Extended Stay America Washington, D.C. - Gaithersburg

So glad to be getting up this morning with only a 29 minute drive to our first sight…and a short hour south to DC. Last night's push north has since been dubbed our "Trail of Tears." But up early we were as the bright morning Pennsylvania sun creped through the alleged "light-preventing" drapes that hotels so wonderfully have. Another free breakfast on styrofoam plates and paper cups. Hey…its free, right?

The damp and heavy air filled the ...

... a lot of water as it was very humid (a bit of a shock to both of us) - and through to Lincoln's Memorial which is a huge as you think it will be and gives an amazing view down the Mall through to the Capitol building. We then headed through the many memorials in the park, including the Korean War Memorial (which is a interesting piece of art) and the World War II memorial. We also walked over Kutz Bridge and finally to the Holocaust Museum. Having ...

Raleigh to Washington D. C. After breakfast, we hopped onto the bus ahead of our first stop of the day at the Virginia border for some photos and snacks. The next leg of the drive took us into historic Richmond, Virginia, where we were given a drive-by tour of Monument Ave, an area of the city with a number of large statues dedicated to Civil War heroes and randomly, Arthur Ashe! As we approached D.C., iconic buildings such as ...

... so I can move it out on my own the next time some lady goes, oh let someone strong get that. The males we were picking up from never said anything :-P just the women. (Karen's Rant of the weeks past). I am very excited to start at my internship full time and to not have to worry about school work. School work wise though I am trying to think of interesting speakers. We had this one guy who started DC Central Kitchen, his name is Robert Egger and he was incredible. I really think ...

Whooooooooeeeeeeee! This trip is obviously a search for spring, which we could not even begin to recognize until we were just north of Springfield, Mass. which is where the snow finally petered out. (Linda won a quarter on that one.) By the time we were in mid-Jersey Turnpike the oak trees in the median had visible buds on the ends of the branches. By Maryland--no real leaves yet, but DAFFODILS ...

... up and the placard said "Digital photograph on canvas" as the style. Oh well, mission accomplished, time to get some dinner and call it a night. My wife and I actually ended up playing cards with a group of foreigners in the hostel game room. Amusingly they all thought I was some kind of professional card player just because I could do a standard shuffling of the deck. A German guy had his deck to show us...all of the face cards had some completely different markings.

... Blue Ridge Mountains beckoned. I was sweating like a pig and thought I would seriously self-combust when I got into the car ready for the long drive. Off I drove and with the air-con on full couldn't understand why I was still hot...and getting hotter by the minute. Stopped on the lay-by and realised the air con was on warm blower and to make it even worse I'd accidentally switched on my driver seat heater (damn buttons!). Its common knowledge but petrol really is ...

... let's get one that IDENTIFIES our suitcase. I find a hot pink one. That'll work. But the car is still bucking along, so off to the airport to exchange. Now this turned out well, for a change, because we go from a rather small Chevy Malibu to a four-door Gran Prix with leather seats and a sun/moon roof and all the bells and whistles. Good thing the Malibu was defective. Since we had at least four hours to kill before the condo was ready for ...

Today I went sightseeing in what they called here a 'trolley'. Not a shopping trolley but a tram like vehicle... Saw a lot of interesting stuff but do not want to bore you all with photos so I have selected best five to show you (that is the max no of photos per entry - phew!)

I'm back from Thailand and had a blast! My journey started in Bangkok on Khao San Road. I am a people-watcher so this was just THE place to be! We perused the street vendors, ALMOST braved the deep-fried scorpion but juuust couldn't do it, and took advantage of the massages! A trip to the Floating Market was interesting and provided some incredible pictures. The only day it rained was the day we toured the Grand ...