my first trip to Washington, DC

Oh boy--it's been more than two months since I last posted! I've had some things going on and really haven't felt like writing. But I'll get back into it by posting about my business trip I took in October. 

I'm lucky enough in my particular job role that each year I get to go on a business trip. It's an annual conference for a software company my employer uses and it's typically in a good location, such as California. This year it was in Washington, DC. I was really excited about it since I'd never been there. My husband hadn't either, and he loves history, so it was a perfect vacation spot for him. (My boss was shocked to learn I'd never been to DC. I'm not sure why that's so shocking, but it was to her. I guess because she goes there often with her family and they all love it there.)

We decided to tack on about three days of vacation, which were prior to the conference days. Since I had only that time to see everything I wanted to see before having to spend two and half days at the conference, I made a list of my must-see attractions. We made it to most of them. Unfortunately, I missed out on seeing the Holocaust Museum. In order to see it I would have had to go on the last day of the conference, which was a half-day; however, I'd forgotten it was Yom Kippur and it was closed. I still made it to the Bureau of Engraving and the Library of Congress, though.

This is what I saw while I was there:

• Bureau of Engraving and Printing. I’m a banker, so seeing money being printed was exciting to me. It amazed me that one small pallet of $20.00 notes was $6.4 million, and there were SEVEN pallets in one little space! And yes, the place smelled like money!

• Lincoln Memorial. I saw this at night on the Monuments by Moonlight tour (we also stopped at the MLK Jr. Memorial and the Iwo Jima Marine Corps Memorial), which we did on the second night we were there. It was SO worth it! It was beautiful. Someone was having their wedding pictures taken while we were there. I loved standing on the steps and looking out onto the reflecting pool and then Washington Monument beyond that. And yes, there were A LOT of steps!

MLK Jr. Memorial

Iwo Jima US Marine Corps Memorial

The Capitol building at night.

View from the Lincoln Memorial on the Monuments by Moonlight tour. 

Lincoln Memorial at night.

• Arlington Cemetery, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and Women in Military Service for America building (very well done). We stayed for the changing of the guard. There were two wreath-layings at the Tomb. They played Taps each time. My husband is former Army so he was quite moved by it, as were most people.

Kennedy's grave site

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

• Air and Space Museum. I LOVED this! So interesting. The Hubble telescope was on display, so that was quite interesting to see. Definitely not as big as I thought it would be. I wish we could have spent more time here, but we got there about an hour and half before it closed. Also, they were renovating so several sections were closed.
• American History Museum. Lots of interesting stuff here. I wasn't able to see all of it; there was just so much to see (three floors!) and I didn't have enough time.
• National Archives. Here I saw the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, among other things. 
• United States Botanic Garden.  Here we saw lots of different plants and flowers.  Very warm and humid inside!

• Library of Congress. This was probably my favorite. The architecture is absolutely beautiful! We got library cards just so we could go into the main reading room (yes, I'm a geek). I love books and it’s kind of cool to say I got to browse the shelves of the Library of Congress. I also enjoyed seeing Thomas Jefferson’s library. I saw one book there that was published in 1571!

While out and about we also saw the WWI Memorial and Washington Monument, among other things.

As far as food goes, we didn’t get much beyond the hotel and the National Mall area. My husband is a very plain eater, so we stuck with things he would like. Plus, even though the company paid for most of it, food was expensive. We hit a few food trucks and the food was really good. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe once. We also had a rib eye steak on our last night since it was still part of my business trip and the company paid. :)

Getting around DC was easier than I thought it would be. We got a three-day Metro pass and hopped on and off the train as needed. Only once did we get on in the wrong direction. :) On the second day I finally figured out that in order to know which train to take and which direction to go, we had to look at the last stop on the line, not the stop where we want to get off. Once I figured that out we had no more issues determining direction. (Taking the train isn’t a daily thing in CT unless you commute along the shoreline/to NY or through the middle of the state, so I don’t have much train experience.)

We took Amtrak (Acela train) and that was a pleasant experience. It was a little annoying, though, how many people took up two seats on purpose, which meant it was hard to find two seats together on our way there. Once we got to NY the conductor made announcements that people cannot take up two seats since it was a nearly-full train. Oh, and there were MANY announcements for people to check their tickets and make sure they’re on the right train. Apparently there’s an express train and then another Acela train. Guess what? At least one person got on the wrong train going to DC, and at least four different people got on the wrong train coming home! One huge difference between taking the train and flying was that once you get to the train station, you just get on the train. No checking bags, going through security, etc. Also, lots of leg room!

So, we had a great time. I'd really like to go back again, though, so I can see more. I felt rushed since I only had a few days to see what I wanted to see and had to skip some things.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Bob and I recently went to Christmas by Candlelight at Old Sturbridge Village. It's something we do every year now that we're only an hour away. We're members of the Village so we get discounted tickets. We stayed at the Old Sturbridge Inn in the Oliver Wight House, which is a historic building with 10 rooms.

