Last Day in DC!!!

Since we got the tickets to go inside the Washington Monument for 11am today, we used the Metro and walked over to the Monument. The winds were SO FAST, they were blowing poor mom (and us!)when she was walking.

Here's a shot of how windy it was just waiting to get into the elevator to take us to 500 feet to the top where we can see from all 4 sides of the pyramid on top. Mom liked that the older pictures were from 1909, 1934(her birth year) and 1999. Here she is posing by one of the pictures.

You could walk around the top and stop and look out the North, East, South and West sides of the monument. Here is the West view and the guide that is posted to show you what you are looking at.

We almost were late to our designated 11:00 time because there was an police escort that blocked all the intersections leading to the monument. We don't know who it was, and the police officer wouldn't/couldn't say, just for us to tune into CNN sometime tonight. So, here is he or she passing us by...WHO COULD IT BE???

There were some different marble benches outside of the monument that Mom liked too. Here she is sitting on the "curved" ones.

So, Betty just checked out flights and it looks like we are good to go so far.

We'll be back in California before you know it.

Sharon, Betty and Mom

Only one more day left tomorrow!!!

Since our plane laves at 7:40am on Wednesday, we are trying to avoid the rush hour traffic and will be leaving the hotel at 5:00am(!!!). But, we are using a car service, so we will be arriving in STYLE!
Today, we planned on taking Mom to the Museum of Natural History, the White House Visitors Center(since we didn't get tickets to the actual White House), and the National Aquarium, but the second we stepped out of the hotel, it was so windy, she took a couple of steps and said, "Oh, no, I want to go back. It's TOO windy." So, Betty and I set out on our own once we walked Mom back to the room and put up the "Privacy Please" sign on the door.
We returned in time for lunch and we ate some instant soups we got at the store and Mom napped some before we trekked it out to Chinatown again for some real Chinese food. We took the Metro, kind of like BART, what a bargain for only $1.65 each way. It was a little rainy and cold, but not bad enough that Mom wouldn't go through for some rice.
The waitress from yesterday was amused that we returned. The waiter that was taking care of us today was really trying to "upsell" us to some Seafood Casserole with Tofu, he mentioned it and immediately wrote it on his pad, when I asked him to review what we ordered, when he mentioned that, we were like, "uh, no, we don't want that, just what we ordered."
Then, we dropped by the Chinese store and got Mom some more Chinese Cough medicine before heading back to the hotel. Good thing the Metro stations are so close to the hotel and to the restaurant, literally only a block away from each of them, it's really cool.
So, we only have one more full day tomorrow and that's it. Betty is starting to get Mom's cold, so I think we are going to take it easy tomorrow and I will try my best not to catch anything anyone has. Lot's of sanitizer!!!
We'll try and blog one last time tomorrow before we leave and then we'll be back in CA before you know it. Betty's going to get a car service from the airport to her house and then get a Zipcar to drive us home, so no worries about who's picking us up.
I just added a counter on the right side of the blog and you can see, we are up to 25 people checking in already...Cool, huh?

Sharon, Betty, and Mom

Random find!!!

We were channel surfing today and stopped on a special on the local PBS station here in WDC, WETA. They were talking all about Chinese immigrants and such and on the various Chinatowns all over. One shot was a far away shot with the host speaking in the middle of the sidewalk and lo and behold, Betty and I shouted, " Hey, there's cousin Robert Won and Uncle Johnny!" They just happen to be standing next to the host as they panned out to the street shot of Chinatown in S.F. They both were turned around and facing the camera as the host spoke. Funny, huh?

If you are interested in the show, Betty found it here:

http://www.globetrekkerstore.com/dvdschinatown.html

I'm going to try and see if it's available at the library when I get back.
We know FAMOUS people!

Beautiful Sunday at the Zoo!!!

So, the weatherman said today would be nice, high of 70 and then a cold front coming in on Monday with a high of 50 degrees...so we decided to go to the Zoo. Another FREE outing, no admission, just the cost of the Metro ride and a few blocks of walking from the station.

We saw LOTS of animals and we did get Mom another wheelchair because of all the ground we needed to cover. BOY, it is really hard to push a wheelchair uphill!!! Betty and I got a real upper and lower body workout today.

We did see the pandas today and one of the treats that they get is a plastic milk crate that has honey slathered all over it, so it's a treat and something to play with too.

All weekend long was the Zoo's "Boo at the Zoo" event, so they had a bunch of Halloween decorations. Here's a Chinese scarecrow at the panda exhibit. A black kitty snoozing in a tent. A skeleton wedding.

