First, I want to thank the people we stayed with for hosting us, it definitely made the trip more fun, not to mention more affordable. Michelle, JD and Denise - y'all are awesome!
We flew to Washington D.C. last Friday the 19th. We left after Jim got off work around 6:30pm. We had a layover in Atlanta, and so we ended up arriving in D.C. at 1:30AM! Poor Sevyn was exhausted during the traveling, but she was a trooper!
Jim's sister Michelle picked us up at the airport (BWI in Baltimore) and drove to her home in Virginia. It was about a 30 minute trip to her home. By the time we got in bed it was nearly 3am. I was exhausted too, but we were on vacation which means we could sleep in.
The next morning, er should I say afternoon, we went to go see the sights. We went to see all memorials, and walked the mall. We tried to tour the Capitol but they didn't have any available tours left. Sevyn made her mark on the lawn of the Capitol, she exploded her diaper so I had to change her there in the grass. Needless to say, I think she told Obama what she thought of him! Ha.
That evening we went to see a Washington Nationals game. It was a beautiful park - although it sits in an awkward part of town. Sevyn loved the game too . . . she's a baseball fan (who could imagine that!)
We were outside most of the day so by the time we left in the ninth inning, as the game was going into extra innings, Sevyn was ready to pass out.
Sunday we went to Church with Michelle and out to lunch with some friends of her's. That afternoon we went to the Smithsonian for National Air and Space, and then went to Jefferson's Memorial the only one we didn't see on Saturday.
We called it a bit of an early evening. Sevyn went to bed early, and we got to spend some quality time chatting with Michelle.
Monday morning we left to head to Raleigh. We decided that on our way we would make a quick stop to Mount Vernon, little did we know we would spend nearly four hours there. It was well worth it. We toured the property, saw the tombstone of President Washington, as well as toured his home. Jim and I both enjoy history so it was a nice excursion to go on.
We arrived in Raleigh about 7:30, and stayed with Jim's long time friends J.D. and Denise. They have two great little boys that we enjoyed getting to know as well. I had never met them although I had communicated with them several times, and kicked J.D.'s butt the first year in his fantasy football league! Ha.
We had a great dinner, Sevyn went to bed fairly early and we enjoyed chatting.
The next day we spent the whole day relaxing, playing with the kids, and catching up, but that evening we took it back a few years and went to a mudcats game, where Jim was a mascot in single A baseball.
He got to visit with some of his good friends that he made while he worked there, including some of the long time season ticket holders.
Sevyn even had her picture taken with Muddy.
The next day we left around 11am to head out to the Outer Banks. This is one of Jim's favorite spots to spend a few days relaxing, and he was eager to show it to Sevyn and I. I must say its quite nice.
The three hour drive was a lot of fun, we listened to lots of music and Sevyn slept a lot of the way. We stopped to see the first of four lighthouses on our Outer Banks tour. Bodie Lighthouse was a nice one, you couldn't go up inside though.
When we got to Nags Head you had to drive your car onto a ferry and ride the ferry across the water to get to Ocracoke where we were staying. Sevyn enjoyed watching her dad feed the seagulls. (Good thing Jim remembered to buy bread on the way, as it helped the time go by. )
We got to Ocracoke and it was pouring so we just relaxed a bit, went and had dinner.
The next day we walked around the town a bit. There are several things that are pretty impressive. Blackbeard spent some time on this island, and I think he might have wrecked there or been captured there, can't remember for sure.
We went to the Ocracoke Light House which is a really small and stubby looking light house.
Then we went swimming in the ocean. Salt water and heat aren't great things for Sevyn so we didn't spend a long time there, but enough to put our feet in the water, our toes in the sand and to wear our super cute bathing suit~
Later that afternoon we crossed back on the Ferry and decided to see Cape Hatteras. This was a very impressive lighthouse that is the tallest in the world. It was also moved about 10 years ago. They moved the whole thing in one chunck 250 feet (or something like that.) Jim got to go up it, but Sevyn couldn't so I stayed on the ground with her, which was fine because it was hot, humid and there was no AC inside the lighthouse!
The next day we left the Outer Banks for good. We headed north up highway 12 towards Kitty Hawk. We had already seen the original Wright Brothers Plane at the Air and Space Museum now it was time to see the actual location where they made their maiden flight.
It was pretty neat to sit in and hear the lecture . . . its amazing what you learn if you just stop for a moment and read or listen to what others have to say. That is one thing we did a lot on this trip and I am much more knowledgeable for it.
After Kitty Hawk we took a detour further north to see the last of four lighthouses. This one is called Currituk. It is probably one of the prettiest in its natural surroundings.
That evening we headed back to Michelle's to spend one final night. Sevyn got a good bath, and snuggled in the sheets a while before we put her to bed.
The next day before our evening flight we decided to try the Capitol tour one more time, this time we got in. It was really neat to be able to see some of the areas of the capitol, although I would have really liked to of seen more.
Then we went over to the Library of Congress where you can see the Gutenberg Bible and Thomas Jefferson's library and writings. Pretty impressive. Sevyn liked it for a while but when a girls tired . . . well she crashes.
Our last stop before the airport was Fords Theater. We waited forever to get in, but finally did. We didn't have time to go over to the Petersen house as we had to scurry back to the airport, but I enjoyed the Ranger talk a lot. Sevyn did really well listening to what they had to say too!
On the airplane home Sevyn was definitely tired, but she wouldn't go to sleep. Her dad entertained her for a while, she fussed a little bit, but the plane was only half full so no one seemed to mind. She finally succumbed to her exhaustion and passed out!!!
All in all it was a GREAT trip, no major problems, and Sevyn was on her best behaviour all week. We had so much fun and are eager to go back again in the future.