The Sugar Cookie, complete with a sugared rim and sprinkles.

Friday night was dinner at the Oxhead Tavern across the street. Since it was early and the diningroon was empty, they sat us in front of the fireplace. (I wish I'd taken a picture. It's a beautiful old--huge!--fireplace.) We each had the French Onion soup to start. Bob had the bacon-wrapped meatloaf and I had the Oxhead panini with fries, which is basically a Thanksgiving-themed panini with turkey, cranberry, sage and sausage stuffing and a side of gravy for dipping. Way too much food for me, of course, so most of my sandwich was packed up to take back to the room for later. I treated myself to one of their special Christmas drinks, the Sugar Cookie. I can't remember what was in it, but I was feeling good when we left! I was only able to drink half since alcohol hits me so hard. Bob took a couple pictures of me before and after the drink. In the "after" picture my face is flushed and I have a stupid grin on my face. Obviously, I'm a very light drinker these days, which was true even before the weight loss surgery. Bob had beer, as usual.

Bob and I at the Oxhead Tavern.

Below they're making soft gingerbread using the tin oven in the fireplace. I'd love to learn how to cook using our fireplace, but I just haven't made the time or effort to do it yet. I've made their gingerbread recipe in my own oven, though, and it's delicious. Very moist and dense. You really need to like gingerbread, though, as it's an acquired taste for some people.

As you can see from the recipe below, it makes a lot of gingerbread. If you don't have a lot of gingerbread-lovers, I suggest making half a recipe.

Making Christmas dinner

Here they're making Christmas dinner using a tin oven for baking and a rotisserie of sorts for the goose. The "rotisserie" is basically twine that spins over the fire. You truss up the goose and suspend it from a hook over the fire, then twist the twine. As it unwinds, it turns the goose. It amazes me how much time it must have taken to make a holiday meal in the 1800s. 

They're making mulled cider. This is my favorite part!

And here's my favorite part:  they're making the mulled cider. It's probably my favorite part because we get to sample the finished product. I've been trying to find a jug like the one they have on the table so I can make my own mulled cider in the fireplace, but I haven't found on yet that I like. I'd also need a mulling iron. 

The shoemaker

I love this candle holder. I'd like to do
the same in my house. 

As usual, we visited all the other exhibits, like the shoemaker, the tin shop, the general store and others, and sampled any food they had to offer. I like that they change it up a little each year. This year in the general store it was peppermints, they had Spanish shortbread cookies in another building (which I'll be making!), and roasted chestnuts in the Small House. I have to say, I don't like chestnuts at all. My mom loved them, which is why I tried them, but I didn't like the texture at all. We also sat and listened to a reading of How the Grinch Stole Christmas in the school house. The interpreter did a fantastic job and we really enjoyed it.

In front of the Christmas tree at the Bullard Tavern.

On our way out we visited the gift shop and I bought real bayberry candles. I buy them every year. If burned down to the nub on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, it is thought that it brings good luck for the following year. 

On to our Christmas trees. We put up two trees every year ever since we moved a few years ago. We have a historic house, which was built in 1735. We have a formal living room (it doesn't look formal, though), as well as a family room. Our picture window is in the living room, so we put a tree in front of it and decorate it with older-looking ornaments. The other tree goes in the family room since that's where we spend most of our time. 

This year we decided to start buying some of the older ornaments while we were in Sturbridge. As you can see, we got some nice ones. These are the ones I remember from childhood. They were inexpensive, too.  Typically 75 cents to $2.00 each. We bought about 10 of them. Here's the finished tree. The icicles you see hanging from the branches are handmade from Old Sturbridge Village.

Here are closeups of some of the ornaments we bought.

And here's our standard tree in the family room. We got a great deal on the trees this year:  $40.00 for both of them. One had been cut down and left in the field, so the nursery owners wanted it to be sold. We got it for $10.00, which is the one below.

And here are some kitty pictures. This one is Leia.

This is Max sleeping next to the living room tree. One would think he's the one that did all the work!

And here's Marty under the living room tree. 

Hope you all have a nice holiday and don't eat yourself into a coma! But wear the elastic-banded pants just in case.

Def Leppard/Journey concert roadtrip: part two

Sunday I posted part one of the road trip, which was about the concert. Now, here's part two--everything else!

So, after having about three crappy hours of sleep the night of the concert, I was up before 7:00 am the next day. I'd been tossing and turning so much, I just gave up. Meanwhile, my sister was snoring away for another hour and a half. I was ready for the day by the time she got up.  I ate my leftover breakfast burrito from the night before while she got herself ready. We stopped off at Dunkin Donuts and then we were off to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which was only about a mile away from the hotel.

Here I am in front of the Long Live Rock sign. It was really tough to get the whole thing in the picture.