We pretty much saw a lot of different animals from all over. Tigers, gorillas, lots of different birds and prairie dogs too! Here is the Capybera, it's like a BIG rat.

And Betty was taking pictures of all the Invertebrates and came up to the spider exhibit and was really close until I said, "Hey, there's NO GLASS on this one." So, essentially, Betty was INCHES away from a whole MESS OF LARGE SPIDERS. That really freaked her out!!!

There were also a bunch of HUGE lobsters, prawns, crabs in the aquariums!

There was a monkey that was sitting near the window and kept "smiling" randomly at us as we were walking by...as if smiling for a picture.
The orangutans also climb up this 45 feet tall tower between 11am-11:30AM every day. We missed it, but the towers are on either side of the walkway and are connected with a rope that the orangutans swing on. Crazy!

Here's a funny picture of one of the orangutans inside. It covered it's head with a blanket as it sat next to a mini-waterfall.

We saw two bald eagles and a bunch of other birds (flamingoes!). Mom really liked this bird (above) because of all of the colors on its neck.

Then, since we had to transfer to another line on the way home in Chinatown, guess where we had an early dinner? The waitress spoke Mandarin and was laughing since Betty and I only spoke Cantonese. Then we all laughed some more when the Cantonese waitress came by to explain some dishes and we STILL didn't understand! It was a different dialect of Cantonese. We ordered a steamed Cod fish and it came on a platter with some Sterno underneath it, so it was bubbling hot when we got it. Mmmm...

Oh, and this is how they explain that you are in Chinatown, they just translate the restaurants into Chinese characters.

Then, we hit the grocery store to load up on more breakfast and lunch items so we don't have to go full meals each time and either have a early dinner or late lunch as our big meal of the day.

Oh, and we found another SUPER powered hand dryer in one of the bathrooms at the zoo. This time Betty took a video of it.

Later!

Sharon, Betty & Mom

Special request

Just because you commented and asked for pictures of the Vietnam Memorial...here you go! See what happens when you comment on this blog?!

I actually didn't realize that there was lawn (grass & dirt butted up against the back of the wall) immediately behind the wall. FYI:Mom didn't really want to hang out there, so they're mostly "passing by" walking shots.

This is how far Mom had to walk from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument.

Here are some more shots of the WWII Memorial.

Here are some more WWII aircraft from the Air & Space Museum.

A weekend in DC!!!

We wanted to take it easy on Mom today, so since the Air and Space Museum is only a block away, we just had the breakfast buffet downstairs and then walked over to the museum. We immediately snagged a wheelchair to give mom a break on all the walking she would do. Of course there are NO pictures of her in the chair, she wouldn't allow it, just like yesterday she would hide the cane she was using every time we took a picture.

The museum is HUGE and 2 stories high with lots to see. They basically follow the history of the airplane, through all the wars and such, and covers space travel through the years. We took a break around 1 to get lunch, they have a McD's and a Boston Market inside the museum, although you can't bring in any food from the food court.

Here's a picture of the inside of Apollo 13...you know, the Tom Hanks/Ron Howard film where there was a small fire in the capsule and they had to abort their mission to the moon..."Houston, we have a problem."

Can you guess what type of astronaut food this is???

It's mac-and-cheese and shrimp cocktail (or jambalya?). The cubes in the back are also astronaut food...from the 60s! They actually made the food into CUBES!

We stuck around for some of the videos and saw LOTS of actual artifacts and models. It was really neat. Mom's favorite part of the space exhibit? The astronaut uniform...wait for it...because it has all of the pockets and velcro enclosures! Pockets galore!

It was pretty busy today for a Saturday. Here's Betty trying to move a chair in one of the "theaters" The chairs were all bolted into the floor. [Of course, I didn't know they were bolted down when I tried to move it! That's me laughing when i realized what a dope I was!] HAHA!

There was also a heat sensing live tv there. Here's what Sharon & Mom look like with the dark colors showing the highest heat. As you can see, as usual Mom is very HOT! Sharon's hands don't even register as warm...they are a nice bright orange color. Betty's the one taking the picture. Sharon is the orange faced one standing behind me and Mom is waving her hand.

It did start to rain by the time we were ready to head back for the hotel, but being only a block away, it wasn't so bad.

Betty got some real neat shots of a lot of the planes and such, she figured Tony would enjoy them, maybe Jose too.

We hope the weather is better tomorrow, we were planning on going to the zoo and seeing the Panda Bears. We also signed up for tickets on Tuesday to go inside the Washington Monument and see spectacular views from the observation deck.

We only have a few more places on our list to see then we will be back in California on Wednesday.

Happy Birthday to Hailey Boyd today!!! She is now 5 years old!!! We called and sang "Happy Birthday" to her via a message on the machine.

