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Aug. 15th, 2007 09:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kippurbirdMy trip was wrought with misfortune. As well as good things.
First off, there were no major injuries or illnesses. I did not get horribly bitten by insects. Still, bad luck abounded.
Before we left on our trip:
I decided apparently to get a horrible bladder infection about five days before we left. Two days before we left one of the pipes in my parent's upstairs bathroom broke and flooded the bathroom.
Leaving for the trip:
The taxi does not show up. The flight leaves at eight and the taxi was called at for six and it has not shown up. We have to call another cab company (which does show up). We manage to get through security with no problems or my brother bitching. However my brother has decided that he speaks Spanish. This entails adding "ola" to the last word in a sentence, saying 'hola' and 'do you speak espenolia' the entire tripola. Also, he decided that he only wants to eat 'zesty' food. Whatever that means. Surprisingly, I did not kill him. Not for lack of want, I assure you.
We get on the plane (which is a beverages only flight, something that my brother also bitched about) and I see Shrek the Third. Which wasn't bad... but wasn't good either. Then the pilot comes on and says well the control tower wants us to circle for twenty five minutes, but we only have twenty five minutes left of fuel. Isn't that fun to hear? Fortunately flight control lets us land before we all die from a lack of fuel.
Luggage is retrieved with no problems and we get our rental car. And promptly get horribly lost. It happens mostly because my mom can't find her self on the map and when she does discover which exit we should take, we had just driven past it. Also you people back on the east coast? Have you ever heard of placing signs where they are VISIBLE?! I'm just saying. Just a wee bit of a suggestion. Anyway, after meandering around trying to find signs and exits and streets that didn't go in the wrong direction, we found our hotel (which by the way was redoing their tiles, so uber construction like stuff going on.)
We sleep, we have breakfast (French toast) and we go out to visit the capital of Maryland and the Navel Academy. Which was actually nice. George Washington resigned his military commission there and the building is the oldest continuous in use capitol building in the United States. I also learned the origin of the phrase "it costs an arm and a leg". A painter... I want to say his name was Peel, was a very good portrait painter and did a lot of paintings for the Rich. Who didn't pay well at all. So, he started charging per body part. A person who has two hands and a leg cost less than a man who has two hands and two legs. And so on. So, thus the expression "it costs and arm and a leg". (Yay for random crap learned. Like Richard II was gay. And now I have to go over Shakespeare's Richard the II to see if he put anything in it.)
My parents went off to Wedding Stuff that night and my brother and I went out to dinner. We went to this fancy Italian restaurant. First we ordered the non-meat spaghetti and got meat in it, so they gave us a free dessert. Then as we were finishing up our meal and I was crunching ice, I discovered there happened to be glass in my glass. Yes. Real glass in my glass. No one knew how it got there, however my brother and I got our meal for free. Still, eating glass? Not fun.
Morning we went and had breakfast/lunch with dad's family. That was fun. Two tables of people migrating all around the restaurant, talking and chatting and eating. I had lovely fresh made waffles and fresh strawberries. My parents went to the wedding and my brother and I saw the Pixar Rat movie. Which I liked. We had dinner, no glass and a rather nice quiet night. The next day we had another large family breakfast before driving off to West Virginia.
We saw Monticello , where Thomas Jefferson lived and had a rather politically correct tour guide. Apparently he didn't take in that for the time, Jefferson was an Enlightened Slave Owner. Just having slaves was evil. Still, it was a lovely place and I enjoyed it very much. (Jefferson donated his library at his death to the government which became the basis of the Library of Congress). We saw James Madison's home that day too, which Jefferson also designed. The next day we went to the Luray Caverns and I got a new hat. The caverns were pretty neat too. =D No one slip and fell, though I garnered a great urge to kill people. Several times we were told DO NOT TOUCH THE ROCKS! and what did people do? they touched the rocks! Why do people find it so hard to listen? I mean, yes, the rocks are shiny and everything, but still! The reason why we went to Luray Caverns instead of any of the other ones around was because my dad discovered they had a car museum. When this was mentioned he went, "They Do?! How Surprising?!" I <3 my dad.
I bought a pair of earrings and a necklace there. Three hours later, I lost my necklace. Also by this point, my brother managed to lose a shoe (or would that be a shoeola?) not a pair of shoes, but a single shoe. Fascinating how he managed that.
Our next stop was Harper's Ferry. The night before we went, my mom and I saw Transformers (surprisingly good) and my dad and brother saw the Simpson's movie (which they liked). At Harper's Ferry I learned all about John Brown, as well as John Brown and John Brown. In the rain, my brother and I waded in the Potomac river which was fun and we had custard.
From there we went to Harrisburg Pennsylvania and visited their capitol before seeing a friend that I met on my Birthright trip to Israel. We went to Hershy and to the "world of Chocolate" ride. It reminded me a lot of It's a Small World from Disneyland. But with chocolate and singing cows. When we went back, I jumped in my friend's pool fully clothed (TMI note: Jumping in a pool with a panty liner is very interesting when you get out. ) my brother, friend and her brother went swimming in bathing suits. I got yelled at, of course. Still I enjoyed it. We had a lovely dinner and then I got into a discussion with my friend's father and older brother about why you can't just "write what you want" even if it is fantasy. Which didn't go anywhere, and I feel the urge to write a rant about that.
