Washington DC

So, after sitting around Alabama going crazy, I started looking at maps and seeing how far things were, and I discovered that DJ and Justin lived only 7.5 hours away from Huntsville, and then it was only 5.5 hours from Winston-Salem, NC to Washington DC. I started plotting my escape, uhm I mean adventure. First thing was to see if DJ was wanting to see DC as much as I was, she was so excited that she wanted to go right then, sweet! Let the planning commence. I spent the next week looking at maps, learning the Metro system stops, finding hotels and trying to see what we could do in two days. There's so much to see and do in DC, and since this was my fourth trip to the Nations Capitol I wanted it to be a good trip for DJ and the kids. I found a super cheap hotel in Alexandria which is on the outskirts of DC, booked it for two nights and then packed up the kids and started driving to North Carolina. We left Monday morning (7/20/09) we have traveled Hwy 40 so much that I feel like I know it very well, so the trip was nice and uneventful.

We got to Winston-Salem about 6ish, and DJ took us to the hospital where Justin works as a first year resident. There was a very cool playground on the roof and we were able to look at downtown Winston-Salem and the kids were able to play and work off some energy after being stuck in the car for 7.5 hours. DJ and Justin took us out to pizza for dinner and I had the yummiest chicken pesto pizza, and the kids had their boring pepperoni and olive pizza.

Tuesday morning we didn't wake up quite as early as we wanted but oh well, we got on the road and made it to Alexandria, VA in record time.....me speed? You bet'cha. We got to the hotel about 3pm and immediately went to the Metro station and took the Metro to L'Efant Plaza, got off and walked right into the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Great news the Smithsonian museums were staying open until 7:30pm! Awesome! It was about 4ish by then so we decided to walk across the mall to the National Gallery since it was going to close at 5pm. I personally love the National Gallery. It is my favorite museum in DC and I could spend a week in there and still not see everything. We wandered around a little, and then went down stairs to try and find the gift shop, I had a mission, I wanted to replace some Monet cards that I had gotten the last time I was in DC with Matt in 2005. On our way to the gift shop we stumbled onto a room that I had never seen it was full of ancient statues! I as stunned and amazed and oh so very happy. Connor found his favorite Auguste Rodin's The Thinker.

It was about 5pm and we were asked to leave by very nice friendly ubiquitous guards.

We then walked through the National Gallery Sculpture Garden which I had never seen before and was very impressed. There was a sculpture of a house that was an optical illusion that was just super cool.

Homesick

I have been homesick before. When I was only 16 and living in Germany I got incredibly homesick around Thanksgiving and I sucked it up and my time in Germany was wonderful. I have only fantastic memories of that experience. But now I am literally HOMEsick. I miss my HOME. I miss our house with our wonderful concrete floors that keep the house so nice and cool during the 100 degree summers, I miss the bare white walls that we never painted because we couldn't agree (actually Matt likes the white and I hate it but that's another post), I miss the deer eating all of my plants, I miss the absolute quiet on a summer evening only broken up by the sound of crickets and birds. I even miss the rattlesnakes and scorpions that I always end up having to kill if Matt's not around because while Connor is a spider killer he hasn't quite mastered the art of killing a fast moving scorpion and there's no way I am letting them close enough to kill a rattlesnake. Madeline runs screaming like the true drama queen that she is at the mere mention of a creepy crawly.....

I miss having MY stuff around me, having MY stove to cook on, having MY washer and dryer to to laundry in, and having MY bed to sleep in, I miss being able to let the kids go outside and play and not having to worry about who is around because there wasn't anyone around. I miss letting Madeline ride her bike up and down the driveway, I miss hearing Connor play with his cars in his bedroom at night before he fell asleep.

If I had MY house here in AL this experience would be much different. If we had rented a house instead of an apartment maybe this would be better too. I don't know, all I know is while sitting here in this cigarette smelling apartment listening to the neighbors talk while they are out on their patios drinking and smoking, is that I miss California and I miss my HOME.

I was told once that HOME is where all of your stuff is, and I thought I would be fine with just the bare essentials of my HOME. What do you know she was right HOME is where my family and my stuff is, and so I am here in AL only half of a home. Granted the important part of HOME is here, my husband and kids are here, but man I miss my STUFF!

Wud Fer Sale.....

Those of you that actually read this must know me, and to know me is to know that little stupid things drive me insane. I like to think of myself as easy going, but little things like misspellings and poor grammar drive me nuts, imagine my horror this past weekend at seeing a sign painted on the side the road that read, "Wud Fer Sale"!!! OH MY GOD! Seriously, that's what you put on a sign?! Okay, I know that I was in Butt F**ked Egypt, (BFE) also commonly known as rural Tennessee, but come on, you are going to take the time to paint a sign showing that you have wood for sale and you can't take the time to figure out how to write wood for sale?!

Okay, now that that is off my chest let me tell you about our adventures through rural North Carolina and then into Tennessee. If you haven't ever seen the movie Deliverance then some of my references might not make sense, but if you have seen the movie then let me rest some of your preconceived notions to rest, YES that movie was filmed in TN and in GA and YES, it really looks just like the movie, and YES they will stand out on the street with their banjo's and play duelling banjo's like they are proud of this fact. The countryside is stunningly beautiful, it is lush and green and it looks like if you stepped 50 feet from the road you would be lost forever and nobody would come looking for you.

I try not be be a snobby Californian while we explore this part of the country, we are going to be here for a little time and I really want to enjoy our time here, but man I feel like a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. I can barely understand them when they talk, it's like I know they are speaking English but I just can't understand the words that are coming out of their mouths. We spent the night in Spruce Pine, NC and we asked the lady at the front desk for directions to a place to eat dinner, Matt was standing right next to me while she rattled off something that sounded like "y'all go down right then head towards town and there's a good steakhouse on the left." We get back in the car and Matt asks me what she said, and we end up laughing at the fact that neither of us understood a word she said. We found the "good steakhouse" and it turned out to be a buffet! Not my idea of a good steakhouse, we ended up finding a Pizza Hut and had pizza for dinner.

The weekend was wonderful, (the 4th of July weekend) we went hiking in the Great Smokey Mountains and had a great time with DJ and Justin exploring Tennessee with them and North Carolina with the Gem Mountain Mining experience. I have to say that Gatlinburg, TN reminded me a little like Vegas, with all of the cheesy t-shirt and souvenir shops and they had a ton of wedding chapels. The only thing missing was the gambling. Apparently Gatlinburg is a major destination for the 4th and it was fun to people watch while walking around downtown.