We got to the Hall of Fame before 11:00 am. It seemed like a long walk from where we had to park to where we had to go, but what was nice was that we parked in the parking garage and were able to cut through the science center, so we didn't have to walk too far in the heat (it was 90 and humid the whole time we were in Cleveland). 

We spent a little over three hours at the Hall of Fame. It has six floors and is packed with memorabilia spanning decades. They even had a display dating back to the 1880s that contained one of the first Victrola phonographs. Many people say that it takes all day to see everything, but I think it depends on whether you look at every single item and read all the descriptions, or if you just look at certain things more closely while skimming over others. That's what we did. Some things were more interesting than others. For example, I was much more interested in the 1980s and beyond since I was born in 1974, whereas someone who's older might prefer the previous decades.  They had pretty much any kind of memorabilia you could think of:  sheet music, lyric notebooks hand-written by the artists themselves, clothing (some very hideous clothing--I don't know what musicians are thinking when they pick out these outfits...), props used in videos, photos, etc.

The ground floor was definitely the biggest. The exhibits started at the very beginning, The Roots of Rock, which covers blues, gospel, R&B, country, bluegrass and folk.  There was a room for Elvis Presley, the 1960s "summer of love", the Beatles, heavy metal, etc. On other floors you can find the history of music videos,the start of MTV (yes, it was ALL music at one time!), listening booths, short movies about music, instruments, and lots of other stuff. I really enjoyed the music videos, as a lot of them were a blast from the past for me, like Metallica's Enter Sandman. They also had a montage of past induction ceremonies, which featured, among others, Prince and Tom Petty playing While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Although I'm not a Prince fan, his guitar solo is absolutely amazing. You can see it here on You Tube. And here's a listing of all the exhibits by floor. Here are just a few of the pictures I took.

This was Elvis' double guitar. Elvis had a 
whole room dedicated to him.

Lots of great bands featured here, like AC/DC, Judas Priest, and Dio.
Angus Young's outfit. What AC/DC fan wouldn't recognize that?! There's also the lyrics to "Highway to Hell."

Metallica! Recognize the scales of Justice?

Rob Halford's jacket (Judas Priest). Sheet music for "Holy Diver" by Dio in the top left corner.
Lyrics to "Judas is Rising" on the right.

Rob Zombie's jacket.

Guess who I voted for??

I bought only one souvenir at the gift shop:  a wooden spoon that looks like a drum stick. There were actually two in the package, but I gave one to my sister since she doesn't own a wooden spoon. (Who doesn't own a wooden spoon??)

After the Hall of Fame we went back to the hotel to relax for a bit. We were hoping to find a good Lifetime movie, but no luck. Then we decided to walk around Public Square for a bit. The Public Square area is pretty cool because you can pretty much get everything you need--food, shopping, gaming, banking, movies and other things--and traverse several streets without having to go outside. Plus there are some nice sights outside within the Square itself.  We ventured outside into the heat just to see what's around. Below is the Soldier's and Sailors Monument. It's beautiful and pictures don't do it justice. 

Wonder who this is??

Below is the view looking back towards Tower City Center, which is connected to our hotel.  As you can see, there are water fountains within the Square, and people are welcome to play around in the water. The kids were having a blast on this 90+ degree day.

Below is the inside of Tower City Center. Isn't the ceiling gorgeous? The casino is connected to this building, and there's even a train station downstairs.

Here's the inside of our hotel, another old building. The lobby was beautiful and the staff friendly, but the rooms were definitely a lot smaller than what we're used to.

After walking around Public Square for a bit, we decided to head to the casino again. But not before I made a pit stop at Bath & Body Works to grab some smelly hand soap. They were closing at 7:00 pm so I had only 10 minutes to shop, which was probably a good thing. I could have done a lot more damage, as soaps were buy three get three free. We only spent about an hour and a half at the casino before deciding to grab some dinner to bring back to the room. We then ate and crashed by 10:00 pm.

And then it was time to head home. We left Cleveland around 9:00 am. On the way home we stopped at the beautiful Chautauqua Lake rest area in NY. It was so breezy and the birds were hopping around. My sister left some doughnut crumbs for them to eat. As soon as we got in the car they started swooping in to grab some crumbs. We continued on and got to my sister's house around 3:00 pm. I took a little break and then drove the rest of the way home. It was a very long day and I wasn't sure I wanted to drive home the same day, but I had a lot of things I had to do before going back to work. I'm glad I did, because I barely had time to relax even though I basically got a bonus day by doing it all in one day. I'll admit, my back was in agony the next day and I was really tired, but I was better the following day.

My vacation flew by way too fast, but I had a great time: I got to see my favorite band from the front row and meet them; didn't lose a bunch of money at the casino; got to visit somewhere I'd never been before; visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and spend quality time with my sister. And she got to meet her man after 35 years! That by itself was worth it. (She was a little teary-eyed after meeting him...but then giggled randomly the rest of that night. LOL)

I'm thinking my next vacation will be a staycation. I might actually relax!