Suffolk, VA

We were in Suffolk, VA from February 20th to March 3rd on another TDY (temporary assignment).  This TDY was a little more pleasant than Florida for a few reasons.  First, I didn't have morning sickness.  Second, we had a kitchen in our hotel room.  Third, my friend Shera brought her dog along so I got to take her out on walks around a nearby lake.  The dog's name is Fancy; how cute is that? 

Shera and I had fun walking her around and chatting while Paul was at work.  There were some amazing houses/neighborhoods to gawk at!  When I'm a multimillionaire I might go back to Suffolk to find a house. 

Paul got stuck with a 1 pm to 1 am shift and it took me almost to the last day to be able to still be awake when he got home.  I don't think work was too bad though . . . he had enough free time to reread The Hunger Games.

Overall, we had a good time in Suffolk.  We met up for lunch a few times and went out to the movies.  I went maternity shopping but didn't buy anything.  (Although I really need to . . . now I'm using a rubber band to give my jeans a little more room.)  Still, I think the best place to be is home.  And we have 5 more weeks here before we leave for another TDY!

Charleston, SC

After our trip to Fort Sumter we decided to head to downtown Charleston to see the sights.  We had a tourist map that we used that to navigate through the historic district and to help us find the cool buildings.

First we walked along the water and found this cool fountain.  The weather was perfect.  If I lived in Charleston I would just sit at the waterfront and people watch.  Say cheese!

Then we wandered through the streets and spotted these neat buildings.  I thought the area was lovely and would like to go back again sometime.

We had a delightful dinner and then drove home.  I'm glad we could give my parents a little taste of the south (that isn't Sumter).

Jacksonville, FL

On our way home from Fort Walton Beach we stopped in Jacksonville to pick up my parents who were staying with my aunt and uncle.  For whatever reason I felt like the weather in Jacksonville was so much nicer than Fort Walton Beach.  So, we went down to the ocean and played Bocce Ball.  I had never played Bocce Ball before and wasn't very good at it, but it was pretty fun.  Paul and I also rolled up our pants and splashed in the water.

It was fun to visit and talk and soak up the sun on the porch.  While we were visiting we also saw Mission Impossible III at the IMAX theater.  I liked it, but it made me a little bit nauseous. 

Florida

It has been a long while since I sat down to write a blog post and many exciting things have happened in the meantime.  But let's take it slow . . . one exciting thing at a time.

First off, Paul and I spent the month of January in Florida!  Exciting, right?  I was lucky to be able to go with Paul while he did some training at Hurlburt Field in Fort Walton Beach.  I watched a lot of HGTV, The Big Bang Theory, and The Australian Open.  Let's just say the weeks went by slowly.  But we took full advantage of the ocean and the Florida sunshine on the weekends.  Our favorite activity was biking along the Gulf National Seashore near Navarre Beach.  Pretty sure we went to that spot 3 different times to explore, and it kind of made me want to buy a beach house.

Our next favorite thing to do was going to Twirl Frozen Yogurt in Destin.  We regret not getting a punch card because I'm sure we would have gotten at least 1 free cup-full.  Mmm, frozen yogurt.

We also hit up a store closing sale at Blockbuster and got 13 DVD's for about $30.00.  And since I know you're thinking, "Wow, Abby, that's a steal!  And so exciting!  Did you get any other great deals while you were there?" I will let know that we got Paul the running shoes that he wanted for half price.  AND got him a super awesome flannel shirt for like 7 bucks.  AND got me a new dress and a new skirt for less than 20 bucks total.

And that was the excitement that was Florida.

Myrtle Beach, SC

Last weekend we drove to Myrtle beach.  Both Paul and I were still a little sick with colds so we thought it would be nice to just relax on the beach and soak up the sun. 

We got an awesome parking spot on 79th street (a little north of where the parties happen) and picked a spot on the sand.  Then, because the beach is sooooo long, we decided to walk along it, to see what we could see. 

The beach is lined with hotels and vacation homes; the sand is busy near the hotels and quiet near the homes.  We got a kick out of people-watching, got a little wet in the unexpectedly chilly water, and mostly just kept walking and talking.  We picked up some shells then we walked some more.  And some more.  And then we stopped to watch a sand volleyball tournament.  And then we sat down because we were tired and then we walked some more. 

We ended up walking 40 blocks down the beach and then 40 blocks back up.  80 blocks?  Yes.  It was awesome.  By the time we got back to our spot we were too thirsty to just sit and relax so we got back in the car and drove down the boulevard to see what we could see.  More hotels, lots of shops, tons of people, restaurants, and some live concert.  Looks like loads of fun!

We will definitely be going back to Myrtle beach sometime to check out all the places we missed but it was fun to explore a good length of the beach on foot.

Waxhaw, NC

Paul and I spent the weekend in Waxhaw with Paul's aunt Karla and her family.  It's so nice to have some family within driving distance and we had a lot of fun visiting.

