Home Sweet... Hyundai

Washington D.C.: March 27, 2015

Stars in the sky at an exhibit in the Native American Museum

There were some very excellent displays in this museum

This canoe caught me by surprise as it was the only Hawaiian artifact. So I guess Hawaii is kind of sort of considered being Native?

Train station to go back to Fredericksburg

We had to sit in the back of the train so no one would judge us. 

Dinner with the Family

How to survive dinner with the Family (1 Liter of Hofbrau Lager) I only wish you could see a size comparison. It weighed about 5 or 6 pounds full. 

The Dinner spread. Everything German. Completely amazing! Sauerkraut, potatoes, cabbage, corn, schnitzel, and much more!

Today was our last day in Washington DC. We slept in and had breakfast at the hotel again. Unfortunately their coffee was not very good today. We then proceeded to pack and check out of the hotel. Since we had about 3.5 hours before our train we left our bags at the hotel and headed to the National Museum of the Native American. We wandered for a good bit. They had some excellet exhibits and a couple blah ones. We left there and got Starbucks to do the job the hotel coffee could not. Picked up our bags and arrived at the train station early. 

Gretchen's trip highlights: 

Favorite: WWII Memorial struck the biggest cord with me. My great grandfather was in this war so I think having a direct connection like that makes a bigger impact on the way you view these memorials and monuments. Of course it all has impacted our nation, but this one hit home with me. 

Least Favorite: All of the field trips that we had to zigzag around.. Kayla's going to tell me I can't use that as my least favorite part, but it's true.. everything is so ginormous and breathtaking that it's hard to concentrate and appreciate all of it when there are hundreds of screaming unappreciative children running around the city. 

Firsts: Pretty much the entire trip was a first for me. I went to DC with Kayla last year, but it seemed like all the spots we hit on this trip were all brand new. 

Lasts: I will never forget my good shoes at home again! I have two different pairs of running shoes that I use for work, and I had planned to bring a pair since they have a little more support, but being that we were here-there-and everywhere before we left, I forgot them by the front door. 

Kayla's Trip highlights:

Favorite: Tie between the Lincoln Memorial and the American History Museum. Lincoln because of what he symbolyzes and just the enormity of the sculpture. The museum because it houses so much of our countries history and all of the exhibits were amazing and intriguing. 

Least Favorite: Native American Museum. It was very confusing for me. There are so many different tribes and it was hard to understand the majority of the museum. The one exhibit called 'Our Universes' did an amazing job separating each tribe and explaining who they are, but the other ones not so much. They also had a lot of South American tribes included when it could have easily been filled with information on tribes from the US alone. 

Firsts: Ride on the VRE, Museum of The Native American, eating at Georgia Browns

Lasts: time I come when it is cold. From now on I will only come to this city in the spring or summer. 

The train ride back was pretty uneventful. Gretchen slept and I stared out of the window. The only REALLY bad part about the train ride was both of us needed the bathroom BAD. From the time we got to the train platform through the whole train ride we were doing everything we could not to think about it. When we pulled into Fredericksburg we raced to the nearest building and Gretchen ran in to ask them if we could use their bathroom. Graciously they said yes. While waiting for her with all of our stuff I noticed the sign said The Bavarian Chef. I knew my mother made plans for us at a German restaurant nearby so I asked her which one. It just so happened to be one and the same. We were able to get a table and finally use the restroom! It was exciting.

Dinner was way too incredible. I've never had german food in America that I can recall. Maybe sauerkraut with sausage and that's it. When Randall and I went to Munich we ate ALL THE GERMAN FOOD! Well we did the same for this dinner. It was an extremely cool restaurant. You pick your entree and then they bring out all of the sides for the table to share so everyone can try everything. It felt like just sharing a meal at home. We were so full so fast. Then these tricky people brought out an actual platter with their desserts. Not a menu, but the ACTUAL desserts they serve you. We had to turn down the most beautiful German Chocolate Cake IN PERSON. Such a mean trick they play...