Fort McHenry, Baltimore, Maryland

Today we headed to Fort McHenry, in Baltimore, Maryland. Fort McHenry is best known for its role in the War of 1812 when it successfully defended Baltimore Harbor from an attack by the British navy in the Chesapeake Bay. It was during this famous battle of the fort that Francis Scott Key was inspired to write "The Star-Spangled Banner", the poem that would eventually be set to music and become the national anthem of the United States. We got home in the early evening and Buzz took the kids swimming. Of course, this was the highlight of the entire trip for them! Here are some pictures from our trip to the Fort.

Hailey appeases her uncle by trying on a hat and standing for a picture.

The drummer boys entertain us on our tour.

These girls were baking bread in an outdoor oven. Cole wanted to jump in and give advice that he learned during his scout training!

A shot of some of the cannons placed around the fort.

Another shot of the cannon, with the center of the fort in the background.

Here you can see the 15-star, 15-stripe "Star-Spangled Banner" flag just like the one that flew over the fort during the battle. The flag measures 30 feet by 42 feet and was designed by the commander of Fort McHenry who wanted "a flag so large that the British would have no difficulty seeing it from a distance". I guess that Francis Scott Key saw it too!

Jack gets his head stuck in the barrel of a cannon and the cousins and brother give him some help. Kate decided not to hurry to his rescue.

Here is a shot of the "rescue team" after Jack gets his head unstuck.

Here is a photos of some of the barracks located in the center of the fort.

A typical bunk-room with the soldiers gear on display.

The soldiers arrive to fire the cannon into Chesapeake Bay.

Loading a 1/3 powder charge (without a cannon ball of course) for the display firing of an authentic cannon.

Check out a video that Teresa took of the firing.

Since they fired it twice, I got a shot of the cannon firing from the other side of the embankment. It was sort of neat to be on this side, since you got to hear the echo of the cannon bounce off the cement factory located across the Bay. It took at least to the count of five before the sound reached back to this side of the water.

A parting shot of Nathan as we head into Quizno's for a late lunch.

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Today we headed a little over an hour north to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Home of the bloodiest battle of the Civil War where over 50,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or captured during a three day period. We visited the brand new visitor center, then took a self-guided driving tour in our cars. As you followed the nicely paved park roads through the battlefield and town, a CD played in our (air-conditioned) cars and told the story of the battle and had us stop and pull over at key sites and memorials along the way. It was a very pretty part of the country, with over 400 authentic cannons displayed and thousands of memorial markers from small stones to multi-story towers that you can enter like buildings. Also, President Eisenhower's farm is located next to the Battlefield and we got a good look at it from one of the observation towers we climbed on the battlefield. We even ran into a large group of Amish folks who were doing a little site seeing themselves. Here are some photos from the day.

First thing first, let's get a few smashed pennies for the collection!

Cole and Nathan do their own Civil War re-enactment!

Here is the front of the new Gettysburg visitor center and museum. It was very nice and had a great gift shop.

The cousins take the opportunity to get a photo with President Lincoln. No matter how many times I asked, I couldn't get Abe to look at the camera.

A nice photo-op on one of the many well-maintained authentic Civil War cannons.

It was easy to take yourself back in time and imagine what is must have been like during those three days in July of 1863...

One of my favorite memorials dedicated to the New York Army soldiers on "Little Round Top", a key position during the battle.

Cole and Jack pose just below the New York Memorial where the soldiers battled on Little Round Top. Check out the photo below this photo to see what the spot looked like the day after the battle ended in 1863. There is no doubt that this is the same exact spot that the battle was fought.

Even the lichen in the center of the rocks hasn't changed much in 237 years! It really brings history home when you know you are standing in the same exact spot where something famous took place.

Here is the largest memorial in the park, dedicated to the soldiers in the Pennsylvania Army. I suppose it was the largest because we were IN Pennsylvania. The black panels around the base name every soldier from the Pennsylvania Army that participated in the battle.

That's the Horch's black SUV ahead of us, on the road back home. We were all getting hungry, but I sure am glad that he didn't pull off to eat at Opossumtown for dinner. I don't think that would have been a wise choice, do you?

