Day 16 - Heading Home

I’m not sure I told the kids that we would not set an alarm but whoever woke up after seven should wake us all up. I woke up at 7:04. I don’t think they were very happy.

We grabbed Starbucks for breakfast and were around the road by eight. It was only 3 1/2 hour trip thanks to overnight charge from Kalahari so we pulled in just before noon.

Home sweet home!

Trip Stats:

• 16 days
• Appx 2000 miles - Tyler did all but 7 hrs (4 blocks)
• Cost to charge: under $225
• 6 different hotels 
• 10 states plus Canada
• 6 National parks, so many monuments, toured 2 federal buildings, visited 3 cemeteries 
• Daytime Weather - only 1 rain of rain, 72-82* hottest day in NYC, coldest in DC
• Transportation: car, subway, bus, boat/ferry, golf cart, escalators/elevators, horse carriage, Uber, rickshaw, hotel transfer
• Total Steps: 154,142 = 64.3 miles
• Avg steps per day 9,634
• Different Uber driver - 18
• Floors ascended in elevators - 306
• Flights ascended - 65

Day 15 - Water Slide Fun!

 Oh how glorious it felt to sleep in. The waterpark doesn’t start until 10 AM so we didn’t get up until after 9:30.

I had picked up some bagels yesterday from Panera so we just ate in our rooms and then got our Sutton to head out.

Coming to a waterpark in September on a weekday is the best thing ever. There was no one here for the bulk of the day , although it did get more crowded as folks started to check in for the weekend.

But for the time being, there are no lines throughout the space!!

I rented a cabana for the day to give us a place to rest and eat lunch. It also included a waitress. So we could just text our order and she would deal with pick up and delivery.

After we finished in the waterpark, we went back to our rooms and had steak and burgers delivered for supper.

We took it easy tonight and we’re all in bed before midnight.  Tomorrow we head home!

Day 14 - Heading Home

We have a big day ahead so we decided to set an alarm and try to be out the door by 9:00 am.  Everything went smoothly with check out and we were on the road shortly after 9:00 am.  Tyler took the first round driving and did a great job navigating us out of town.  On the drive we realized our route would be taking us past the National Memorial to Flight 93 that crash-landed near Shanksville, PA.  So we made a quick stop to round out our full 9/11 experience.

I was so glad we stopped.  The field is nothing like we had pictured.  The small museum was highly worthwhile and added to what we had learned at the 9/11 Museum in New York.  

Then we got back on the road heading for Sandusky, OH.  We have a room for the next two nights at Kalahari Resort, which is one of Sammy's favorite water parks.  We are looking forward to a relaxing stay with some fun in the water!

We checked in and got to our room at 6:45 pm, just in time for Tyler's 7 pm meeting.  Sam and I grabbed takeout from Outback and we ate together in the room after Ty's meeting and before his class began at 8:00 pm.  

It was a great trip today.  We are glad to be so close to home.

Day 13 - Washington DC

I had a Zoom meeting right at 9:00am so we ran to Starbucks for my breakfast and then the kids hit the lobby restaurant for a buffet.  We headed out as soon as I was finished for the Ford Theater, the location of the Lincoln Assassination.  Tickets included an audio tour of the theater, the museum below and the home across the street where Lincoln would succumb to his injuries the following morning.

The theater has some strange history during the years after the assassination and several more people died here during an accident where three floors collapsed.  However, the theater was restored to the original layout and now is a National Park location during the day and active theater in the evening.  Tours closed today at 11:00 am because of rehearsals.

After we finished, we grabbed pizza across from the FBI headquarters and then grabbed an Uber to take up to the Washington Monument.  We were lucky enough to get last minute tickets to go up in the monument.  This was an incredible stop and I highly recommend it.  If you miss the early release of tickets, 30 tickets each hour are released at 3:00pm the day prior. But you need to be on it, all the tickets included for the entire day were sold out by 3:01pm.

