Sunday Drive

This morning we checked out of our hotel in downtown DC and took I-395 S to I-695 E across the Anacostia River to I-295 S. Once we entered Maryland, we continued south on MD-210 to our first destination of the day, Fort Washington Park. This checks off my 200th park visited, and it just so happens to be celebrating its 200th anniversary this year. How cool is that?!

200th for #200!

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

Monuments by Moonlight

Our hotel is on the corner of K Street and 4th Street NW in Mount Vernon Triangle, which I had read was a safe neighborhood. So it was a little disconcerting to hear a woman screaming from the street below when we were upstairs this afternoon. We found out from the front desk that someone had snatched her purse/bags while she was on the sidewalk nearby. Needless to say, that made us rethink our plans to walk the 0.75 miles to Union Station this evening and called a cab instead.

We grabbed a quick dinner from Raising Cane's inside Union Station before the 7:00PM check in for the Monuments by Moonlight Tour that we had reserved with Old Town Trolley Tours. Here's the view we had looking southwest at Columbus Circle and the Capitol while we waited to board the trolley...

The Freedom Bell is a double-scale replica of the Liberty Bell

We're Golden

Thanks to the National Park Travelers Club, I found out about another website which allows you to keep track of the counties you've visited. While I'm not as die-hard as my some of my fellow NPTCers when it comes to county collecting, it is a fun way to see where we've been. In Virginia there are 38 municipalities that are independent cities which are not under the jurisdiction of any county, so those are slightly harder to get. Having already "counted" Fairfax and Alexandria so far on this trip, we took a small detour through Falls Church this morning so that I could mark it off on our county map.

Really, it was on the way...

Ok, so maybe I *might* have a problem... 

Today's route: 30 miles

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.

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! 🤦🏻‍♀️

A Day in the City

Our plan for today was to visit the national park units in Manhattan which are only open on the weekends. More accurately, that was *my* agenda. Thankfully, R loves me enough to allow himself to be dragged all over the city in the spirit of checking off boxes and still be a good sport about it. How blessed am I?! He's definitely a keeper!

We were up early and grabbed a quick breakfast in the hotel before driving from Roslyn to the Long Island Rail Road station in Port Washington, where parking in the commuter lot is free on weekends. We hopped onto the 7:40AM train, paid the $9.25 off-peak fare in the MTA Train Time app, and arrived at the Grand Central Madison terminal around 8:30AM. (Alternatively, we could have taken the 8:08AM train, arriving at Penn Station at 8:55AM.)

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?! 😉 

Ten Crucial Days

When R and I received an invite to the wedding of our close friends' daughter, we decided to tack on some extra days and make a vacation out of it! Working son (M) and college son (J) didn't come with, so just us two empty-nesters flew into Newark yesterday. 

The air quality is so much better than it was a week ago!

Travel tip: Seats 48A/B on a Boeing 777-200 are great because there is no third seat in the row = extra room for economy price!

Divide and Conquer

Wednesday, January 4

Taking advantage of cheaper air fares after the holidays, R and I flew back to Illinois for a welfare check on our folks. But we decided to split up so that we each would get more time with our respective parental unit(s). After the norovirus debacle last year, my secondary objective was to make sure to get some Lou's this trip.

Who cares how cold it is outside when you have hot pizza in your belly?

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

Stamp-a-palooza

After a year with *zero* visits to any national park unit, I was determined to log at least one in 2021, even if it was a repeat visit. Since March 2020, all buildings within Lincoln Home National Historic Site had been closed to the public due to COVID. But just before we came back to Illinois, the park announced its re-opening! Yay!

And since the visitor center would be open, that also meant that I could collect extra passport cancellations towards my annual National Park Travelers Club award. Woohoo!

#23

No, in this case #23 does not refer to Michael Jordan. Sandwiched between the two terms of Grover Cleveland was Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd President of the United States. The only POTUS to hail from Indiana, the house where he lived in Indianapolis is now a national historic landmark. Since we had a free morning before M's semi-final performance with Pacific Crest at Lucas Oil Stadium, we decided to check out the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site, about 1.5 miles from our hotel downtown. 

Love the bunting on the porch railings!

Looking for Lincoln

So, we're here for our annual trek back to Illinois. The primary purpose for this trip is to watch M conclude his summer-long drum and bugle corps tour with Pacific Crest at DCI Championships in Indianapolis. We're also spending some time with family, too. Unfortunately, we won't be visiting any new NPS units. 😢

But there are always NPS passport cancellations to collect, which is what brought us to Atlanta, IL today.

First stop - Atlanta Public Library for the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area stamp!

WKRP in Cincinnati

Yep, this is what immediately popped into my head when I was thinking of how to title today's blog post.

If you don't get it, you haven't taken enough trips around the sun.

If you do, here's a visual to go along with the earworm that I just planted in your head...

The 37th President

Who was the 37th President of the United States? 

Richard Milhous Nixon

What comes to mind when his name is mentioned?

Watergate.

Tricky Dick. 

"I am not a crook"...

When Nixon resigned the presidency in 1974, I hadn't started grade school yet. I do remember hearing about "Watergate" on TV and, at the time, thinking that someone must have opened a dam and caused a flood. Even though I was too young to grasp the details correctly, I could definitely comprehend that this person was in BIG TROUBLE...

My Old Kentucky Home

First thing this morning we checked out of our room at the Mammoth Cave Hotel and hit a drive-thru in Cave City for breakfast since we were going to lose an hour traveling to Abraham Lincoln Birthplace NHP. 

Time Travelers

First thing this morning, we said goodbye to my folks and headed for parts unknown... to us, at least! Any place south and east of Champaign-Urbana is unexplored territory!

What a difference a year makes!

Mounds and Memorials

Boys: What are we doing today?

Me: First stop is a few minutes away, just on the other side of the Mississippi River... Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. It's a World Heritage Site, too!

Boys: Mounds?! *groan* 

Such negativity! I assured them that this place was much more interesting than our first encounter with mound builders at Effigy Mounds National Monument in 2011 (read that blog post here). That episode is not-so-fondly remembered as our worst national park visit EVER. We hiked uphill in hot, humid weather and battled blood-sucking mosquitoes to see grass-covered bumps which didn't look like much of anything from ground level.  

OK, so maybe their groaning this morning was justified...