Mount Vernon, Virginia

Today didn't start at 5:00am like yesterday, but instead we hit the road around 10:00am for Mount Vernon, Virginia. The home of George and Martha Washington! The Horches live less than an hour's drive from the mansion. What a neat place to visit. It is the most visited home in America. Nearly 1,000,000 people take the tour of the home and grounds every year. This year they opened up a really neat museum and visitor center with all kinds of videos and interactive displays. They also have a bunch of artifacts that belonged to the Washingtons, including the sword that George used during the French and Indian War. We all had a great time, and would visit again during our next visit. Check out some of the pictures.


Here is a shot of the kids with life-sized statues of George and Martha with two of their grandkids. I didn't know that George was 6'-2". I think that was pretty tall for those times.


The Lane family in front of the mansion. See, even George has a better lawn than the Obama's!

While waiting for the tour of the home, we stood under a tree that was full of spiders! In fact, one of the spiders landed on Joanna during her last visit here. She wouldn't stand under the tree, choosing to stand in the hot sun instead! I saw lots of cobwebs but no spiders (thank goodness)!

Here is a shot of the kitchen used to cook meals for family and guests.

Here is a shot of the front of the house. The kitchen is the small building on the right and the slave's of guests stayed in the building on the left.

This is the stables and the carriage house.

Here is the tomb of George and Martha (George is on the right). The metal door in the back is home to 25 other family ancestors. Yes, George and Martha are actually in those stone sarcophagus.

The girls take a break to cool off in the boat house out on the Potomac River.

Here is where the estate's property backs up to the Potomac River.

Here is a shot of the famous round barn that George designed for threshing wheat using horses, and also the pens where the goats and sheep are held.

The kids pet the sheep. The whole area is an actual working plantation. You can see the corn crop in the backgound.

Hailey and Jack pet the horse that just performed a threshing demonstration in the barn.

Jack and Hailey pose as the young Washington children. I didn't know that these kids were from Martha's first husband, who died when the children were very young. George never had any biological kids of his own!

A group shot of our biological kids as we left Mount Vernon. Let's go eat dinner (Jack says)!

Washinton DC Trip 2010

Well, here we are in the Washington DC area visiting Teresa's sister and her family. We got here last night and are already having a great time. Here are some photos from the trip so far.

Kate is ready to check into the Red Roof Inn, where we stayed the night before flying out early the next morning. It was nice not having to race up to the airport from Puyallup at O'Dark-Thirty.

We ate at the Bahama Breeze Restaurant at South Center before hitting the hay...

Cole is ready for dinner...

Jack informed us that he is NOT ordering off of the children's menu...

The plane had a little condensation problem before we took off on our connecting flight from North Carolina. Can you say 95 degrees and 95% humidity?

Before going to bed, I just had to see one of those LOUD locust up close. I wish I hadn't looked! This one was attached to my shirt and then ended up in the house. Nathan's cat got a hold of it and ate it slowly as it made a horrible noise. Our first exposure to Maryland entomology.

The next morning I took the 5:30am train with Buzz to work. He spent half a day in the office and I spent the morning walking around the city in the monsoon. That is Buzz waiting for the train to stop and pick us up. It took us about 30 minutes to get into downtown D.C. from the station by their house.

I took a trip up the Washington Monument. It's awsome because almost every attraction is free!

The view of the Mall was really cool, but a little cloudy and rainy...

The bad weather kept the crowds away. I am not kidding when I say I was the ONLY person within view on the mall...

I loved the WWII monument. So beautiful and well designed. I will definately be coming back here when the weather breaks...

Here is part of the Korean War Memorial. There were dozens of Korean tourist, including a 8th grade from South Korea that looked a little bored as their teacher told them all about it...

I meant it when I said MONSOON! Here are the steps of the Lincoln Memorial actually flowing with rain water....

Some buildings seemed smaller than I imagined, but old Abe was as larger than I expected!

Her is a shot of the statue at the Vietnam War Memorial...

The White House! Much smaller than I imagined, but also much closer to the street than I imagined! However, I am sure I was being watched by no less than a dozen people as I was digging through my backpack looking for my other camera lens!

I was NOT impressed with White House lawn. I have a better lawn than Barack! Time to fire the groundskeeper!

The view from Buzz's office building, the Department of Justice. Wouldn't that be cool to see every day going to work!

Buzz and I had lunch near Ford's Theater before heading back home...
When I got back from my morning adventure, what did I find the cousins doing? Watching a movie of course! I know that they will melt in the rain, but lets go outside, eh!