Trip to D.C.

Trip to D.C.
What great weather for traveling! On Wed., we had a great day, with little traffic except in Columbus, Ohio. It is always so interesting to see the topography change. Western Ohio becomes so hilly and begins to look like West Virginia. We had planned to spend the night in Pennsylvania or West Virginia but because of a lack of motel rooms we drove into Maryland and spent the night in Grantsville. It was a very nice Comfort Inn.
Maryland is such a pretty state, I think, with the rolling hills and the neat old homes. I was wondering what type of grass made the lawns, some of them huge areas around older homes, look so lush, green, and short. Either a lot of mowing had just been done or they use a grass that doesn’t get too tall. The dogwoods were blooming and were so beautiful. I wish my white dogwood would bloom more often.
Traffic in to D.C. was heavier, or course, but we made it in without incident and checked in to the Hyatt on Capitol Hill. We opted to take a cab to Lafayette Park to save energy for the walk back on this sunny day with temps into the 80’s. I hadn’t had time to get this close to the White House 3 years ago so it was fun to walk around it. We were too late for the cherry blossoms in D.C. but the tulips and azaleas were lovely and dogwood and other trees were in bloom around the White House and on the Mall. Michelle Obama’s veggie garden was in good view and I noticed a hive of bees, also. We also found the White House museum, which had mostly photo displays.
The Museum of American History had been closed 3 years ago, with the most popular displays moved to the Air and Space Museum. So, I had really looked forward to this visit! After lunch in the Stars and Stripes Café we went to find the First Ladies gallery. I have a collection of First Lady and White House books so I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit of First Ladies dresses, shoes, hats... We then found the old trains to photograph for JT and headed down to the National Gallery of Art. I knew I would try to return the next day for another, longer visit.
The National Gallery of Art had a special exhibit and it was as overwhelming as always to see so many great works in one place. I returned the next day with my camera set not to flash and took many photos. I have a whole Walgreens album of photos from this museum. I had time this year to find the Degas sculpture gallery and I saw the only Da Vinci in America, and many old and new favorites by Renoir, Manet, Monet, Picasso, on and on…sigh….The color and the depth of these paintings is so remarkable. Sometimes the farther away you get the more of this you notice. I felt I could paddle under Monet’s Japanese bridge.
After a brief visit to the IBEW reception we headed to Union Station, which we hadn’t been scheduled to visit in 07. We had dinner there, near a kiosk which was selling those faked photos with the White House, the President…The girls working that evening were doing a very nice job and I talked John in to getting one done with Obama for his office. He’ll have a lot of fun with it.
Next morning I hung around the motel, recuperating from the long walks the day before and planning to meet John for lunch. We had our internet connection, the room had a huge TV to watch (it also had a down comforter ), and there was a nice gift shop, so I wasn’t bored. While waiting, I met other wives and children who were hoping to meet up with husbands/fathers for lunch. The morning meetings ran over by about an hour so I had a nice visit with wives from WI and UT. I found out from one of them that I could have gotten a guest pass and gone in to hear Nancy Pelosi. Next year I’ll have to think about that, based on who the speakers will be. Then we ate at a popular Capitol Hall hamburger restaurant and I went on to the Smithsonian again while John went back for more meetings. I took a lot more time in the art and history museums. I enjoyed seeing Julia Child’s kitchen, the 1814 flag that flew over Ft. McHenry, the President’s gallery with Lincoln’s top hat, Jefferson’s lap desk, Washington’s telescope…
And an FYI to Earl. Once, when in college, John had all the info linking the Ball descendants in his family to Mary Ball Washington. Those papers were lost in a move. He has his genealogy done for quite a way back, as it was a hobby of his uncle, and maybe you could help fill in that gap again?
Oh, my. It was a very slow walk back. That night was an IBEW dinner with yummy choices of pasta in sun dried tomato sauce, mushroom or cheese stuffed pastas, juicy and tender roasts of turkey, fondu tables…Yum!
The next day I organized the room and waited for a call from John that he was out of meetings and had called for the car. We were on our way to the Fort before noon and anticipated a longer visit with Charles than we got. Traffic was very heavy until after Fredricksburg. But, we arrived in time to visit with him while he and a fellow soldier had a late lunch (we didn’t wait as we’d skipped breakfast) at a local mall. Then we took them back to base so Charles could sign out for rest of the afternoon. We decided that Yorktown might be interesting for him as he and Dawn saw Williamsburg when she visited at the time of her Grandmother’s final illness. Yorktown was very interesting and would be a place to visit again with more time. A pass to Jamestown is included in the price but we didn’t purchase a pass for a tour and visit to the entire battlefield area as it was close to closing there. We drove on to Historic Yorktown and walked along the beach and the quaint shops before going back to Newport News for supper. It was so good to spend even a little time with Charles. He’s looking well and has done very well in classes. If anyone is thinking of a trip to the Historic Triangle (Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown) you might give Charles some notice and look him up, too!  The trip back to D.C. was faster as traffic wasn’t bad.
The next morning we had almost no traffic in D.C., had little anywhere really, even in Columbus and Indianapolis, and had a smooth trip, making it back into IL before 7.
I even went in to town with my Mom Monday afternoon.
Today I'm catching up at home, including mowing. The Jane Magnolia is still in bloom, the azalea has bloomed out, as well as the small rhododendron, and lots of daffodils are still blooming. So are the hundreds of wild flowers in the yard, so I'll only mow around the house.

