24 Hours in D.C.

After Jordan and Megan's wedding our family took a quick little side trip to D.C. We have been doing a family vacation every two years, but since it didn't seem like it would work out to do anything extensive this time, we opted for a quick adventure to our nation's capital.

 

 

We parked our vehicles at our motel, and then took the metro to the downtown area. Our first stop was at the Holocaust Museum.

 

No pictures could be taken inside. We spent about three hours inside, or should I say some of us did? Some of our family are history buffs, others are not.

 

After a lunch from those trucks that park along the streets, we headed for the Jefferson Memorial.

 

Our group ~ somehow we lost Dave and Jana, who are part of "that group" that are not history buffs. Jon, Ryan, Carla, Andrew, Nicole, Karen, (short attention span) and Noah.

 

 

 

This was taken at the Roosevelt Memorial.

 

Lincoln Memorial

 

 

We could not visit the Washington Monument because of renovations.

 

This was the first time we saw the World War 2 Memorial. I thought it was a very nice memorial.

 

 

Jon and Carla pose in front of the Ohio pillar.

 

Carla agreed to pose with me by Iowa.

 

This was the only pillar that had any memorandums, which included a bouquet of red roses, a notebook, and two glasses. The notebook was addressed to the brothers who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the war. I am not sure if it was for the Sullivan brothers specifically, or just brothers in general. But it seemed like such an (almost) reverent gesture.

 

 

 

 

The White House

 

Jon has his back turned here, while Noah and Carla pose.

 

Most of us.

 

Nicole and Andrew

 

Jana and Dave

 

The U.S. Capital

 

The Kennedy graves

 

Nicole was delighted to find a Patterson buried in Arlington Cemetery.

 

Changing of the Guard

 

Yes, it was raining.

Maryland 2

The inside of the Miller house is a single room downstairs and is simply furnished. Above the fireplace sets a log bearing the marking "1835", which is when the house was built.

A stairway to the left of the front door leads to the second story, but it was roped off. My brother decided to cross over the rope, so I sent my camera with him.

Obviously the sleeping room.

A side view of the house.

After that we went to see the old Casselman River bridge. It comes to a peak at the top, so when we walked it, we really couldn't see the other end until we crested the peak.

This photo shows the bridge that replaced the old one. I believe I saw a sign that said the old one was in use for 120 years.

Dave and Jana.

Andrew and Nicole.

Back from the bridge, Andrew led us to the Yoder house, which is a replica of houses in the Old World, (I think Germany.)

This house contained interesting facts about Yoders and their origins, family trees, etc. Andrew and Ryan love to get Noah started talking about history, and here they are, delving into some!

By this time we needed to get ready for the wedding, so we went and got all gussied up. ;)

This path led to the site of the wedding.

Our first glimpse of the campground where the ceremony was to take place. Megan's grandpa owns this piece of ground and has a cabin here.

Isn't this just the cutest idea?

 



The paper flowers were so pretty!

 

As this photo shows, not all the tables had paper flowers. In fact, most of the bouquets were from real flowers.

All of the cakes were simply gorgeous!

 

 

The chairs were arranged in a circle about three to four rows deep. We wait for the ceremony to begin.

And...here comes the bride! Megan, escorted by her dad, Dale.

Megan recites her vows to Jordan.

And now, Jordan to Megan.

Mr. and Mrs. Jordan Stoltzfus.

Let the party begin! Noise making things, bubbles, etc.

The yummy food. Pork, chicken, green salad, macaroni salad, and dinner roll. With cake and ice cream to follow. Wonderful ice cream.

And then we went back to our motel. Before long there was a knock on the door. THIS is who was visiting.

She would have been much scarier had she not giggled as soon as the door opened!

The story behind the gorilla suit? Jana notified her siblings that she had rented rooms for us at this motel. Ryan asked if it was spookity. (This was a word the children used in bygone days for scary.) So Jana decided to have some fun and make it spookity.

Ryan wearing the face part of the suit. It was funny, when later we met a complete stranger in the hallway, and she got such a bang out of the gorilla outfit. She told Jana to come to some family reunions that weekend, for she was sure people would absolutely love it!