*After the Florida House, we walked down the street to see the Library of Congress. By far, the Library is the most beautiful building in all of DC.

*No trip to DC would be complete without the obligatory visit to the White House.  No, we didn't see President Obama that day but our paths would soon cross. 

*For the first and only time during our trip, the metro let us down. We were in a rush to get to our hotel but a train was disabled in the station so we had to hail a cab. Little did we know that this was the first time our kids had ever ridden in a taxi.
*We were in a rush because we had tickets to see a political satire group called Capitol Steps that night.  They had us laughing in our seats while listening to their political song parodies. It was the perfect evening event after spending the day on Capitol Hill.  If you would like to hear some of the song parodies you can visit the Capitol Steps website at www.capsteps.com.



Next post: Mount Vernon and the Virginia Morgans

Travel Diary: Washington DC Day 2

*The Le Meridien complimentary morning coffee bar was the bomb.
*We began our morning with breakfast at a crepe food truck outside our hotel (this wouldn't be our only food truck of the trip).



* First we hit the National Archives to see the Bill of Rights, Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
*Next it was over to the The Museum of American History to see the Star Spangled Banner.
*Our third stop was The Museum of Natural History which is the most visited museum in the entire United States. By far it was my favorite museum of our trip. I mean, seriously, who wouldn't love seeing the Hope Diamond? However, the museum was so large that towards the end we began to loose steam.
*In total exhaust we sat on the steps of the Natural History Museum discussing dinner, I remembered Mackenzie's one "must" for this trip. She had to try a restaurant called Nando's Peri-Peri. Mackenzie quickly grabbed her phone and discovered that her restaurant was within walking distance of the museum. You might be asking what is Peri-Peri? It is actually a hot spice from Portugal. I was so proud of Mackenzie for introducing us to a new cuisine.  That's my girl - one who is willing to try something new while in a new city.



*Since we started our day with a food truck, we decided to end our day with a food truck. This time it a was a cookie truck. Did you know that DC food trucks could be rented for private events? We actually had to wait 10 minutes for an event to end before we could purchase our desserts.



Next post: the capitol and Capitol Steps

Travel Diary: Washington DC Day 1

My sister-in-law, Angie, created a travel diary for her summer adventures and encouraged her friends and family to create their own diaries.  So, here begins our summer trip to Washington D.C.

Travel Diary Day 1:

 *It began with a flight delay at the Fort Myers airport, ugh!  With a number of hours to kill and limited food choices we had to eat at Nathan's Famous.  Hot dogs and  french fries wouldn't have been my first choice of meals to begin this vacation.
*Running behind schedule we arrived at the Le Meridien hotel in Rosslyn, Virginia.  We were greeted with a complementary wine bar at check-in. Already, my mood was beginning to improve. Before I continue with our itinerary, I feel the need to give you a little background on our hotel. Darin had found a good price on airline tickets and booked them prior to making any other travel plans.  He asked me to start looking for a hotels within walking distance of the metro since we had no desire to rent and drive a car in DC.  Little did I know that finding a hotel would become a major chore.  All the hotels I found were either too full, too far from the metro or too expensive.  After days of researching, I was finally able to find a Groupon for the Le Meridien in Rosslyn.  I was able to book 4 out of the 5 nights that we needed. The 5th night had to be booked separately through the hotel at 3 times the price of the Groupon nights. The Le Meridien ended up as the best decision of our entire trip.  The hotel was beautiful!  We had a room on the 10th floor with a view of the Washington Monument. Best of all, it was only one block from the Rosslyn Metro station and only 3 stops from Reagan airport.
*We quickly checked in and jumped on the metro to Union Station. After a meal at the Union Station food court (which is on steroids) we boarded the Old Trolley "Monuments by Moonlight" tour.
*While at the FDR Memorial we witnessed our first bride and groom taking wedding pictures (this wouldn't be our last).
*By far, the biggest crowds of our trip were found at the monuments at night.  We have never seen so many tour groups and tours buses in our lives but the views at sunset and the evening were amazing.







Next post: Day 2 - museums and food trucks

The Morgans

We hosted our fourth and final set of visitors for the summer, The Morgans. The eight of us spent the majority of our time in the water either at the beach, pool or water park. We chose the perfect evening for a sunset cruise aboard the Double Sunshine which took us on a tour of the million dollar homes in Port Royal prior to entering the gulf for sunset. Numerous dolphins joined us on our return to the dock which made the evening even more exciting.



On the last day of The Morgan's visit we had planned to paddle board but ended up boogie boarding instead. It is rare that we get a rough surf in Naples so you can imagine our surprise when we arrived at the beach only to find out that paddle boarding wasn't going to be possible. No worries, everyone had a blast boogie and body surfing in the waves. By far it ended up as The Morgan's favorite day at the beach.









It was awesome for Mackenzie to spend quality time with her cousin, Kate. Ashlan had come to stay with us earlier in the summer but we hadn't seen Kate in over a year. These two are growing into such beautiful young women both inside and out.

We were sad to see The Morgan's head back to Dallas. For one, it signaled the end of our summer break. Secondly, we probably won't see The Morgan's for an entire year. The good news is that my sister-in-law, Angie, and I have already begun planning their return visit to Naples next summer.

The Parrish Family

We had the pleasure of hosting a third set of visitors, Deborah and Lindsay Parrish. My sister, Deborah, had not been to Florida since Mackenzie's First Communion which was over eight years ago.  My niece, Lindsay, had not been back to Florida since the Griffin/Kiefhaber wedding which was four years ago.



While they were here we hit a number of happy hours, viewed a few sunsets and squeezed in a little shopping. However, our best activity was a shelling excursion. The excursion lasted three hours.  It was a public excursion; however we were the only ones to book it that day.  It ended up as a private tour, just us and the boat captain.  We sailed  down the Gordon River through Naples Bay and stopped at Keewaydin Island for shelling.  We had the island to ourselves as far as the eye could see to the north and ...



... far as the eye could see to the south.



There were shells all over the island.  We could have stayed there longer but we had to stay on schedule so we quickly grabbed as many interesting shells as possible.



Mason had decided to tag along with us but I knew he would quickly loose interest in looking for shells so I encouraged him to bring his new cast net.







We were sad to see the Parrishs leave after three short days but we hope this visit set the foundation for more frequent future visits.

Tennessee Guskes

We just said goodbye to the Tennessee Guskes after a week long visit. The boys attended a five-day fishing camp but were also able to squeeze in a midweek excursion to Venice for shark teeth hunting.



And the girls, well, they shopped til they dropped. For a day I was able to convince them to take a break from the malls and attend a matinee at our dinner theater.



What was it like having three teenagers and one pre-teen in the house?  No worries, everyone got along perfectly.





Much thanks to my brother, Derek, for driving his family to Naples. We were sad to see the Tennessee Guskes head back home but we look forward to our next two sets of visitors. More details to come.