Extended StayAmerica Washington DC-Herndon

... that we were ok. We also dropped in briefly for a visit to their son Cam and to see his 3 kids which we had not seen for quite a while, especially the newest one to the brood who is a real cutie.

I finally crashed at 2130 as I just gave out from the lack of sleep the night before. All-in-all a very nice day in spite of the torrents of rain we had as the day turned bright and sunny with puffy clouds in the sky.

... we made our way to the White House to peer through the fence, then headed up to DuPont Circle for dinner, before returning home for a well deserved sleep via the White House at night (for another photo). While Friday had been warm but wet, Saturday proved to be hot and humid as we headed out of town on the Metro to see the Pentagon. Unfortunately photography was forbidden close-up and there wasn't much to see other than a large wall and a car ...

... absolutely beat by then then but over a couple of beers reflected on the tremendous day we have had and all the famous landmarks we had seen. SATURDAY Drove the car to the ...

... Liz had two suitcases and her 1 year old son, Rufus. We ran into the airport only to find a massive checkin line for Northwestern airlines and very dismissive and rude staff. I stood in line and could see Liz working things about in her head. She decided that it would be quicker if we checked in at the sidewalk. So we moved out there. Mind you, every time we moved anywhere we were moving four suitcases and a stroller. This isn't as easy as it sounds ...

... the red-rock to Melbourne etc. So we are trying to figure out what we are going to do. However, it does appear that we will need to air-travel once in Australia. We do know that we want to arrive and depart from Sydney- that seems reasonable to us at this point. So, we depart Dulles and fly to Australia, we will look for the most direct flight as possible but I'd imagine we will have a stop-over somewhere. We shall see. Anyway, skipping the whole ordeal of once I get to ...

Hey All!!! Leaving in T-1hour....from the house! With tons of packing behind me and still a bit to do (anyone who has traveled with me knows to expect this) ;-) Nerves are getting a little high and the excitment is starting to hit!!! Anyone who wants to follow our first legs of the trip (Brad, lol) the flight ...

... at and walked. A LONG way. We walked through the upper East Side buy Central Park and all the way across downtown to Times Square. About 35 NY blocks. Along the way we stopped at a fine italian art decorative store. We acted like we could afford it and they seemed to believe us hahahah. A little too much so as he was practically wrapping up some matching lamps that ...

... take no more than an hour. Then you see a shop selling trainers that are designed by the on site graffiti artist and have to have a look inside for five minutes. Then you make it five steps down the road and there's another shop you just have to see selling discount t-shirts. So it goes until it's six PM, dark and you realise you've only made it as far as Times Square. The shopping is absolutely phenomenal, trainers, clothes, retro videogames, anything you could ...

... our visit fulfilled the expectation. The night stop in Wichita brought us back to reality. This is the 51st largest city in America and is known as the "Air Capital" because of the numerous aircraft manufacturing facilities. Driving around trying to find the pet accommodating Best Western was a little confusing, but it proved to be a good motel. We looked forward to having the dining room conveniently on the premises, but were disappointed when the management decided to make Friday ...

... in their little boats waiting for people to dare to wade out past their belly-buttons. We had to take the bikes back for 6pm which was good because they have free concerts in Grant Park, we listened to the Grant Park Orchestra till late and drank beer in the park mainly because it was free, but also because we really didn't want to go back to Hostel Hell and also because we couldn't find where else to go to finish the night off. Chicago really is hard work if you ...