Like a Rolling Stone

We arrived home from DC on Wednesday night. Not being ones to gather moss, we were on the road again less than 36 hours later for a quick weekend trip up US-395N to the Lake Tahoe area for the wedding of our friends' son.

This is what ChatGPT gave me when I asked for a rolling stone with no moss 🤣

The Votes Are In!

We had a lot of fun in the DMV over the past nine days! Here are the highlights that marked our ballots...

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Since we had time before our flight home later today, we decided to pad our stamp stats with a re-visit to Manassas National Battlefield Park. But we took a slightly longer route to get there via VA-28 and VA-234 so that we could check off two more municipalities, Manassas and Manassas Park (see my earlier post on collecting counties).

40 miles, 1 hour

We're Going on a Stamp Hunt

Because the K St NW & 4 St NW stop was right across the street from our hotel, we started our day riding the P6 Metrobus this morning. We had already loaded SmarTrip cards onto our phones, so it was super easy to "tap to pay" when we boarded. Four stops later, we hopped off at 11th St NW & F St NW and walked the rest of the way, passing by the statue of Revolutionary War hero Brigadier General Casimir Pulaski on the eastern side of Freedom Plaza.

The stone pavers represent a map of Washington, DC

By George

The first stop on our tour of the DMV was Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, VA. Although the performance season ended in September, we were still able to access the park and hike the grounds this morning.

☑ Unit #191

A Journey of a Thousand Miles...

...begins with a single step.  -Lao Tzu

Or, in this case, a journey of *three* thousand miles begins with a single *park*!

In order to get to our last two stops in Independence, MO before closing time, we had to stick to a tight schedule today. So we said our goodbyes to my parents and were on the road by 7:45AM. 

An hour later, we arrived at Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield. Since we have been here many times before, this was just going to be a "stamp-and-run" stop. But because the visitor center wasn't open yet, we walked over for a selfie in front of the house while we waited.

Stamp On

In my post about our trip back to Illinois last September, I blogged about trying to earn the Silver Master Traveler Award from the National Park Travelers Club by visiting at least 35 units across 5 regions and collecting 75 stamps minimum in 2023. Sadly, R's dad passed away just two weeks after we saw him in Chicago, so the rest of our fall travel plans were put to the side as we grieved our loss and settled his estate. The four of us returned again in November to celebrate his life. 

Then R and I both got an early Christmas present (COVID - ugh!), so the last few weeks of December were spent recuperating on the couch instead of visiting parks and getting stamps.

2023 final count:  31 units | 5 regions | 79 stamps 

Escape from New York

To start off our last day in New York City, we walked with MH over to Central Park, stopping by Grabstein's Bagels on the way. We sat on a bench near the East Meadow to enjoy our picks. My toasted bagel with a schmear of cream cheese was sooo good!

Get Me to the Church On Time

Today was the primary reason for our trip to New York... the wedding of our dear friends' daughter! Since the ceremony wasn't taking place until later this afternoon, I figured we had some time to squeeze in a visit to yet another nearby national park unit, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site.

☑ #174 of 424 NPS units for me (#168 for R)

Unfortunately, I goofed up the date when tickets for guided tours of the Roosevelt home would become available online. When I checked the website in mid-May, tickets for the 10:00AM tour were already sold out, and there was only one spot left at 11:00AM, which I immediately nabbed. To complicate matters further, the visitor center/museum didn't open until 11:00AM, so we wouldn't be able to go through the exhibits there beforehand either. Doh! 🤦🏻‍♀️

Lovely Lady Liberty

As soon as we knew that we could definitely make it to the wedding in New York, I booked tickets for us to go up to the crown of the Statue of Liberty with Statue City Cruises. As the only authorized concessioner to ferry passengers to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, there are a limited number of tickets to the crown each day. I was a little concerned since we would be there during the summer travel season, but I was super excited to find out that there were still some 9:00AM spots available two months in advance! Yay!

Where America Survived

After we finished our visit at the Wallace House & Old Dutch Parsonage State Historic Sites yesterday, we stopped by the Jockey Hollow area of Morristown National Historical Park on the way to our hotel in Parsippany, NJ. 

We arrived about 5:45PM, long after the visitor center closing time of 4:00PM. But since the grounds were open from 8:00AM – 8:00PM, we still had plenty of time to check out the outdoor portions of the park. And we were back again first thing this morning to finish up what we missed, all before the visitor center opened at 10:00AM. How's that for maximum travel efficiency?! 😉 

Out of Office

After being home for only a week, I found myself on another plane early Sunday morning, this time to the East Coast. I was traveling with two of my colleagues from work to a scientific conference in Frederick, Maryland. We landed at Dulles around 4:00PM, but by the time we retrieved our luggage and picked up the rental car it was already after 5:00PM.

