Days 4, 5 & 6 - Washington, DC

The drive from NYC to DC (with minimal traffic) is about 4.5 hours. Seeing that it took us almost an hour to just exit Manhattan, we knew were in for much longer than that. What we hadn't anticipated was that a rainstorm and an overturned semi would turn it into an EIGHT hour drive. Poor Rich!!!

We cut our NYC trip short by a few days and detoured south to see Rich's oldest stepbrother (there are six boys in his family) and his wife. We haven't driven to see them since we drove cross country back in 2000, so it was time. Plus, his wife is bravely battling the dreaded C word and we wanted to try and cheer her up a bit.

We had some time to sight see between visits...so we slammed out a few key places we wanted Ryan to see and experience.

We started our walk near the US Capitol building, which was under repair unfortunately. However, we bailed out of our tour there due to time constraints. I figure it's something we can easily do again when Ryan is a little older, and perhaps do it with his cousins as well...

The first place we went to was the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History...which was our favorite of the museums when we visited them 15 years ago...when we were um...15? ;-)

I made sure to show Ryan the Hope Diamond, as he loves bling.

He and I also share a great love for geodes and amethyst. All he and I need is about $23,000 and we can own a huge set for ourselves! We've purchased three tiny ones for ourselves so far (two from Morocco and one that is unknown).

As we were leaving the Smithsonian, Ry and I spotted an outdoor rink outside the National Archives (which we also went into and saw the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights, if memory serves me correctly). The line was lengthy to get in, but kind of cool to see all of them (especially for a history buff such as myself).

Anyway, we immediately forgot all about our nation's history and excitedly begged, whined and needled Rich until he glumly agreed to it. :-) You can see how excited he is to take Ryan! Such joy.

But seriously, how excited is Ryan?! He was over the moon!

It was Ryan's first time, and though it wasn't Rockefeller in NYC, this may have even been better since it was nearly empty. Plus, it was amazing doing it with the National Archives as the backdrop, with snow surrounding the rink. (This is a huge deal for Hawaiians who must suffer through year round temperatures of 85 degrees.)

Ryan struggled for about 30 minutes (half of that time he was being silly and flailing around on purpose) but refused to give up despite sore ankles, sopping wet pants (from his many falls) and a few bad spills. We had to drag him off the ice an hour later, and were successful only because we promised he could do it again in California a few days later. By the end of the session with daddy (who hadn't skated in about 20+ years himself), he could slowly work his way across about 20 yards of ice without help or falling. I was quite proud of his determination.

Love the bonding they get to do together on weekends and on trips! 

From the Archives, we walked about 2-3 miles to the opposite end of the National Mall over toward the Lincoln Memorial...but not before pointing out the obelisk (Monument) and an encounter with the friendliest, domesticated cute squirrel on Earth.

And can I add that I would just DIE to be able to run here? Not only was there gravel for 4 miles on each side of the mall, but there were also bathrooms, water, and I'm sure...cameras/security! Soooo jealous!!! I would kill for 8 miles of track over here. (Again, I have to suffer when I run with only sweeping ocean views.) ;-)

And yes, it's terrible to feed wild animals blah blah blah, but c'mon. If a cute wee squirrel literally crawled up your pant leg sniffing for food a few times, you'd do the same thing (or if you're from the south, you'd grab a pot and some spices). Ry beamed and attracted quite a crowd feeding this little guy some animal crackers (pretty sure this is the food they're supposed to eating), who crawled up his body 3-4 times over ten minutes sniffing for food.

It was hard to leave the little guy/girl...but we walked over to the half frozen Lincoln Memorial Reflection Pool.

We also took Ry to the somber Vietnam Wall so he could see the devastating impact of war on our soldiers... Ryan has two uncles who served there (Uncle Calvin & Uncle Clyde) and we're very proud and grateful to them for their service. Go suck it, Jane Fonda.

Our final stop of the day before driving back down to Virginia where our hotel was...Obama's crib. :-) We had to press our faces up against gate to get this view since we were not able to get tickets even a month in advance (apparently, it's like a 6 month in advance project).

Down in Virginia we went on Rich's brother boat (which I consider to be a yacht, since its like 56-feet long and has 3 bedrooms/2 bathrooms down below and a 1,500 gallon tank). We calculated a fill up to be about $6,000 (which he said lasts almost 8 hours if drives slowly). I've never wanted a boat until I saw theirs. And if I sell everything we own and live on it (since I'd have no choice), we could have a new one too! Of course we'd die of starvation since we wouldn't have a penny left to eat, but still, look at my new, big boat, bi&#es!!!

They park their boat at a dock near their home, and I was captivated by the fog rolling in across the water at sunset...gorgeous. If I weren't so motion sickness impaired, I'd consider retiring on such a boat, but I'm terrified of pirates, sharks, all other sea life and starving to death from being penniless, so it may not be the best idea. Still, I love living in tiny spaces (I'm the opposite of claustrophobic) and the views would be incredible...so would moving from port to port as the winds blow me (because here is no way I would be able to fill up my gas tank every day).

Our drive back to the city was 'only' 6 hours since we had no traffic, and we crashed that night near a sweet hotel a miles from JFK for our flight the next day to LA...