Park Hopping

We started our day back at Hollywood Studios. Now that we have been to all four parks this is definitely our favorite! It was back to Toy Story first thing, the ride is so great, I want to build it in the backyard. We also saw "The Little Mermaid" live show, and then American Idol, where people visiting the park audition and they perform throughout the day until they chose a winner at the last show of the night. The finale winner gets in first at their local audition. We saw three really good performances, although my favorite did not win, isn't that always the way?



Then we had lunch at the SciFi Drive in, where the tables are all in cars and you watch previews and clips from science fiction movies from the 50's, like "Attack of the 50 foot Woman" and "Plan 9 from Outer Space". Very fun and really well done. We had good luck getting into the sit-down restaurants without a reservation, likely because there are only two of us.




The whole trip we had been trying to get photos with the characters, but the lines were so long! We ran across Lightning and Mater tucked away in a corner and finally got a character picture! We later tried Mickey's house but that was just crazy crowded.





We then went back to Magic Kingdom for dinner, the parade, and fireworks. The parade broke, but the got it fixed after 20 minutes, so we did get to see it. It was great and so were the fireworks!

Animal Kingdom

We spent Tuesday at Animal Kingdom. It is really beautiful and lush, unfortunately the true jungle feel was complete because it was really hot and humid. Does Disney have that much power or was it that way all over Orlando? And to top it off the water ride, Kali River Rapids was not running! But we did get to ride Everest, the big roller coaster there, which was a good one!

The best ride was the Kilimanjaro Safari, where you travel by truck through a replica of the African savanna. The animals a roaming free and you get pretty close. It was about 20 minutes, but I wish it had gone for a lot longer, it was really beautiful and amazing. It was fun when you would see a giraffe or elephant and all the kids on the truck would yell and get excited.

Then it was back to Epcot to the World Showcase to visit the Food and Wine festival and eat eat eat! We went to a lot of the little booths, where you get a small portion of a regional dish from that country. And thank goodness it rained while we were there, so it cooled down a lot.

Only a day and a half left on our trip, we are feeling the need to cleanse ourselves of all the magic and dreams, maybe we'll hang out a casino full of drunk people gambling...

Epcot

Epcot! We got to the park right when it opened, and it was empty! We headed over to Test Track, which was supposed to be a high speed roller coaster...not so much. Fun, but not what expected. Then I went on Mission Space, Chuck passed on that one. I wimped out and took the "less intense" version which was really fun. I am still debating riding the full version that spins you...maybe tomorrow...

We rode on Spaceship Earth, the ride inside the big golf ball. It takes you through the history of mankind, pretty good for a ten minute ride! Then they put you in the future...evidently I will be a pinhead in the future! And why would Chuck wear a ball cap inside a space helmet? The future looks to be a bit weird!

Next we went over to the World Showcase, a lake surrounded by a dozen countries around the world. They are having a Food & Wine festival, so they have smaller stands where you can try food from about 20 different countries. We had reservations for lunch in Germany, so we will come back and eat our way around the world for dinner on Tuesday. The German restaurant was fantastic!

We then headed back to Magic Kingdom for a while, we decided to take the ferry instead of the Monorail, and they must have known we were coming, they brought Chuck's boat! He spent the whole ferry ride bossing people around.

Hollywood Studios

Saturday we spent the day at Disney Hollywood Studios. I didn't know that Disney actually has production studios here! The park is really big, themed like Hollywood in the 40's. This park was a lot of fun for us because most of the rides and shows were new to us, so we had a lot to explore. Chuck was just happy he could get a latte, he was going through withdrawals! First up, Tower of Terror, always fun!

We then went on the Aerosmith Rock and Roller Coaster, which was great! Very fast and very fun! We immediately got Fast Passes after we got off so we could ride again! The intro to this ride has a great appearance by Aerosmith inviting us to join them in their limo, but I never did see them on the ride...

We did a lot of rides and shows, The Great Movie Ride, Studio Backlot Tour, and Chucks favorite, a stunt show called Lights, Motors, Action! The premise is they are filming a chase sequence for a film, there was some amazing driving! They must go through a set of tires every day. And they sure blow a lot of stuff up at this park! We then slowed down a bit and saw a movie about Walt Disney, mostly to sit in an air conditioned theater...Chuck even sat through Beauty and the Beast's live performance!

One goal of the day was to ride Toy Story, which is the most popular ride in the park, it's a 3D arcade type game. The wait was well over an hour and Fast Passes were gone early, we got lucky and went at dinner time and only had to wait half an hour. It was great and we plan on coming back and riding again, better planning next time. We've been lucky, that was the only ride we have had to wait for. We ended our day at Fantasmic, which was amazing, and more stuff got blown up! Next stop, Epcot!