From there we went to Virgina again and stayed near enough to DC that we could take the Subway there. (My favorite part about taking the subway? Sticking the subway pass into the turnstile thingy and plucking it out again) we went to the International Spy Museum where I learned that DC has the most amount of spies anywhere in the world and promptly became paranoid and started wondering who around me in DC was a real spy; National Building Museum which had an interesting exhibit on David Macaulay and the Smithsonian National Postal Museum, which is part of the Smithsonian. We had dinner at a nice Kosher restaurant in downtown DC and retired back at the hotel.
Our final vacation day, my brother lost his cell phone on the subway. We didn't discover this until after we had visited the Smithsonian National Space and Aviation museum. That didn't go over too well. Fortunately it wasn't a new phone, which my dad had been trying to figure out if we should get before or after the trip. We went to the National History Museum after that (where I got a stuffed platypus which was promptly named Fred) and then the Library of Congress which was really neat. A beautiful building...and I wish I could have seen more. But we didn't have time. =(
Packing, we discovered that I had lost my hat that I had brought on my trip. Which brings the total of lost items to three. I shall miss my hat. We manged to get to the airport without any major problems and flying home wasn't difficult either.
I picked up the cat and brought him home. He was so happy to be home that he decided that waking me up all night was a good and happy thing. Needless to say, I'm exhausted.
Unfortunately, it seems that Pepper, our parakeet (you can see his picture on my background) got sick while we were gone and we have to take him into the vet today. Wish him well.
First off, there were no major injuries or illnesses. I did not get horribly bitten by insects. Still, bad luck abounded.
Before we left on our trip:
I decided apparently to get a horrible bladder infection about five days before we left. Two days before we left one of the pipes in my parent's upstairs bathroom broke and flooded the bathroom.
Leaving for the trip:
The taxi does not show up. The flight leaves at eight and the taxi was called at for six and it has not shown up. We have to call another cab company (which does show up). We manage to get through security with no problems or my brother bitching. However my brother has decided that he speaks Spanish. This entails adding "ola" to the last word in a sentence, saying 'hola' and 'do you speak espenolia' the entire tripola. Also, he decided that he only wants to eat 'zesty' food. Whatever that means. Surprisingly, I did not kill him. Not for lack of want, I assure you.
We get on the plane (which is a beverages only flight, something that my brother also bitched about) and I see Shrek the Third. Which wasn't bad... but wasn't good either. Then the pilot comes on and says well the control tower wants us to circle for twenty five minutes, but we only have twenty five minutes left of fuel. Isn't that fun to hear? Fortunately flight control lets us land before we all die from a lack of fuel.
Luggage is retrieved with no problems and we get our rental car. And promptly get horribly lost. It happens mostly because my mom can't find her self on the map and when she does discover which exit we should take, we had just driven past it. Also you people back on the east coast? Have you ever heard of placing signs where they are VISIBLE?! I'm just saying. Just a wee bit of a suggestion. Anyway, after meandering around trying to find signs and exits and streets that didn't go in the wrong direction, we found our hotel (which by the way was redoing their tiles, so uber construction like stuff going on.)
We sleep, we have breakfast (French toast) and we go out to visit the capital of Maryland and the Navel Academy. Which was actually nice. George Washington resigned his military commission there and the building is the oldest continuous in use capitol building in the United States. I also learned the origin of the phrase "it costs an arm and a leg". A painter... I want to say his name was Peel, was a very good portrait painter and did a lot of paintings for the Rich. Who didn't pay well at all. So, he started charging per body part. A person who has two hands and a leg cost less than a man who has two hands and two legs. And so on. So, thus the expression "it costs and arm and a leg". (Yay for random crap learned. Like Richard II was gay. And now I have to go over Shakespeare's Richard the II to see if he put anything in it.)
My parents went off to Wedding Stuff that night and my brother and I went out to dinner. We went to this fancy Italian restaurant. First we ordered the non-meat spaghetti and got meat in it, so they gave us a free dessert. Then as we were finishing up our meal and I was crunching ice, I discovered there happened to be glass in my glass. Yes. Real glass in my glass. No one knew how it got there, however my brother and I got our meal for free. Still, eating glass? Not fun.
Morning we went and had breakfast/lunch with dad's family. That was fun. Two tables of people migrating all around the restaurant, talking and chatting and eating. I had lovely fresh made waffles and fresh strawberries. My parents went to the wedding and my brother and I saw the Pixar Rat movie. Which I liked. We had dinner, no glass and a rather nice quiet night. The next day we had another large family breakfast before driving off to West Virginia.
