Trains, Planes, And Automobiles

Our Trip to Washington, New York, Amish Country, and Baltimore  

July 31-August 8, 2012

Matt, Nikki, Will, Reid and I flew out of Atlanta and made our first stop in Washington, DC.  It was Will and Reid's first flight.  Will was a little nervous, but he liked flying.

 Ready to fly!

When we arrived in Washington, we took a walk from the hotel to the White House, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, the World War II Memorial, and the Korean Memorial.

 The Washington Monument

 The World War II Memorial

 Lincoln Memorial

 The next day we headed to Martha Roby's office, met her, and she had scheduled a tour of the White House for us.  

 Martha Roby-Our Congresswoman

 We went to the Museum of Natural History...

Arlington National Cemetery...

The Air and Space Museum

The American History Museum....

 And last but not least a baseball game at the Nationals Park

where Will got a game ball!!!!!

The next day we picked up our rental car and headed for New York City.

Fun in The Big Apple

We drove up to Newark, New Jersey, parked the car at the airport, then took the train into NYC.  This was Matt, Will, and Reid's first time in the big city.

We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge,

 went to a game at Yankee Stadium,

 had Will's birthday lunch at John's Pizza,

 Happy 13th Birthday, Will!!!!!

 went to the Apple Store,

 walked through Central Park.

 Before leaving NYC, we celebrated Will's birthday at Junior's Bakery with a Cheesecake!!!

 How lucky to celebrate your 13th birthday in NYC!!!!

Next Stop-Amish Country

We left New York City and headed to Pennsylvania to Bird-In-Hand.  We took a buggy ride around Amish Country and our driver told us all about the way of life.  We also rode around the area and looked at the beautiful farms and crops.  We were amazed at how pretty the corn was.

 We had a family style meal at an Amish restaurant.  Will and Reid said it was their favorite meal of the whole trip.

 This was the buggy we took the ride on.

 The crops were so green.  They had a lot of rainfall.

 Matt enjoyed talking to the Amish man.

This was an Amish family pulling into their house.

Last Stop-Baltimore

After leaving Amish Country we headed to Baltimore. 

While there we explored the Baltimore Inner Harbor, toured Fort McHenry, and went to a Baltimore Orioles game.

 Baltimore Inner Harbor

 Reid enjoyed eating fresh crab.

 On the ferry to Fort McHenry

 Ramparts at Fort McHenry

 Such a nice ballpark!!!

 The game went into overtime.  We stayed through the 10th inning.   Orioles ended up winning after we left.

After spending the night in Baltimore, we headed back to Washington to fly home.  We had a great trip.  Made lots of memories!

Spring Break In Chattanooga 2011

We left home early in the morning and arrived in Chattanooga shortly after noon.  We headed straight downtown and bought tickets to the Tennessee Aquarium and the IMAX theater.

 The aquarium had two parts.  We spent the whole afternoon going through both parts.  One building had sea life and the other building river animals.

 Will as we enter the first part.

 Reid had fun petting the stingrays.  Every time we saw an exhibit that allowed petting, Reid had to get hands on!  Will just looked.  Not his thing!

 One of our favorites was the penguin exhibit.

 Then there was this HUGE crab. 

 Lots and lots of jellyfish in this part of the aquarium.

 Poison Dart Frog

 Reid clowns around while posing at this statue in downtown.

 I really like the seahorse exhibit.  They are fascinating to me.  The male seahorse takes care of the eggs laid by the female. He keeps them in his pouch until they hatch.

 This was one of the stingrays that Reid petted.

 The Southern Belle right outside the aquarium on the Tennessee River.

 More seahorses.

 After we went to see the Hubble Telescope IMAX, we were hungry so we took the trolley to Sticky Fingers restaurant where we had some wonderful ribs.  Then we were so tired we headed to the hotel at Lookout Mountain.  We stayed at a very nice new Fairfield Inn right at the foot of the mountain. 

Ruby Falls

After a good night's sleep we got up on Thursday morning and headed up Lookout Mountain to Ruby Falls.  I have been here twice.  Once on an FHA trip when I was a Sophomore in High School, and once when my children were small.  We stopped here first and we really enjoyed exploring the cave.  Since we were at the back of the group, Reid was chosen to be the one to yell when the guide was making sure all the group was together.  Could this have anything to do with the fact that he can really yell loud?

 Getting Ready To Go Down In The Cave

 This was the only formation that we were allowed to touch.  But, Reid had a big problem following the rule.  I think he touched everything he could reach!  Thank goodness we were at the back of the group!

We finally reached the underground falls.  They turned the lights off right before we got there and then suddenly turned them on so we could see the falls.  No one knows where the water comes from. 



Walking in back of the falls.