On Saturday we went to this place called Aw Shucks.  There was a pumpkin patch, hay ride, corn maze, petting zoo, games, and all kinds of wonderful fall things.

We pretended that Paul was stationed "Fort Shucks".  He doesn't look too happy about it either!  (Better than Kyrgyzstan, I say, which, by the way, was a real threat that we luckily deflected, thank goodness).  We petted the ponies and goats and wandered through the far too easy corn maze.  We also went on a hay ride.  Yee Haw!

The proud owners of Aw Shucks would put your name in a drawing to win $100 if you could get a football through a tire 3-times in a row.  Here's Paul trying it out.  He got the first one in but you'll have to watch to see if he got the rest.  (Don't turn your sound up too high; I'm cheering quite enthusiastically).

We all had a grand time, even though we didn't get $100.  On the way back we stopped to take some pictures in someone's cotton.

Next we went to a friend of Karla's place to have authentic Chinese food.  It was very delicious, and I even recognized a few dishes, but there was so. much. food.  To give you an idea here's half of it:

We started eating at 4:00 and kept eating until we left at 10:30.  !!!  We counted 18 dishes, but I am sure we missed a couple.  There were dumplings, pork, duck, coca-cola chicken, pan-fried potatoes, stuffed mushrooms, stuffed eggplant, tomato and egg, sweet and sour pork, dragon-fruit chicken dish (in the picture), tofu, more pork, more chicken, fried rice, pudding, and cake, and I know I'm still forgetting some.  Alex and Dimitri even when to a soccer game and came back and we were still eating. and eating. and eating!  It was crazy.

The rest of the weekend was very relaxing.  We watched some conference and then drove home.  Thank you Karla and Alex for putting us up!  It was a lot of fun, and great to see them.

Sullivan's Island, Charleston, SC

A few weeks ago Paul and I went to Sullivan's Island down in Charleston.  It takes about two and a half hours to drive there, but that was okay with us since we have a new car.  Plus, it's the beach. 

We chose Sullivan's Island (over the many other beaches Charleston has to offer) mainly because we had heard that it's a family friendly beach and we are basically your typical married fogies now. Who wants to deal with all those surfing young people?  Not us.

Turns out Sullivan's Island has a permanent sand bar that makes a neat wave-less pool of surprisingly hot water.  And I mean hot, like a hot-tub hot.  Then again I'm from Oregon where the ocean makes your toes go red and your feet go numb.  Once you go past the sand bar the water stays very warm and has a strong current but only mild waves.  It was fun to play that game where you see who can stand in one spot the longest.  You know that game, right?  It's pretty self-explanatory.

We loved hiking around in the waves and getting some UV rays.  Paul found two whole sand dollars (big ones, too) but broke them both when we went back to the sand to lay down.  I sprayed sunscreen on Paul and did a horrible job (he ended up looking very splotchy) so I let the sand dollar thing slide.

After the beach we went to the Tanger Outlet Mall in Charleston and I got jeans (two pairs!) at Banana Republic for 50% off.  Major score.  We also outsmarted a cashier and got two oven mitts for the price of one.  All in all it was a fabulous trip.

Washington, DC

I don't know what we would have done if Spencer hadn't been in DC when we went to visit.  Actually, I don't think we would've gone to DC at all if he hadn't been there.  He's only there for a summer internship, but by golly we wanted to see him and definitely benefited from his expertise in the district.

We had 5 fun-packed days and saw everything we wanted to see and more!  We stayed at the Days Inn in Alexandria, VA, near the Huntington metro stop.  Spencer had 2 Metro cards that someone gave to him so we were able to get around for free!  I would definitely try to get free metro rides if you ever go.  ;)

DAY 1:  Looking back I realize that on our first day in DC we might have gone a little crazy, saw a little too much, and wore ourselves out a little too early, but then again, I think it was worth it.  Let me list for you the things we saw.

The Department of Agriculture Farmer's Market, where we bought massive blackberries and juicy plums and the Mall, which was surprisingly dusty and rather run-down looking.

The National Archives, where we saw the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  I was sad when I found out that the Magna Carta was under historical restoration processes or something and we wouldn't be able to see it.  The Declaration was pretty awesome though; I especially enjoyed admiring the penmanship.

The National Gallery of Art, where we saw some beautiful paintings, including the only DaVinci in the Americas.

The Capitol Building. Spencer got us a tour time for the inside which was great.  Our guide was a cute old man in a red jacket and he told us a bunch of interesting facts and tid-bits, all of which I forgot.  Paul and Spencer also amused themselves by creating stories about how there was once a intern who was in charge of creating the "freedom statue" that stands on the capitol dome and was only given the instructions to make a statue that encompasses the word "freedom".  Poor intern.

The Library of Congress and the Supreme Court Building, which were both beautiful on the inside!  And don't you just love columns?

