Hampton Inn Alexandria-Old Town Area

... We continued through Baltimore and took the Baltimore-Washington parkway into DC - of course there were a couple of traffic jams - caused by the low-setting sun which was blinding the drivers to a full stop on parts of the road.  It was a beautful winter day.'We arrived into DC     and decided to stop for a coffee -we were again a little bit tired from the riding - and we bumped into eachother ...

... towards the Whitehouse, arrived at a corner and figured it was time to give our friend a call on the phone to ask where or what direction we should head. No problem, go to 15 and L street, GREAT if you have any idea where they may be. Well we walked the next block to find 15 and off in the wrong direction until we realized this problem, U-turn (much easier on foot than in the Castle!) create footsteps along the route and find that 15th street turns in to ...

... step is always to visit the library and check out a wide variety of travel books. We usually skip the Frommer's and Fodor's as they just don't seem to fit our travel style. We've found that different book-lines are better for different parts of the world, and going the library route let's us ...

Well, its that time of the summer. Time to start the newest travel blog. In four days I leave for Rome to meet up with Kathryn, but due to it being cheaper to fly on a Wednesday than any other day of the week, I'll be arriving a few days before her. Therefore I get the experience of re-exploring a city I've already been to, on my own. My goal is to do a lot of wandering, a lot of people watching, take some day trips out of the ...

... windy! but no complaints from me, better than raining! going to book my onward travel today, off to San Fran on sunday, got a 4 day journey ahead of me, oh fun fun fun! bet i will end up sleeping it all after all the walking i am doing, getting fitter everyday :):) anyway breakfast is here so i am off to eat miss you all xxx

... at the Sonic that's there. It's a drive-in food place, for those that don't know. I've seen commercials and it looks like it could be good. Anywhoo, I'm starving and tired. It's an early morning again tomorrow. I might make another post before I get back home but I don't know yet. If not, the next posts will be photo intensive, since I'll be home :P

... and she continually calls up with updates [though, it is never "we found it!"]. The way FedEx works is that each individual item gets scanned into the computer as it comes into a station, but when it leaves the station packages are thrown into bags and just the bag is scanned. How do you know which bag your package goes into? Mine could be on its' way to S. Africa for all I know! Two managers at the Alexandria station, which is where my package ...

... it in time for the tour. I'm betting we didn't need to do it because Carlsbad really wasn't that crowded, but we would have been upset if we missed it. The Caverns were spectacular. They are so large with so many wonderful formations. You do one guided tour and one self guided tour. The self guided tour of the Big room is estimated to be 14 football fields large! It is really something to see such large open space with such great cave formations ...

... don't eat fresh veggies, only eat fruit you can peel, and drink only bottled water. My aunt who is a doctor gave me some pills should I get sick. Last time I went in 1998, I didn't get sick (knock on wood), so I anticipate the same result this time around (knock on wood, again). It's been almost 10 years since I was last there, and I've heard the country is much different. I hope ...

... in NYC is a little confusing for newbies. We caught the number 1 (red) subway train from 34th street and traveled to 95th, a block from our hostel. After checking in and paying the (entire) bill in advance we made our way to our designated room. It was compact but had the (US) necessities, a bed and a TV! We really didn't expect a TV but guess we are in the states now. No time for anything else but sleep at this point. Pleased that the sheets are clean we tuck up and sleep ...