Our Nation's Capital

The Watergate!!!!

The Kennedy Graves at Arlington

The Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington

Judi and the Congressional subway we didn't get to go on!

Our adorable guide at the National Cathedral and Jesus at the Children's Chapel

The Old Stone House in Georgetown

The living room in the Old Stone House

In the Rotunda of the Capitol

My favorite statue in the Rotunda

Well, what an incredible couple of days this has been. We love the hotel where we are staying. The Harrington. It is sort of old, funky, jumping, and in the middle of everything. We have actually extended our stay by one night and contemplating another!!!! It is also very nice to stay in one place for a few days. I think we needed this. Also the weather turned this morning. We had the forecast for windy and cooler weather. Well, we walked outside and almost were blown over! But the Gotta Go Girls never say die and we headed to the Hop On Hop Off double decker bus.


Brrrrr, it was brisk but we rode all the way to the National Cathedral. What a wonderment of Gothic goodness. Our guide for a tour was very knowledgable as well as funny and delightful. The other picture from the Cathedral is Jesus as a child welcoming the children. It welcomes you to the Children's Chapel which is delightful and the hands are burnished to a gleam by children and adults touching the hands. High on our recommendations of places to see.


We hopped on and then hopped off in Georgetown. Narrow streets, interesting shops, incredible traffic, and zillions of people out and about. In the midst of all this hubub we came upon the Old Stone House which is administered by the National Park Service. Built in 1791 it is a little gem on this bustling and busy street.


After a great lunch at a quaint restaurant we boarded the bus again and got off at Arlington Cemetary. Took a shuttle bus to the Kennedy grave site and also the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns. It was very moving to be at both those sites and thank goodness for the shuttle as there are lots of hills in the cemetary. I would still be huffing and puffing.


The windy ride back to the Mall was invigorating and I got off at the Washington Monument and walked about 10 minutes, at my old lady pace, back to the hotel. Judi and Lee stayed on for a bit more of the ride around Washington. Our ticket is good for a second day and will probably be using the bus again tomorrow.


Yesterday was a full day for us also. We went for our scheduled tour of the White House which was fantastic. But......the East Room was set up for a documentary screening that the president was hosting for a marching group of young people. The screen obscured the Gilbert Stuart painting of George Washington and I could only see the top of George's head! I whined to the Secret Service agent in the room but to no avail. Will have to be satisfied with the copy hanging in the Senate in Sacramento! (boo hoo)


After a deliscious hot dog from a street vendor (we will eat anything, anytime, anywhere) we hustled on over to the Capitol where an intern from Congressman Sam Farr's office took us on a 4 hour tour. Carrie had only been on the job a few weeks and we were her third tour. She was a delight and let us linger as we strolled along. The place was crawling with people and she kept us together somehow and I got to have my picture taken in front of the famous picture of the signing of the Declaration of Independence that has been in every history textbook I have ever seen. And there I am in front of it! Another favorite picture is of Judi and me looking up at the beautiful rotunda dome. We particularly like the picture since there are no wrinkles in our neck. In all pictures from now on we will be craning our necks and looking up. (smiles) I did a little bow in front of the interesting statue of three other gotta go girls, Lucretia, Elizabeth, and Susan, who got us the right to vote. Right on, Girls! You rock! (Ouch! bad pun)


We walked some more past the Supreme Court and on to Union Station where we wandered around window shopping and had dinner. It is really beautiful and we are so glad it escaped the wrecker's ball. Perhaps you can understand why last night was so brief. We are wearing our feet down to nubs but enjoying every minute. It's only pain. We are all crashing and will make more plans tomorrow. We are so well situated that we can head in any direction and be where we want to be.


Better go rest up. Good night from the Gotta Go Girls.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Just checking in so that everyone doesn't think we have plunged off a cliff somewhere or have been abducted by (choose one) Democrats of Republicans in Washington D.C. Yesterday there were few pictures and little to relate since I slept in the backseat most of the way from Morgantown W. Virginia to DC and by the time I got around to writing on the blog Judi and lee were asleep in their beds. Today there are tooooo many pictures and our feet and bodies are worn down to little nubs. (Oh Dear!!! Judi just woke up and imitated the Sergeant at arms introducing the President when he comes to the Capitol to make his State of the Union Speech. I think she has been doing too much touring!) Anyway we did the White House and the Capitol and will have to write more tomorrow. Too pooped tonight. Off to bed. All is well but how will we do all the things we want to do in the next three days!!!! booo hoooo! Love, The Gotta Go Girls

Two More Fabulous Days!

We have covered a lot of territory. The pictures sort of start in the middle and work both ways.

1. Approaching Frank Lloyd Wright designed home--Falling Water

2. More of Falling Water

3. The Clarion Hotel Morgan lobby

4. Singers at the Black Bear

5. Judi and Lee rememberng being in Breezewood

6. Outskirts of Breezewood, Pennsylvania

7. Gettysburg Cemetary memorial

8. View of the location of the bitterest fighting

9. Gettysburg address memorial

10. Memorial to all the Pennsylvania soldiers

11. National Park Service guide in front of the Eisenhower farm house.

12. The Eisenhower's sun room

13. The Eisenhower putting green

Monday dawned bright and hot again and we didn't arive in Gettysburg until after lunch. We got right on a tour to the Eisenhower Farm which was very impressive. It is hard to imagine the people who visited or lived in that comfortable rambling farm house. It is surrounded by beautiful land that is still being farmed today. You can see why Ike and Mamie loved it so.