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing, where the most boring and apathetic tour guide showed us how our money is made.  I'm not kidding when I say she was horrible.  The guys actually printing the money were quite entertaining, but she sounded like she was about to fall asleep.  Anyway, we liked seeing the stacks and stacks of money and looking at old bills on display.  Apparently Paul is as tall as $1,700,000.

We also ate at Good Stuff Eatery on Pennsylvania Avenue and spent a little time (mostly resting) in the Air and Space Museum.  At the end of the day we were all worn out.


DAY 2: We started out by going to the new International Spy Museum.  I thought it was fun at first, but it went on forever and made me realize that the best museums are museums that have one-of-a-kind items rather than museums that are filled with informative plaques about a subject, which is how this one was set up.  Cool stuff, but buy a book, ya know?  Plus it costs money.

Next we went to the National Portrait Gallery, which I loved.  I remember going in London and wishing that I had had more time to look at all of the paintings, but we spent a lot of time there in DC.  I liked all of the portraits of US Presidents, and pop culture portraits, mostly because those were the people I recognized.

We ate at Potbelly Sandwich Shop, which was super good, and they had some amazing, gooey cookies.  Then we wandered through DC wondering about how many columns there were, and then we went to the White House.

That night we met up with Kiersten, an old roommate of mine, and her husband Scott and took the trolley to Old Town Alexandria.  We went to an interesting Irish Pub for dinner where apparently Ronald Reagan made an appearance long ago.  There was also a live guitarist that gave Paul a lot of grief for wearing his LA Dodgers hat and requesting Free Bird.  The dinner was good though and we got a good story out of it.  We also saw this guy who plays glasses and wandered along the water and got ice cream.

 

DAY 3:  We drove the car to Arlington National Cemetery and got to see the changing of the guard as well as a wreath ceremony.  The number of graves is astonishing, but the place is really beautiful.  We spent a long time wandering the grounds and wondering about the lives of people that are buried there.  We also accidentally ended up inside a fenced-in area that had a sign that read "no pedestrians".  Oops.

We got a little lost driving around looking for a place to eat.  We drove up Wisconsin Avenue through Georgetown, and I kind of liked seeing part of the city from the car.  Especially this guy:

After some pizza we drove down to the Roosevelt Memorial and then walked around Tidal Basin to the Jefferson Memorial, and then up to the Washington Monument.  It was blazing hot and humid but we had some fun.

When we got there we waited for my Dad who was arriving in DC on a little business trip.  After we met up we walked past the WWII Memorial and down to the Vietnam Memorial, which was very cool.  Then we kept going all the way around to the Lincoln Memorial, which I loved, but it was a little sad that there was no water in the reflecting pool.  Anyways, after all of our gazing at memorials (memorialing) we were parched and exhausted so we drove up to Bethesda, MD and got a lovely dinner with Dad. 

DAY 4: We hit the town on our own on day 4 as Spencer had to go to work and do intern-y things.  We decided to make it our museums-that-we-haven't-seen-yet day.  So we went to the Museum of American History first.  This was probably my favorite museum of the trip.  I liked it because they have so many unique pieces: Abraham Lincloln's hat, THE Star Spangled Banner, Michael Jackson's hat, dresses worn by the first ladies, George Washington's coat, Dorothy's ruby slippers, and on and on.

Next we went to the Holocaust Museum.  We were lucky that we didn't have to show up to wait in line for a time; military gets immediate entry!  I thought the museum was well done, informational, and very sobering.  It was also very large and took a lot of time, but we liked it.

We hopped over to the Museum of Natural History to see some "Night at the Museum" stuff and the Hope diamond, which were cool.  I'm glad we didn't spend a lot of time there because there were so many kids, and it was one of those museums with a TON of information that I would rather get from a book.  Here we are resting at a museum:

That night we met up with Spencer and one of Paul's old mission companions and a friend to go see "Vertigo" at the National Theatre.  They do free Alfred Hitchcock movies on Monday nights in the summer, and it's got us on a Hitchcock kick!  Yay Hitchcock!  We ate at a shady restaurant in China town that night and it was, of course, delicious.


DAY 5:  On our last day in DC we drove out to Mount Vernon, home of George Washington.  It. was. HOT.  but the grounds were beautiful and it was fun to see how the house was decorated.  The front was covered in scaffolding but here are some pics from the back, where the awesome view is anyway:

And because I couldn't photograph the dentures, I took a picture of the sign, to remember that I saw them.  :)

 We were utterly exhausted after touring Mount Vernon but it was a fun way to end the trip.  After the tour we got in the car and drove the rest of the way to Sumter.

Well that was extremely long, but we had such an amazing time in DC that I wanted to share/document it all.  If you ever need any advice about what to see in DC I will gladly tell you again what I liked!  Also, if you want to come visit us in Sumter, you can and should!