Que Sera, Sera: Vacation 2010

Day 2 - July 3, 2010

We arrived at the Marine Base, Quantico at approximately 2:30 PM (ET). My son and daughter and law met us off base. She jumped in the car with us to make it easier to get on base. We rested a bit, ate steak for supper, then headed into Washington DC. We arrived at our hotel room at about 8:00 PM. We were all exhausted and knew the next day was going to be exhausting, but we all had so much energy and excitement that we decided to walk to the Nations Capitol, which was just two blocks from our hotel. As we got closer, we could hear singing and music. The closer we got, we recognized the voice.....it was Reba McIntyre! We thought it was just a recording, but it really was her! We didn't know it, but it was a dress rehearsal for the televised show on July 4th. After that, we went back to the hotel and went to bed.

The Liaison Hotel

Capital Hill

Day 3 - July 4, 2010

We must have been exhausted, because we didn't roll out of bed until 12:00 PM! We jumped up and my friend and I let the kids get ready first. Once they left to go to the Smithsonian, we ate breakfast and slowly began to dress for the day. Capital Hill Police were opening the gates of the west lawn at the Nations Capital at 3:00 PM. My friend and I wanted to make sure we were there as soon as they opened to get the perfect spot for the concert. As we approached the Nations Capital (which my poor friend had to carry the ice chest up Capital Hill), we realized that about 2,000 other people had the same idea. After a drug sniffing dog sniffed our ice chest, me being yelled at by Capital Police for trying to take a picture of security, and then finally through security screening at the gate, we were in! We headed to the west lawn and found the perfect spot. Now I asked those nice security people that yelled at me if they would be closing down entrance to the concert at any point. I figured my friend and I were there 5 hours early but why have a whiny children there with us too. He said no, that they would let people in up until the end of the concert. Well, as we were sitting there, in the sun, baking, a lady happen to ask the same question to one of the Park Rangers strolling along the crowds. He said yes, they would be closing down the west lawn once it was filled to capacity....then he says "and it is almost filled to capacity now." My friend and I was in our own little world, up at the front, and when we turned around, it was like whooooaaaaaa where did all this people come from? So with that bit of news, we panicked and called the kids and told them to cut the Smithsonian short and get over here NOW! Well, they wanted to eat first, then go to the hotel for a rest. Needless to say, they closed it at 5:30 PM. My daughter didn't go to the hotel room, and she was upset she was locked out. Therefore, Mom to the rescue! I devised a plan. I knew she had been going to nightclubs before she was 21. To go to the bathroom, the security people gave you a stamp on your hand to get back in. So I went to the gate, said I needed to go to the bathroom, and got the "OK" stamp on my hand. Now people, you know I expected something fancy since this is the Nations Capital, and we had high security....but no, they had little ole self inking stamping from Wal-Mart. So all we did was hide behind a tree, out of the eyes of security, and I transferred the stamp from my hand to hers. Presto.....ticket to the west lawn. We nonchalantly walked right past security, and to our perfect spot on the west lawn. I kept waiting for the secret service to come and whisk us off to jail, but no they didn't. When my son and daughter and law showed up, my daughter and I go them to stamp us darker and we did the same thing with them. How's that for security at our Nations Capitol. My friend and I said it was worth the wait. The Concert was Awesome! We knew if we didn't come to this event, we would probably never have this chance again. After the concert, we went back to the hotel and ordered pizza and went passed out! See pictures below.

My daughter waiting on the concert.

Day 4 - July 5, 2010

We got up early checked out, loaded the van, and waited for our Sight Seeing bus. Luckily for us, there was a stop right in front of our hotel, but that was the only lucky thing we had going for us all day. The bus showed up at about 10:40. (wait time 40 min.) Our first stop was the White House. They let us off of the bus and we look around and didn't see the White House, so we just followed the crowd. Up a hill we went, when my daughter plops down here purse and said "Ok, take a picture of me." I said where? She said, "In front of the White House!" I started laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. I'm like "K" that isn't the White House, that is the Treasury Department!" She was so embarrassed. It is built in the same fashion as the White House. I laughed all afternoon about that. We just kept walking, following people, and we finally showed up at the White House. The pictures will show you that you cannot get too close. However, I was excited. I screamed "Hey President Obama! Come out and wave at your #1 fan from LA! "K" said, "Mom you would crap if he did huh? After our photo ops at the White House, we stopped and took pictures of the National Christmas Tree. We walked back down the path to the Visitors Center. We toured the Visitors Center, used the bathroom, and headed back to the bus stop. (wait time -30 minutes) We finally hopped back on the bus and headed to the National Cathedral, which was a ways out of town. When we finally got there, up a hill we went again. It was absolutely stunning! The architecture, stained glass, furnishing.....and we found out that the church was built completely with donated money. By this time (1:30PM), we were starved (we had not eaten breakfast) and dying of thirst. When we get to the bus stop, we waited for at least 45 minutes. The bus finally shows up, people get off, and the bus driver and attendant says the bus is overheating and we can get on, but it may not go anywhere. We hopped on just in case. A few minutes later, he shuts the bus off. We wait for about another 10 minutes, and another bus shows up. Well, we hop off that bus and hop on the other bus....we ended on the open deck 13 ft in the air. Now those of you who know me...know that I am scared of heights. I did not like this bus. What if it fell over? What if we got in a wreck? We would surely be dead. But we were desperate to get to a place to eat, and sit and relax in air condition. We were heading to Georgetown. On our ride there, they warned us to watch for low branches and electrical lines....lovely, I say. I spent the whole time ducking ....I didn't see a thing. My daughter was a quite bit braver, but she got slapped in the head with a branch. Again I couldn't help but laugh at her.....the man in front of her did get hit and he was a got 2 inches higher than her, but it bounced over his head and slapped her in the forehead. Only "K". When we got off at Georgetown, we chose a quaint little French Bistro. I had a salad for the first time and "K" and I shared an avocado stuffed with crab meat.....it was so good. My french picked a grilled chicken sandwich with grilled veggies.....everything was so good, especially the water! Afterwards, we walked down the streets and shopped a little. My daughter found a Vintage Shop.....her kinda thing. She bought a ring and a pair of sunglasses. Then we stopped into a souvenir shop and my friend bought something for her son and daughter. As we walked out the store, we saw our bus and ran to get on. Now it was 4:00 PM. We were at stop 17 and we needed to get to 29 before 5:00 PM to pick up the van.Well so many people were on the bus, we had to stand up and hold onto the straps. As we got going, the bus driver had to slow down because every time he hit a bump the bottom of the bus would scrap the ground....we were overloaded. We made it back to the hotel at 4:55 PM. My son had the van ready and we head back to the Marine Base at Quantico. We are exhausted, but enjoy the pics below. I should be able to post tomorrow night.