Alexandria

Our last day of vacation, obviously we did not spend it the way we thought but it was a really memorable day.  We let the kids sleep in and left the hotel about 9:30 a.m. we checked out of the hotel and drove to the College Park Metro, rode the train one last time down to King Street which is in Alexandria.  It is this beautiful little historic town that has a water front.  We walked old town and explored some of the shops.  We found one called Ten Thousand Villages, it is a shop that brings in handicrafts from around the world and the profit goes back to the artisans to help build their villages.  Troy bought a chess set, I of course found an ornament that was made in Peru, Sara bought a hand bag and J.T. got a hakisack.  We continued our walk to the water  front, we had lunch at CH house right on the water.  Our plan was to go to downtown D.C.  to walk around, we knew we wouldn't be able to see much, but thought that we could catch some glimpses from the sidewalk.  Just as we boarded the Metro, we got word that there had been shooting at the Capitol and a car chase near the White House.  We decided that the mass chaos that had to be going on probably was not where we needed to be so we stayed on the Metro and went back to our car.  For whatever reason I don’t think we were meant to be in Washington D.C. on this trip.  We talked about the fact that we were going to need to rename the trip.  Sara came up with,  “The time we tried to go to D.C. but couldn't trip.”  It about sums it up.  We headed back to Baltimore for our final night.  We stopped at Bob Evans and ate for our final dinner.  It was a little ironic since when we landed we planned on eating there but it was closed, I told the kids that night, that sometimes things don’t always work out like you plan, sometimes you have to adjust and just go with whatever comes your way.  Who knew how prophetic that statement would be.  We giggled at dinner and talked about all the neat things that we were able to do.  We compared Monticello with Mount Vernon.  We talked about how amazing it was to be in Independence Hall and to have stood where the founding fathers stood.  We talked about the solemnness of Gettysburg.  My hope was to spend a week with my family sharing a trip with amazing sites and great history.  My hope was to make incredible memories that will bind my family together.  My hope was that we would grow closer to one another and think of others before we think of ourselves.  Mission accomplished.  It was a great success!