Doing A 180 Travels

I'm not trying to turn Doing A 180 into a travelogue but that's what I've been doing in the month of May.  Please bear with me as I document my latest trip to meet up with old Sparkpeople friends, meet a blogging friend and have some time with Little Helen.  These posts will be photo heavy so that's good as I've never been a very good writer. Do yourself a favor and click on the photos so you can see them larger.

It seems appropriate that my latest trip was to our nation's capital where there are many, many memorials and reminders that freedom isn't free and we owe a debt of gratitude to those who have given their lives to give us our lives.

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I knew that Laurie (who used to blog at Feeling Good Inside and Out) lived in the greater DC area so I contacted her and asked if she could meet.  Little Helen recommended a particular coffee house in Arlington, VA as a good place to be able to sit and and chat so literally 1 1/2 hours after I got off the plane, I was cleaned up and off to meet Laurie! The time together certainly was not long enough but I figured out that Laurie doesn't have time to blog much anymore - she's college hunting with her oldest child, running the other two around to other activities and has opened her own business.  Not only was I happy to meet her in real life, but I was thrilled to find out that she is a genuine, sweet human being.   Hopefully someday soon we'll be able to meet again!

After that meetup, Little Helen came to get me and we went to the Italian Store, also in Arlington.  She took me there the first time I ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 2004 and it has become a must go to place for us.  Not only is it chock full of Italian products but they have a sandwich counter that makes the meanest Italian sandwiches you could ever want.  My mouth was literally watering at the thought of having one (hey - it's been four years)!

After we dropped the items we'd purchased, we headed out to walk off our sandwiches and do a bit of sightseeing.  Lots of photos here and I think you can tell what most of these things are, so I won't go into detail but if you have questions, ask in the comments!

We walked along the Potomoc to go back towards the Smithsonians.

 Looked down and this mama duck and her babies were swimming along - so cute!

The Museum of American History is probably my most favorite, with the National Art Gallery running a close second.

The museum has a display of our First Ladies' clothing dating back very early.  It was interesting to notice how tiny in stature the first First Ladies were.  They were positively petite.

Mrs. Obama's Inaugural Ball Gown!  

There was also a display about Thomas Jefferson and slavery.  He really was against slavery but couldn't seem to figure out how to stop participating.  The ancestors of that time, both his and the slaves, have kept this history alive and it was fascinating to see what happened to the slave families and where their descendants are today.

The wall behind the statue of Jefferson contains all the names of the slaves that he owned - over 600!  What made this so interesting is that so many of the slaves only had 1 name.

After all that sightseeing we went back to Little Helen's apartment and got cleaned up then walked to dinner to an adorable restaurant right around the corner from her place.

Their specialty is small plates of food and flights of wine.  The flights of wine consist of 3 glasses, which are really tastings that are probably the equivalent of one and half glasses of wine.  We ordered several things and it was super fun to share and get lots of tastes!

I loved how they brought the flight of wine!

Artichoke

Smoked salmon (Little Helen's - I don't eat it) with a potato cake with horseradish cream.  You can also see the truffled eggs we got, which are all the rage in the DC area right now.

Macaroni and cheese with smoked bacon.  Oh My YUM.

After all that sightseeing and all that delicious food, I slept like a log.  Can you believe that was only the first day?!

Happy Memorial Day!