President's Day weekend trip Part 2
I am not sure how to describe Monday. We started by heading out to Great Falls VA, a place with spectacular waterfalls on the Potomac, north of DC. Temps were in the high 60's and climbing. It was sunny and beautiful. Got lots of great photos. (see photo)
From there we headed to Mount Vernon. We got about a mile away and traffic slowed. At a half mile it stopped. The sheer number of people going there was amazing. We finally got to the entrance and were sent down a side road and off to an alternate site to park. We got a shuttle bus to the welcome center. Delays took us about 45 minutes to get that last half mile.
Inside there were tens of thousands of people. We did manage to get a decent place for the parade (the smallest hometown parade in America) and got close enough to get good photos of George. A couple of UConn students got up next to him and led a chorus of Happy Birthday. It was all very strange. We wandered the grounds and museum a bit then decided to leave.
We step outside at 3PM and there is a line for the shuttle. The temps were dropping and we didn't have our jackets. Then it started raining. and it rained, and the bus didn't come, and it rained. By the time we got on a bus (third one) we were soaked. About 10 minutes before that bus came, the staff came out and handed out rain ponchos, which helped us a bit. So we got on the bus. The parking lot was a mile or so away over a narrow road where cars parked on two sides. One car got stuck in the ditch sideways and had to be towed out. This blocked all traffic and we were stuck on the bus.
We finally convinced the driver to let us out, since we could see the parking lot from where were were. Wouldn't you know that as soon as we got to the scene, it cleared and the bus drove by us as we walked to the lot. It was 4:15 by then. We drove back to the hotel but traffic was bad and it took until after 5:30. This is more than 2.5 hours since getting in line for the bus.
We got to the hotel and into dry clothes. After a while we headed out to supper at the same place as the first night and try the ribs and chicken. Then it was back to our room to crash for the night
Tuesday we get up and pack. We stopped at one of the international grocery stores to get some Chorizio. They had 4 or 5 varieties including their own fresh made. we got some and also some different types of tortillas and headed to Baltimore. We spent a bit of time at the Inner Harbor and then went to Lexington Market. One of the fish stands was selling prime oysters at 3/$2.50. We eached ordered 6 and had them shucked right in front of us. They were probably the best we ever had. Before we left we got some crab takes from Faidley's Seafood for the evening meal when we got home. It was a pretty good trip.
Photos from the trip are at: http://travel.webshots.com/album/562565084JDERSw
From there we headed to Mount Vernon. We got about a mile away and traffic slowed. At a half mile it stopped. The sheer number of people going there was amazing. We finally got to the entrance and were sent down a side road and off to an alternate site to park. We got a shuttle bus to the welcome center. Delays took us about 45 minutes to get that last half mile.
Inside there were tens of thousands of people. We did manage to get a decent place for the parade (the smallest hometown parade in America) and got close enough to get good photos of George. A couple of UConn students got up next to him and led a chorus of Happy Birthday. It was all very strange. We wandered the grounds and museum a bit then decided to leave.
We step outside at 3PM and there is a line for the shuttle. The temps were dropping and we didn't have our jackets. Then it started raining. and it rained, and the bus didn't come, and it rained. By the time we got on a bus (third one) we were soaked. About 10 minutes before that bus came, the staff came out and handed out rain ponchos, which helped us a bit. So we got on the bus. The parking lot was a mile or so away over a narrow road where cars parked on two sides. One car got stuck in the ditch sideways and had to be towed out. This blocked all traffic and we were stuck on the bus.
We finally convinced the driver to let us out, since we could see the parking lot from where were were. Wouldn't you know that as soon as we got to the scene, it cleared and the bus drove by us as we walked to the lot. It was 4:15 by then. We drove back to the hotel but traffic was bad and it took until after 5:30. This is more than 2.5 hours since getting in line for the bus.
We got to the hotel and into dry clothes. After a while we headed out to supper at the same place as the first night and try the ribs and chicken. Then it was back to our room to crash for the night
Tuesday we get up and pack. We stopped at one of the international grocery stores to get some Chorizio. They had 4 or 5 varieties including their own fresh made. we got some and also some different types of tortillas and headed to Baltimore. We spent a bit of time at the Inner Harbor and then went to Lexington Market. One of the fish stands was selling prime oysters at 3/$2.50. We eached ordered 6 and had them shucked right in front of us. They were probably the best we ever had. Before we left we got some crab takes from Faidley's Seafood for the evening meal when we got home. It was a pretty good trip.
Photos from the trip are at: http://travel.webshots.com/album/562565084JDERSw
Added on February 21, 2008 by bvdrangs
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