Northeast mini-vacay?

Last weekend we took a little unexpected semi-vacation to the east coast. Mitchell had a work conference in Baltimore on Monday and Tuesday of this week so we decided to make a trip out of it. We left on Friday and flew to Philadelphia to spend a day with his sister. Sunday we took a Greyhound bus and Amtrak down to Washington D.C. to see all the important stuff there in one day. Then back to Baltimore for his conference. Wowza!

I have learned that I do NOT enjoy flying for over two hours at a time. I am one of those people who can not sit or lay in the same position for very long so being confined to a tiny plane seat for long periods of time is torturous. 

When we got to Philly it was COLD. Like a high of 30 cold. And it froze the night before so we were slipping and sliding as we tried to walk around on the sidewalks. Nevertheless, we had a lot of fun hanging out with Katy and her roommates. Shame on me for not getting any pictures. Shame. on me.

Mitchell and I both had our first experience riding a Greyhound bus for the two hours between Philly and Baltimore (to drop off our luggage). I have to say, it wasn't a bad experience. It was quiet, clean and we had a good driver. 

We took the Amtrak down to D.C. which was Mitchell's first train ride. I REALLY think Texas needs to build a train that runs from Dallas/Fort Worth down to Houston, over to Austin and then down to San Antonio. How neat would that be?

Train ride

The pictures will tell the story of our time in D.C. better than my words...

This picture is what happens when you ask a young person to take a photo for you... lots of ground, crooked and chop off the top of the dome. Awesome.

So I found someone with a DSLR with some photo sense to take another one.

Stopping off at the Smithsonian's Air & Space Museum for my inquisitive husband to gawk at all the airplanes and space mobiles. Btw, ALL the Smithsonian museums are FREE!

Forrest!! Jenny?? JENNY!

The reflecting pond with the Lincoln Memorial in the background.

Making wishes and throwing some pennies into the reflecting pond. The Washington Monument is just to the left in this picture.

Lincoln Memorial, he's hiding in there.

He is legit. What a cool guy.

Anybody home? We're so close yet so far away from The White House.

A cop escorted motorcade. It didn't look like anyone fancy so Mitchell thinks they just do random motorcades in the city to keep people on their toes and used to it. 

So after walking who knows how many miles we took the train back to Baltimore and settled in to our hotel. Ahhhh....

On Monday Mitchell went to his conference and I had the entire day to keep myself entertained so I went over to the National Aquarium. When I walked up there were PUBLIC school buses parked outside with kids on a field trip. I know our Cy-Fairians may not be familiar with this but it's when the school district takes you outside of the classroom to learn in a different environment. Seriously, it makes me sad that my school district can't afford them anymore but I was glad to see some places still can. 

There's just something not normal and creepy about horseshoe crabs. If I ever stepped on one of those on the beach, I would probably never get back in.

Ever seen a saw shark before?

If I could be any animal...

 On Tuesday Mitchell got out of his conference at noon and we were really close to Camden Yards, where the Orioles play so we had to walk over and take some pics.

And then we were whisked off to the airport via a $42 cab ride (yikes!) and began our 6.5 hours of plane ride back to Sacramento! Yay!