Staybridge Suites Mclean

... teaching (not just teaching English) and was a bit nervous I would forget how to do everything. Good news: I didn't :) I started working again 5 days later at the private school in Alexandria, VA where I taught prior to going to Japan. There was an opening in Kindergarten which I was so excited about - this brings me to January! I've had an interesting first half of the year to say the least - things with my co-teacher have been a bit of a struggle, but we are taking ...

... the fact that they also sell grape drink- not grape juice, but that sugary purple tasty goodness I grew up with!! Hooray! Make sure you put this on your itinerary for your next trip- you won't regret! Ask for John, the owner. He's Italian and opened it 30 years ago and to my surprise he still eats a slice of pizza everyday "I never get sick of it" he told me "not just because its my pizza, its just because I like it". I loved the simple logic ...

... it is a beautiful building. You can also ascend to its bell tower for wonderful views of the city. We stayed for a while in the food court area where we enjoyed some live music over lunch. Museums in Washington - There are just too many to visit on one trip, but those we visited were amazing. The Smithsonian estate has nine museums and all are free. Smithson was a British scientist who left his entire estate to found establishments for the increase & ...

... on the fence about doing this and not sure if they can afford it ...

... We bought a clock by an artist that is pretyy unique for in our front room. This clock was purchased to remember my Grandmother that recently passed away. At the same store they sold animation cells. Korinne turned down the salesmen who offered her a signed Pepe le Pew for $1500 and and Willie Coyote for $795. It was not even a consideration at that price but we looked. We ...

... to Asheville (3.40 hrs) Visit: A dykey B&B Thursday, March 8 Drive: Hang out on Asheville Visit: Hippie **** and observe people of Yeoman experience in their natural habitat ...

... pneumonia. And pneumonia has a fair amount to blame for the death of my grandma Stackwicz too. I finally arranged for Evans to pick up the packages, and he threw a goodbye party for Abbie, as we'd planned to do, so the food didn't go to waste. I got to be with my family for Christmas, who I'd been missing very very much. But it all just didn't feel quite right. I'd had a plan, for my break, and now everything was off schedule, off ...

... took another day trip but south of SF this time, we headed down to a place called Monterey. We took the scenic drive and some of the coastline was really nice... high cliffs that go all the way to the water. We went another scenic drive called the 17 mile drive. This goes through some beautiful place, its right pebble beach!!! The coastline is known for the amount of seals that are attracted to it.

... br>
We finally left on Sunday and decided to drive through Skyline Drive, but not camp out because we had reservations for White-water rafting at 7am Monday.We stopped along Skyline Drive for a 3 mile loop hike to an overlook at the highest point in the Shenandoah National Park. The photos in this blog entry include shots of the overlook and the cloud cover over the valley.

Halfway through the drive on Skyline ...

... teaching English. Kids are just magical wildebeests. Hell, most of you people are as well. I love you all and it was excellent catching up. The whole summer is a blur of excited hello's and tiresome goodbyes. It finished off with euphoric frolicking at Burning Man. I landed at a camp inhabited by unique and warm people and enjoyed a little romance with the postman. The whole week was like bathing in art and good energy. Just the way to end one trip and start another.