John and JT visit April 2010

We had such a fun and busy visit with John and JT. JT surely got good use out of his new boots! He rode his trike a lot, played in the yard with the Tonka trucks, visited the rabbits, and just ran around all over. He helped Grandpa get new goldfish for my pond, and visited Great Grandma and Great Aunt Judy twice. (Great Grandma Lawson came here on Friday and Sunday for visits.) He helped me make a lamb cake and had so much fun with the vintage egg beater that we looked for one for him at the Amish general store in Kalona.
On Saturday morning, after breakfast, we left for a visit with Aunt Elizabeth in Iowa City. We drove through Kalona on the way and stopped at the Community Country Store and the new grocery, also. Both these stores are beside Amish farms and so the farm houses are in the background of some of the photos. If you look closely to the distant right in the photo of John and JT looking over the fence you'll see an Amish woman walking toward the back of the buildings. We did find a new version of the old fashioned egg beater. :-)
We had a busy visit with Aunt Elizabeth, walking to the barbecue restaurant, the park by the library, the bookstore and the ice cream shop. One photo shows JT looking out the car window at the Old Capital, which is central to the U of I and was the capital building when IA City was the capitol.
Today JT had a great time in the garden. He helped Grandpa plant the new asparagus bed and helped Grandpa and Judy and me plant potatoes, including purple potatoes.

Easter

We had beautiful weather for most of our Easter day. All three of us here attended Sperry UMC with Grandma Weyer, Judy, Steve, and Carolyn. John W, Cindi, and Nathan came down after attending their "church of Jesus on the cross"--Nathan's description.
We had a wonderful meal, of course, with a new pasta dish with shrimp and snap peas and a cream cheese sauce that Elizabeth and Judy made. Nathan kept us entertained! He had to make up for all the other little boys.
John and JT got to go to their Easter service and Easter breakfast. Since he didn't get to come to IA because of work he was strongly encouraged to spend the rest of the day with Jenny's family. Has shared every holiday for a year--JT's birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas morning, Easter...John was also in the Last Supper production that his church did on Maundy Thursday. Oh, and he's been called about a third job. Wow!
George and Beth and the boys spent Easter with her family. Will share some pics when I get some.
Elizabeth and I enjoyed a few hours of shopping on Saturday and she was lucky enough to meet up with her good friend, Victoria, who helped her pick out some things. I even got a pair of pants and some down/polyester pillows at $45 off. If it's not 80% to 90% off it's not a sale to me!
Our sad news this weekend was the death of Dawn's Grandmother from Legionnaire's Disease. She was able to fly to PA to see her Grandmother in the hospital and had enjoyed a good visit with her a couple of weeks before in Tucson. We were really sorry to hear about this sudden death and are thinking of Dawn and her family. While Dawn was in PA she was able to drive the 3 hours down to VA to see Charles.
John and JT hope to come down for next weekend as the Y won't be having swim classes and the newspaper has given John Friday off. They plan to leave on Thursday after John gets off work. JT was to have had his first day at the Kenosha UMC day care, which has a good child/caregiver ratio, healthy food, craft/learning activities, and scheduled rest and outdoor times. However, he'll be with Jenny's mom again that day as it is Jenny's day this week. I'll have plenty of cute photos after this weekend. We hope to see Elizabeth. And I hope to arrange for JT to pet some baby goats.