That's it for now.

Blog you later,

Sharon, Betty and Mom

Day 3 in DC!!!

Again, we are TOTALLY taking advantage of the multiple day ticket on the double decker tour bus. We did the "red Line" yesterday and the "blue line" today. I think we definitely got our money's worth.





Yesterday, we saw the usual sights from the bus: Washington Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam, Korean, WWII Memorials, White House, Jefferson Memorial, Capitol Building (both houses were not in session), and hit Chinatown for lunch. This really wasn't a Chinatown like we know it. It has a fancy "arch" and there are a lot of signs translated into Chinese here...like Chevy's, Hooters, and Fuddruckers...but that's all the Chinese they had!


We stopped at the Lincoln Memorial and tried to take the elevator to the top instead of the stairs to give Mom a break, but then we found out from the guard that the elevator was broken and there were actually people stuck in it at this very moment. GEESH!!! So glad I was not stuck in there, you would have felt my claustrophobia REALLY kick in! "No, really, let me OUT OF THIS PLACE NOW!!!"




































Then, we walked over to the Washington Memorial, passed the Vietnam and WWII memorials, and I think we wiped Mom out. It was a REALLY long walk through the National Mall, where all of these monuments were.























































There are TONS of squirrels here in DC and Betty, the crazy squirrel feeder(=c razy cat lady) fed them some of our trail mix. Let me tell you, they are NOT shy and we have some shots to prove it. Betty even said that one of them (the black one) even put a paw on her coat. They are really chubby too. Betty kept saying that they were "fattening up" for the winter, but we saw some other ones that weren't so fat...the ones at the memorials were even going into the garbage cans and taking potato chip bags out to scavenge out the crumbs, so I'm sure their diet isn't the best.








































There were some HUGE marble benches surrounding the Washington Memorial (which by the way is 555 feet, 5 inches high) and Mom kept commenting how she slept on a marble bed as a kid and loved it. Especially during the summer, "you just roll over onto a really COOL spot and go back to sleep." So we have a shot of her laying down on a marble bench. She said it has been 58 years since she slept on one.

We also hoofed it to the nearest Safeway for some fruit and more snacks. I was a little leary about the neighborhood around Safeway, there were armed guards at the entrance and a lot of the housing/buildings were boarded up.

Unfortunately, Mom caught a cold and is coughing, so while we were in Chinatown, we got her some of that lovely Chinese cough (loquat) medicine, you know, the one that is EXTRA thick and looks like dark brown maple syrup. So we took it easy on her yesterday and pretty much stayed on the bus the whole time.



Hey, Tony! Did we get your attention Now???
Yesterday, when we returned to the hotel, Mom took a nap and Betty and I went a block over and visited the Air and Space Museum to preview it for Mom when we take her tomorrow since it is expected to rain tomorrow. And, we tried to look around for a restaurant and couldn't find one. Duh, we forgot we had Doris' GPS to help us do that. So, we settled for another hotel restaurant meal. Service is HORRIBLE here, we waited for over 30 minutes for a philly cheese steak sandwich, a turkey club sandwich ,and the "special of the day" meatloaf meal.


Oh, and I forgot to tell you that when we returned from our "exploring" the area for a decent restaurant (There are NONE!), we returned to the room and we could hear Mom yelling from outside the door, Betty and I immediately thought she was yelling at someone. We thought, we did leave her sleeping and left her a note, but we didn't know what to expect when we opened the door...She was watching, "Deal or No Deal" and was yelling at the contestant for not making the deal for $39,000.00 and ended up with only $1,000.00


Breakfast today was in a small cafe just a hop, skip and a jump away. We got to eat our most satisfying meal and spent less than $20.00!!! And since we had such a big lunch, we opted for a "snacky" dinner for less than $10!!! I guess we are still reeling from how expensive NYC was.



Today we also stayed on the bus pretty much too except for getting off at Arlington Cemetary and saw JFK, Jackie O's and RFK's gravesite. Then, we ate lunch and refueled enough to stop by Union station and the Postal Museum. Here's Mom mailing a personal post card to herself. We created, printed, mailed, and stamped it all using an automated machine that also showed us how a postcard gets from DC to wherever we send it.


We counted up all the smashed pennies that we have collected so far for my sister Carol and we have 12 and we have 10 from DC so far. I think she may need another smashed penny album.

We left Marina a message, but haven't heard back yet. So, we plan on taking Mom to the Air & Space Museum since it isn't too far from the hotel and it will be a nice break from the rain and thunderstorms expected.

Blog you later,
Sharon, Betty, and Mom