I had no problem convincing my friends to take a quick field trip into Washington, DC straight from the airport, especially since I was the one driving the car! The last time I visited DC was in late September/early October 2010. We pulled the boys out of school to see the nation's capital together with another family - what a fun trip! But that was pre-blog, so I don't have any details posted online.

Washington Monument from Constitution Gardens

Be Like Water

Since we didn't walk back for biscuits and gravy at the Stehekin Pastry Company on our last day there, C made us her delicious version for breakfast this morning! What a treat! 

Our agenda for today was to visit a couple places in Seattle. RH, having been baptized into the crazy way we travel, was still willing to tag along with us, but C couldn't go because she had other things she needed to get done today. 

On our way into the city, we stopped by the salmon hatchery in Issaquah. After seeing them in the wild, it was fun to get a closer look at the chinook and coho through the windows of the fish ladder.

Nidoto Nai Yoni

Since it was almost 90 miles to the state capital, we checked out of Lake Quinault Lodge and were on our way well before 8:00AM this morning. It was quite foggy, so we decided to stick to US-101 through Aberdeen instead of the small, winding roads that the navigation apps were trying to kill us on. As we drove, R looked up online reviews of breakfast places along the way - Phoebe's Pastry Café in Olympia got our business because it was open (some places weren't) and pretty close to the capitol. I had a yummy breakfast burrito, and R's bacon and tomato quiche was quite good, too (no pics, sorry!)

Memories Deceive Me

I used to scrapbook, as the cabinet full of supplies and tools still in my house would attest. Maybe one day I'll go back to it and catch up on the projects I've been meaning to complete. But at least I can stay reasonably up-to-date on this blog. Even if no one outside of our family ever reads it, I'll keep posting entries because I enjoy writing about our travels. It's important to me to have a record of what we saw and what we did because I'm sure that I won't remember the details as clearly later on. 

Case in point: Our first stop today was Deception Pass. R asked if we had come here during our trip to Washington in 1996 because it seemed familiar. 

I said, "Nope."

Bzzzzzt! Wrong answer. 🤦🏻‍♀️

May 1996

Mighty Mo

Remember how I said that tours to the USS Arizona Memorial were set to resume in time for our tour today? 

Well, yesterday the NPS posted on their Facebook page that all programs out to the memorial have been paused "out of an abundance of caution." Since the safety concerns were in regard to the shoreside dock, we wouldn't even get the opportunity to board a shuttle boat for a "float by" viewing. So disappointed! 

Time for Plan C - visiting the Battleship Missouri Memorial ("Mighty Mo") instead. 

Island Hoppers

K is usually on her way to work by 7:00AM, so the boys got up early to take a pic with their cousin since we were flying to Oʻahu today.

After saying our goodbyes and packing up the rest of our stuff, we decided to head to the airport early, return the rental, and wait in the terminal until our 9:35AM Hawaiian Airlines interisland flight. 

An Unexpected Journey

A week ago, R's college roommate G half-jokingly floated the idea of going to watch NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, in particular to see the Chicago Bulls' 2nd round draft pick and fellow Illini, Ayo Dosunmu. Despite the short notice, R found someone to switch work days with him, G was able to rearrange his daughters' schedules, and my colleague graciously offered to tend my lab experiment. By Monday night we were a go for launch!

Unfortunately, the bummer was that it wouldn't be all 8 of us. G's wife just started a new position and couldn't play hooky from work, and J had already planned a trip to Seattle with his buddies. 

And what about M?  Having turned 21 at the end of last year, of course he was all in from the moment he heard "Vegas!"

Sweet Home Chicago

For our last full day in Chicago, we headed downtown first thing this morning to play tourist. The CTA is running a promo ($5 all-day pass) to encourage people to return to using public transit, so we drove over to the Kimball station, parked the car, and rode the Brown Line to the Loop.

 

Happy to comply with the CTA mask requirement

The Road Less Traveled

Having stuffed ourselves over the past three days, my only regret was that we didn't have another meal (or stomach space) left to squeeze in a pizza from Monical's. Next time. *sigh*

We polished off the leftover bao for breakfast, and then loaded up the car to head back up to Chicago. But we couldn't leave before taking the usual photo of the boys with the grandparents.