The Magic Kingdom

We spent Saturday at the Magic Kingdom, what we call Disneyland at home. The park was decorated for Halloween with Mickey pumpkins everywhere. We came at the right time of the year, not too crowded and not too hot. The park is almost like Disneyland, so we knew our way around already. Really liked Stitch's Adventure, and was sad that Space Mountain was closed.


We used Ed's patented Fast Pass system, so we had no problem going on all the rides we wanted to, we spent very little time in line. Splash Mountain sure comes in handy when it gets warm! It's fun to see the little differences in the rides compared to the same ones at Disneyland. We saw Mickey's house in Toontown, I think he may be a little self involved...

We had a nice dinner at the Liberty Tavern, it was good to have a sit down dinner, the fast food options at this park are pretty limited, I am sure Epcot makes up for it! We didn't stay for the parade, we are going to do that on Tuesday when it's sure to be less crowded. Next we are off to Hollywood Studios, where we will really put the Fast Pass system to work!

Orlando

Friday was our travel day to Orlando, everything went smoothly, we even arrived early! Chuck had called for a car to take us to the hotel, we were supposed to get a Town Car but to our surprise a stretch limo was waiting for us! Chuck had never been in a stretch limo before, so he was living it up!

We arrived around 6:30 at our hotel on the Disneyworld grounds, so we headed over to Downtown Disney and had dinner at Bongo's for tasty Cuban food. I forgot my camera at the hotel, so you get to see a photo of Chuck enjoying the limo. Saturday we are off to the Magic Kingdom!

Disneyworld!

Well, we had such a good time in Washington that we have already booked the next vacation! We will be off to Disneyworld in October! Chuck has only been once for a conference and I have never been, so it should be fun. We made sure to plan the trip after hurricane season is over!

Congress in Session

It was back to the Capitol today, to watch Congress in session. We went to the Senate first, Mitch McConnell who was talking about health care. No other senators were in the chamber, he was just speaking to the clerks. I sat there and fumed over some of the BS he spewed, so of course I thoroughly enjoyed it! As he wrapped up Joe Lieberman came in and he spoke after McConnell was done. The Senate pages bring individual podiums to their desks so they can speak from there. We also saw Lindsey Graham and Blanche Lincoln address the floor. John McCain came in next, he was kind of a jerk to the pages. I took great pleasure in leaving the senate as he was speaking! I actually could have sat there all day listening, that is just how much of a dork I am! In the House they were naming post offices, so not nearly as interesting.

Then we went to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. The have a wonderful exhibit of the original Stars and Stripes that inspired Francis Scott Key, no photos though, so instead here is the puffy shirt! They put all the pop culture artifacts in one room (Kermit, Dorothy's Ruby Slippers) so it gets very crowded as everyone wants to see them. I also enjoyed the First Ladies exhibit, I remember it from my visit long ago. There were also exhibits of Obama's inauguration and the American Presidents that were very good.

The last exhibit we saw was America at War, which spans from the Revolutionary War to Iraq. This display was of the news coverage from Vietnam, set up as a living room, complete with plastic slipcovers! We then went to the American Indian Museum and then to dinner at Matchbox, another good restaurant. Thanks to all the great recommendations we got before we left we got to eat at some amazing places! One more day in DC, then back home. Sad to leave, there is still so much to see, but we will certainly be back!

Another Day, Another Museum

Actually, we started our day at the Library of Congress, which is just beautiful. You can go in to see the reading room, but no photos. They also had a lot of manuscripts and documents, such as draft of the Constitution and letters written about the changes to the Declaration of Independence. They also had all of Thomas Jefferson's books, an unbelievable collection.

Next, it was off to Congresswoman Jackie Speier's office. She was not there, but a very nice (young!) intern took us to Congress for our tour. Because Chuck arranged the tour through Ms. Speier's office we got to go from the House offices to the Capitol in the tunnel that runs under the street! When there is a vote in the House bells go off in the office building and the representatives all dash through this tunnel to get to the vote.

Then we went to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. We were only able to get through one level, but we did see Julia Child's kitchen! It's so tiny! They removed the table and put in an island for filming. I am looking forward to seeing the rest of the museum, it's on Wednesday's agenda. I am particularly looking forward to seeing the puffy shirt from Seinfeld!

Back to Foggy Bottom, where we had dinner at Founding Farmers where all the food is locally grown. This is one of the best restaurants I have ever been to, it was amazing, especially because I got fried green tomatoes! And Chuck thinks bacon lollies (bacon with a brown sugar glaze served on a stick like lollipops) is the world's perfect food. Wednesday we go back to the Capitol, we have passes to get into both Houses of Congress to watch debate on the floor. I am so looking forward to it, it will be like CSPAN unplugged!

Museums...museums...museums

Today was all about museums, starting with Newseum...the most magical place on earth! There are seven floors of nothing but news, I was in heaven. They start outside the building with front pages of papers from every state, it runs down the entire front of the building.

