Move by Yourself

A Day of History - Washington D.C.

I am embarrassed to admit in all of the 20+ years that I've lived in DMV (District Maryland Virginia), and in all the time I've spent in D.C, I have never been to the top of the Washington Monument.

And, get this, its free!

Yea, how awesome is that! Actually, there are insane amounts of cool things to do and see in D.C that are completely free.

So after the earthquake damage was repaired and the Monument, which I used to refer to as "the pencil" when I was younger, reopened back in May, I knew that, once I came home from Paraguay, I had to finally make the trek to the top.

Fun fact of the day - the Washington Monument is the tallest building in D.C. due to the Height of Buildings Act of 1910 which made it impossible for other buildings to be taller.

Our next stop was the Lincoln Memorial, one of my favorite memorials in D.C. You get a great view of the Washington Monument but, Lincoln himself is pretty awesome. Every time I go there he is much bigger and grander than I remember.

Our final stop of the day was the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. I have been there several times, but its always fun to go to a place you have been before and see it through someone else's eyes, and Jose was like a kid in a candy shop, amazed by everything he saw.

It was a long, long day, and by the end of it, I was dead and so were my feet.

Have you eve been to Washington D.C.? Is there a place close to where you live and have always wanted to visit, but never got the chance?

Labels: History, Local Travel, Museum, Travel, United States, Washington DC

World Traveler in Exile - Life Update

When I started this blog I was embarking on the adventure of a lifetime, moving to Paraguay and joining the Peace Corps. I had so many new and exciting experiences to write about.

Now, that I have moved back home, I'm not traveling as often, if at all. I'm studying for the GRE because I've decided to apply to grad school and in the meantime I'm looking for jobs because, lets face it, I'm broke.

Due to all of these changes I found myself writing less and less about travel because I'm not doing as much of it. So I've decided to let my blog continue to move into this next phase. Don't worry i'll still be writing about travel, I will always write about travel, its in my blood. But, it will probably be more local travel like my last few posts on the Aquarium in Baltimore and my afternoon in Annapolis.

Also I hope continue to include more things that I love, more things that are relevant to my life, things like recipes I love, DIY projects that I can attempt now that I have access to the supplies and just more every day life things.

So I hope you guys stick with me through this transition and continue to follow along on my adventure!

Labels: Adventure, Change, Life Update

A Visit to the Baltimore Aquarium

I hadn't been to the Baltimore Aquarium in over 10 years ... actually it had probably been longer then that, since elementary school. When deciding what to see on Jose's one day in Baltimore, he expressed interest in going to the Aquarium and I'm not going to lie I was not too excited.

Well, this is probably the only time you'll here me say this, but I was crazy wrong.

It was amazing! It is set in such a great way as to guide you through the whole aquarium in a captivating way.

The jellyfish exhibit was by far my favorite part, which surprised me too, since I swore to hate them forever after being stung by one while wakeboarding in the Chesapeake Bay. But, I was amazed at how beautiful they were and how many different types of jellyfish there are.

We paid the $5 upgrade to see the 4-D movie experience. 4-D means there are smells, things sprayed at you, poking you and much more. It was awesome, I highly recommend it!

After the Aquarium we headed to the most touristy restaurant I could think of, the Hard Rock Cafe at the Inner Harbor.

(I find this picture hilarious, like we are the king and queen of Hard Rock)

Then we wandered around the the Inner Harbor looking at a few of the big ships that were still in the harbor after the 200th anniversary celebration of the writing of the Star-Spangled Banner.