We saw Monticello , where Thomas Jefferson lived and had a rather politically correct tour guide. Apparently he didn't take in that for the time, Jefferson was an Enlightened Slave Owner. Just having slaves was evil. Still, it was a lovely place and I enjoyed it very much. (Jefferson donated his library at his death to the government which became the basis of the Library of Congress). We saw James Madison's home that day too, which Jefferson also designed. The next day we went to the Luray Caverns and I got a new hat. The caverns were pretty neat too. =D No one slip and fell, though I garnered a great urge to kill people. Several times we were told DO NOT TOUCH THE ROCKS! and what did people do? they touched the rocks! Why do people find it so hard to listen? I mean, yes, the rocks are shiny and everything, but still! The reason why we went to Luray Caverns instead of any of the other ones around was because my dad discovered they had a car museum. When this was mentioned he went, "They Do?! How Surprising?!" I <3 my dad.
I bought a pair of earrings and a necklace there. Three hours later, I lost my necklace. Also by this point, my brother managed to lose a shoe (or would that be a shoeola?) not a pair of shoes, but a single shoe. Fascinating how he managed that.
Our next stop was Harper's Ferry. The night before we went, my mom and I saw Transformers (surprisingly good) and my dad and brother saw the Simpson's movie (which they liked). At Harper's Ferry I learned all about John Brown, as well as John Brown and John Brown. In the rain, my brother and I waded in the Potomac river which was fun and we had custard.
From there we went to Harrisburg Pennsylvania and visited their capitol before seeing a friend that I met on my Birthright trip to Israel. We went to Hershy and to the "world of Chocolate" ride. It reminded me a lot of It's a Small World from Disneyland. But with chocolate and singing cows. When we went back, I jumped in my friend's pool fully clothed (TMI note: Jumping in a pool with a panty liner is very interesting when you get out. ) my brother, friend and her brother went swimming in bathing suits. I got yelled at, of course. Still I enjoyed it. We had a lovely dinner and then I got into a discussion with my friend's father and older brother about why you can't just "write what you want" even if it is fantasy. Which didn't go anywhere, and I feel the urge to write a rant about that.
From there we went to Virgina again and stayed near enough to DC that we could take the Subway there. (My favorite part about taking the subway? Sticking the subway pass into the turnstile thingy and plucking it out again) we went to the International Spy Museum where I learned that DC has the most amount of spies anywhere in the world and promptly became paranoid and started wondering who around me in DC was a real spy; National Building Museum which had an interesting exhibit on David Macaulay and the Smithsonian National Postal Museum, which is part of the Smithsonian. We had dinner at a nice Kosher restaurant in downtown DC and retired back at the hotel.
Our final vacation day, my brother lost his cell phone on the subway. We didn't discover this until after we had visited the Smithsonian National Space and Aviation museum. That didn't go over too well. Fortunately it wasn't a new phone, which my dad had been trying to figure out if we should get before or after the trip. We went to the National History Museum after that (where I got a stuffed platypus which was promptly named Fred) and then the Library of Congress which was really neat. A beautiful building...and I wish I could have seen more. But we didn't have time. =(
Packing, we discovered that I had lost my hat that I had brought on my trip. Which brings the total of lost items to three. I shall miss my hat. We manged to get to the airport without any major problems and flying home wasn't difficult either.
I picked up the cat and brought him home. He was so happy to be home that he decided that waking me up all night was a good and happy thing. Needless to say, I'm exhausted.
Unfortunately, it seems that Pepper, our parakeet (you can see his picture on my background) got sick while we were gone and we have to take him into the vet today. Wish him well.
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no subject
Date: 2007-08-15 07:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-15 07:50 pm (UTC)We're going to the vet today for Pepper, hopefully he'll be okay.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-15 08:35 pm (UTC)I hope Pepper is okay :( Taking pets to the vet when they're sick is awful feeling.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-15 09:24 pm (UTC)Me too. I worry about him.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-15 10:19 pm (UTC)And before I forget; what did they serve at the Kosher restaurant? I want to compare it to all the High Holiday meals that get shoved in my face after i get dragged to sermons every year.
Oh and please do the rant about not writing whatever you want in Fantasy. Reading your reviews and rants is incredibly enlightening and amusing.
He'll be okay though, it's often something controllable.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-15 07:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-15 08:02 pm (UTC)And hopefully Pepper will be okay.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-15 10:05 pm (UTC)Building Museum Speech, Part One
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LANAdqLf_h0>Part Two</a> Forgive the crappy audio and shaky video. I was trying to film with a handheld camera from a distance.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-15 10:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-15 08:49 pm (UTC)Just FYI.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-15 09:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-16 02:24 am (UTC)By the way, your birtday present might be a bit late. I have theatre camp tomorrow (I have to dance to High School Musical. Blecch) and have to use a different computer, because mine is being screwy (it will not let me type contractions, quotation marks, question marks, or square brackets, so Ihave to copy and paste, and that would take to long for what I have in mind)
no subject
Date: 2007-08-16 03:55 am (UTC)Sounds like an urban legend to me. Most explanations of expressions like that are just made up, and the truth is no one knows where they came from. :-)
Still, eating glass? Not fun. http://www.geocities.com/nodotus/hbglass.html