Next we headed over to Arlington Cemetery to tour the grounds.  We saw the Eternal Flame at the Kennedy family gravesite and spent a good amount of time at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  We stayed to catch the changing of the guard ceremony.  Did you know that the unknown Vietnam soldier’s tomb is empty today?  After the body was chosen for internment, improvements in DNA technology allowed them to identify the remains and the soldier was returned to his family home.  This got me.  

There was much to see on the tour.  Its a solemn way to spend the afternoon but very worthwhile.

Afterwards, we went back to the mall to see the monuments during the day.  We took a quick break by the reflecting pool and grabbed a treat from a food truck.

Then we visited the National Archives to see the Consititution and Declaration of Independence.  For a special event, they were also displaying all of the amendments as well as the treaty following WW2 and the original organizing documents of the First Congressional Congress.

 

While in line we realized a large group from Mid-Michigan were ahead of us on an honor flight.  It was very cool to see this stop from their perspective!

It had been a really big day, so we just decided to head back to our room and get take out.  Tyler has to work tonight so Sammy and I will welcome a quiet night snuggled up!

Tomorrow we will head north toward home and will stay at a waterpark in Ohio.  It should be a long drive but we are eager to get closer to home.

Day 12 - The City of Brotherly Love

Last night we decided to change the itinerary of our trip and squeeze in a few days in DC.  It will make our time a bit more rushed and we certainly wont see everything we want to but it will be a good opportunity to visit.  At this point, neither Sam nor I have ever been.

Because of that, we decided to leave Philly later today to get down to DC and settle in to make the most of our remaining days.

However, I had a coaching client to work around this morning so the kids hung out in the lobby after getting donuts for breakfast.  Then we packed up and checked out of our room and moved our luggage to our vehicle.  

We had tickets for the hop-on/hop-off bus which happened to have a pickup close to our parking lot so we boarded there.  Tom was our guide.  To be honest, he didn't impress.  He was rather grumpy and didn't talk much about anything we were passing.  Sure, he'd point and tell us the name but nothing more.  Not really my style of tour guide.  So after a few stops, we jumped off to take some photos at the Rocky steps and then took the next bus with a new guide.  

Mark was fabulous and we proceeded with the tour with a much better experience.  Besides that, this bus was much more comfortable with more leg room and shoulder space.  

The weather today is much cooler.  Its only around 72* but the sun is hidden in clouds so it feels much cooler than the rest of the trip.

The tour ended at Independence Hall so rather than waiting 30 mins for the next bus to leave, we just walked the 6 blocks back to our hotel.  The walk took us through Chinatown so we quick got a photo with the Friendship Gate. 

We grabbed lunch, again at the Reading Terminal Market.  This time, we order a lot of different items and just shared it all.  We had pizza, pretzels, chicken nuggets, chicken wings, and cheese curds.  Needless to say, we were full!  

We jumped in our car and Tyler drove us out of Philly toward DC.  We needed just a short charge (still running off the charge we got in NYC) so we stopped for only 10 mins or so.  Tyler decided to take the navigator seat so I drove the remaining 2 hours to DC.  We had some stop and go traffic along the way but overall the drive was pretty smooth.  The rain started part way here and was pretty heavy at times.  We pulled into town just before 6:00pm.

After getting parked and settled, we ran next door for McDonalds for supper and then packed for our moonlight tour of the monuments.  It's a tour by golf cart, so given the current weather (wet and cold) we were grateful for umbrellas and a waterproof blanket in my car.  

Took an Uber to the meeting spot and joined Sam's tour.  He's a young man with a degree in History and a passion for American History in specific.  During the day he gives tours at the Capitol so he was a wealth of knowledge.  It was just the three of us plus a lady and her elderly mom from New Mexico.  

Once we were finished, we took another Uber back to the room.  Our driver had a fascinating story!  He was in the airforce in Ethiopia when he flew his plane to a nearby country to defect.  The country granted him and his family asylum and he was able to move to the US almost 30 years ago.  

Tyler and I ran next door to grab a snack but now we are all snuggled into bed, trying to warm up and settle in for bed.  It was a great day!