Next on the agenda was to stop by the Visitor Center and pick up a CD to play in the car as you drive around the battleground. It was very sobering and I found myself standing looking out over the rolling hills, fields of grain, rocky promontories, and dozens upon dozens of memorials tucked in amonst the trees and along the road, unable to imagine the carnage that took place there. 51,000 men killed or wounded in three days. Sobering is putting it mildly! The last stop was a visit to the cemetary where we had to walk past hundreds of graves of men who were never identified. Standing near the spot where Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous address I was overwhelmed. Thought to recite the Gettysburg Address from memory but was lucky to choke it out reading from a card! And we continue to not be able to settle our disputes without bloodshed. Regardless of your politics you can't help but be moved by what happened there.

This morning we were up and out and on the way to Falling Water, perhaps Frank Lloyd Wright's most famous work! And it is magnificent. Designed for a Pittsburg Department store owner it is a beautiful work of art as it is part of the stream and the rocks! Wright was a genius! As we were finishing the tour we began to hear thunder and soon we were in a downpour. Lee and Judi took the offered umbrellas and hoofed it back up the hill. I wimped out and took the offered van with a bunch of old people (stop that snickering, I hear you!) back up the hill. I figured it would take me days to stop huffing and puffing. The ride on in to Morgantown West Virginia was uneventful except for the beautiful scenery. This part of Pennsylvania and W. Virginia is really spectacular.

On the way to Falling Water along Highway 30 which was a gorgeous ride, we came on the little town of Breezewood where Lee remembered stopping with her parents and Judi on a trip across the country almost 60 years ago. We looked around for the motel that their mother particularly loved but of course we decided it was long gone. A nice little journey down memory lane.

Pulled into Morgantown West Virginia where Lee and Judi's grandfather was born 167 years ago. It is a darling town from what we have seen and we are staying in a wonderful old 1920's hotel. It was renovated in 1999 and is very comfortable and our room is huge. Lobby has all the original paneling and is quite grand. It is rather quiet tonight but this hotel is often used for public and private events. Makes you think of a bygone era.

For dinner we walked down the street to theBlack Bear where we dined on fancy wraps and listened to some good old blue grass music. Not the kind of place we frequent but it was really fun. The other two are asleep and this Gotta Go Girl isn't far behind. On to WashingtonDC tomorrow. I can hardly wait!!!!!!

From the Amish Country

The Pictures:

1. Our friend Ben

2. Beautiful Lancaster County

3. An Amish wagon

4. Going home

5. The recreated Amish Village

6. Gerry and Mr. Ed

7. More beautiful countryside

We didn't get very far from Philadelphia today, were lost a number of times, shopped til we dropped and had a wonderful day.

As we were packing up this morning we ran into our friend Ben from yesterday and got his picture this time. This reminds me of something I have been thinking about. It seems Ben was downstairs at the desk trying to straighten out his reservation. He has another day or so in Philadelphia and all of a sudden they have no record of him and no credit card on file. But.....he is already there. Hmmmmm. Well, I have a theory. Here is this lovely Holiday Inn located in the middle of the historic district of Philadelphia with all the apparent amenities of a first rate hotel and prices to match. Our experiences with the room service, gift shop, check out, parking, etc. were at best a bit frustrating. They don't quite have all the pieces put together. All the staff was most helpful and hospitable, but there were glitches in such things as our dinner the other night when it came minus one part of the order and then we noticed there was only service for two. Little things. The location was the greatest but it still has vestiges of a 1970's motel. A motel masquerading as a hotel. Enough complaining! Philadelphia was wonderful and not having enough silverware is not going to spoil that.

We headed out of town toward Lancaster County which was 70 miles to the west. We drove through some gorgeous country and think we drove into Delaware by mistake. When some of the roads share many numbers it does get a bit confusing. Every time we stop for help there are usually several people who will weigh in with offers to help. Finally found the right road and drove through interesting little towns like Intercourse and Bird in Hand. When we realized it was Sunday and most of the stores were closed we were very sad, but if you have lemons make lemonade! Many Amish families were out in their buggies zipping up and down the roads which we would not have seen on a day other than Sunday. Stopped for a tour of an Amish village which was very informative and bought some books to better understand the religion and culture. Like the Shakers, I've had many misconceptions. There is a huge industry in Amish watching here in Lancaster County and it is hard to imagine growing up having cameras pointed at you all the time and treated as curiosities. They must be so relieved when the high tourist season ends.

Couldn't find any thing open for lunch and ended up in Lancaster which is a large city by comparison to the small villages. Ate for the first time at a Ruby Tuesday. Great salad bar and will eat there again! Checked into the Holiday Inn Express about 5:30. I flopped down on the bed and promptly fell asleep. It is now 10:00, I'm wide awake, and Judi and Lee are sleeping. Grrrrr!

Off to Gettysburg tomorrow. Wonder if I could recite the Gettysburg address like I used to require of my 8th grade history students? Stay tuned. Will let you know.

Nighty night from the Gotta Go Girls