Maryland/DC Trip part 3 - Annapolis

The last part of the trip was to Annapolis - I wanted to be able to see the ocean, or squint and pretend I was looking at the ocean...so we decided to spend a night there too.  We left Washington DC about noon and headed for Chesapeake Bay.  It was only like 45 minutes away.

The original campus of Thor's college, St. John's is located there as well and it happened to be graduation weekend so we stopped at the campus first and poked around the bookstore - got some actual alma mater chockies and everything.  Well, as much as coffee cups, and book tabs can be called chockies.  If you are familiar with St. John's you know why regular memorabilia is just not available.  It's a pretty campus, kinda like you imagine college campuses should be...ivy covered, brick, little pathways and big 'ol trees.  And a bell even.  Welcome to the Atlantic side.

We stopped for lunch and then headed to our hotel to take a nap.  We poked around town, Thor found some super cute onesies for Pod at the Old Navy there.  Things with wee shrimps and crabs on them.  LOL

Decided to find a seafood place near the water and drove around for a bit.  As an ocean state girl myself who has been living in the landlocked middle for 3 years...I nearly wept at the smell of fresh fish and salt water.  We found a little place next to the Marina and since it was early on a Saturday night...we got snuck into a little booth.  Our waiter was so adorable - great drawly Southern accent I haven't heard in years.  We were in Maryland so hello...crab cakes!! 

OMG!  I have been so sorely deprived all my life.  I thought crab cakes had things like panko and sweet corn in them because crab ain't cheap...oh no!  That's only on the other coast.  Looking at the Atlantic...you get these HUGE lump meat crab cakes that taste like heaven...no fillers.  I was nearly rolled out of the restaurant afterward, Pod approved of the amazing eats. 

We tried to go see Bridesmaids after dinner, but the only theaters in town were both sold out for the evening showings.  So we called it a night and watched HBO, curled into a spouse ball at the hotel.

The next morning we went into downtown Annapolis to poke around after breakfast.  Gotta do that traditional souvenir shopping thing.  We found a cutie little red and white onesie for Pod for Christmas morning and got Thing 1 and Thing 2 shirts for me and Thor for Halloween.  Got some yummy ice cream and headed back to Hagerstown about noon.  It was a fun weekend.  I defintely want to go back for longer next time.

Trip to Maryland/DC - Part 2 - Inside the Smithsonian

So here's part 2 of my series on my trip to Maryland/DC.  On our 1st morning in DC after arriving, we mosied on over to the Natural History Museum at the Smithsonian, because Thor really wanted to check it out.  I've never been to any of the museums in the complex so I thought it was a good place to start.

It was about a 15 minute walk - luckily not raining at that point.  And we reached the museum about 15 minutes early.  We plunked down in the lobby and waited for the doors to open.  Here's a pic of the exterior...it's a BIG building.

Once the museum opened, we booked into the gift shop for our standard souvenirs of pressed pennies, a guide book to the complex and a bottle of water.  Then it was off to the rotunda to see this guy!

Let's call him Gerry.  Then to appease the little kid in both of us it was off to the dinosaur exhibit.  Fossils, bones, and skeletons...oh MY!  Here are a few of the specimins that caught our eyes and our flashbulbs...the fluorescent lights created some interesting photo effects.

And then a short stop in the Gem Exihibit for those of us that drool at the sight of ginourmous colored stones (me), and rock formation hounds (Thor).  An attempt was made to capture a pic of the Hope diamond although the new, temporary setting I thought was way overdone and not that impressive.  I mean it's the Hope diamond - dark blue, amazing, stunning...and surrounding it with hundreds of colorless diamonds and then placing it under fluorescent lights just made it....kinda meh.  But here it is anyway.

And then after lunch and another hour or so browsing about - we called it a day and went out the opposite entrance toward the Smithsonian Castle and the Capitol Mall.  The castle was stunning and I wish we'd had time to poke in...but it started raining pretty heavily and we needed to make a run for it back to our hotel to check out and mosey toward Annapolis.

In the next installment, we'll be in Annapolis and Chesapeake Bay.

Home again...home again...jiggety jig - aka. My trip to Keystone

So, some of you may know that I was out of town for the last couple weeks.  And some of you may remember when I was a full time travel agent.  This trip had me pulling my travel agent cap outta storage to be dusted off for the week and change.

Headed to Keystone, CO to play travel agent for Specialized Bicycles annual Dealer Event.

Here are some snapshots I took around the resort...had a difficult time with the altitude so kept to the "lower levels". 

Lots of mountains and water...things I miss from home now that I live dead center in the country.

Enjoy!

Letters to Juliet - aka: Verona, love and romance on a rainy day

If you have a question about love, would you ask a trusted friend or maybe your mother, your grandmother for advice?

If you are heartbroken, would you cry into your pillow and keep your grief locked up inside?

If you have lost someone you love and grieve for that loss, who answers your question about the whys?

In the city of Verona, the city of love...there is an alley in the middle of the city, across from trendy shops and outdoor cafes.  It's the home of Juliet.  Yes, that Juliet...Shakespeare's Juliet.  A small balcony overlooks the courtyard and a bronze statue of the famed heroine, waits for her Romeo under the balcony.  Visitors flock here to write letters asking for advice about love, loss and life ever year.  These letters are taped, or put in cracks and on ledges.

I made my own visit to this alley on a trip with my mum in 2003 to Italy.  I stood and looked up at the balcony and took pictures of people rubbing the statue of Juliet for luck.  I tucked my own letter into a crack on the wall.  I went to Italy with a broken heart...healing from a relationship that had ended.  And though I did not receive an answer from Juliet about my questions (because I didn't leave an address), I felt better.

I went to see the movie, Letters to Juliet, today.  And the photography of those familiar places in Italy that I visited made me a bit homesick...although Italy is not the country of my birth.  And Juliet's home, the cobbled alleyway I stood and wished for an end to heartache remains the same.

The movie was a sweet reminder of what we will do in the name of love:  both lost and found.