The first things you see are seven sections of the Berlin Wall, still intact. Then the museum becomes a multimedia experience, with artifacts, such as newspaper from over the years, movies, and computers to get more information about the exhibits. There were so many exhibits it took us over six hours to see it all, and then I think we missed things.

This gallery was about the reporting on 9-11. Newspapers from all over the world covered the wall and the antenna from one of the towers was on display. There was also a documentary about the reporting and the journalist who covered the story that day. There was a particularly moving exhibit for a photographer who died that day, one of his fellow journalists was able to get his camera and the photos he took are on exhibit. If you ever make it to Washington I highly recommend Newseum, even if you are not a news junkie it's an amazing place.

We then went to the National Portrait Gallery, no Stephen Colbert's portrait is not there anymore, he is now in the Smithsonian. Then off to the National Sculpture Garden. I wonder how may of the student groups touring the garden knew what this was...Ended the day with a fantastic meal of tapas at Jaleo. Tuesday we tour Congress and hopefully get to meet our representative. We get to go into the gallery of the House, unfortunately our tour is in the morning and the House doesn't start session until 2pm, so it's unlikely we will see anything, but I am still looking forward to it. Haven't seen any congressmen yet so hopefully we will on the tour!

The National Mall

Today we spent the day on the National Mall, seeing all the Monuments and Memorials. The World War Two Memorial is beautiful, the Vietnam Memorial is very moving.

At the Lincoln Memorial, just as you leave the building you see this sign. It didn't even occur to me to slide down the banister until I saw this! Then it was all I wanted to do. Unfortunately it was brass, and very warm from the sun and I didn't want to risk the burn it may have caused. We will have to go back if it's cloudy!


After an amazing southern brunch at Georgia Browns we headed to the Capitol where we see this interesting way of touring the Mall, a whole group of people on Segways, running over small children and taking photos. Our feet may have hurt at the end of the day, but at least we didn't look like this! I am sure this was the way our Founding Fathers intended for us to look upon the seats of power!


The sites were all very crowded, except for the Supreme court. There were only four other people there...a little surprising and disappointing that there is little interest. I found it to be an amazing and imposing building, equal to the power of the decisions made there.

On Monday we head to Newseum, which will surely be nirvana for me...seven floors of nothing but news, how can there be such a magical place??

We're Here!

Well, we made it to Washington, a bit later than planned, but to lovely weather. Our hotel is in Foggy Bottom, near George Washington University.

We walked over to the Watergate Complex, where we saw this amazing fountain...but no one breaking into anything. Maybe next time. We then had dinner at the Froggy Bottom Pub - tasty burgers - and called it a night.

This morning I am listening to the rain and watching the lightning...it's very nice but I hope it will clear before we head out. It's all about monuments today - well, that and brunch!

Checked In

Made it to D.C. Pretty uneventful flight which is always good, except for the woman that gave a guy attitude in the boarding area for talking too loud on his cell phone. Cheryl hates her now and was hoping that she would get seated next to a baby.

We got lucky when Cheryl's row mates let her take the isle seat. Then my guy arrives (also on the isle) and we ask him to switch. We get to sit next to each other. Yea!

Interesting observation in our row during the flight: Old woman next to me watches Doris Day movies on her portable DVD player, Cheryl watches news programs on her laptop via iTunes and I watch Clerks II on my iPhone. And to make matters worse, the old lady next to me also has the external speaker on her DVD player on in addition to using her headphones, so I get a nice combination of Doris Day singing and the donky show scenes fron Clerks II. Best vacation ever.

Tomorrow it's the mall and monuments. I fall asleep to the memory of the tune "Naughty Girls Need Love Too"...but it's sung by Doris Day.

Almost ready to leave...

So, one more day and we are off! Cheryl's right, we have more recommendations on places to eat than we could possibly go to. Just tying up the last minute chores and making sure Maeby is all set for us to be gone. Our neighbors are going to look in on her twice a day, but I am sure she will just hide under the bed when they come in.

My last visit to D.C was back in 2001 on business. We held an event at the spy museum so that is one stop I am looking forward to. I have not been back since the WWII memorial was built, so that should be interesting as well.

So hopefully by now, Cheryl has found out if we are upgraded to first class for both flights.

Washington DC!

Finally, we are taking a vacation! We leave for our nation's capital on Saturday the 30th, armed with many recommendations from friends.

My main goal is to go to Newseum, Chuck wants to go to the Spy Museum and we must go to Georgetown Cupcake - we have been told it will change our lives!

The only thing we have scheduled is a tour of the Capital and we get to sit in the gallery of the House of Representatives. I am so excited and can't wait to impress Chuck by naming every legislator I recognize. Many people would go to Hollywood hoping to see Brad Pitt, I will be in Washington saying "Ooo...Henry Waxman!". I am sure to drive Chuck crazy!

Can't wait to go!