LIVING...We Made IT!

WOW, I can't believe it's already April, time is flying by so fast. I thought I should up date our blog and share some pictures of our trip to DC, which by the way is awesome, beautiful and so much fun!

Our trip started off taking us through Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. We took Hwy 20 and the feel of  each of these states was the same...tree lined roads, lots of farm land and green,green, green.  Unfortunately we did not spend any time going into the bigger cities on this trip.  We did take the Selma to Jackson route so the kids could see how far the walk was that the civil rights members took...47 miles.  They walked 12 miles a day.  We learned a lot about this time in history thanks to having google on our phones.  Technology is a gift.  We made really good time and so decided to venture off of the beaten path and head towards Savannah, GA.

This is a typical street in downtown Savannah.  The historic section of Savannah is not very large, I think they said it is 2.5 miles by 2.5 miles.

The historical section is made up of one way streets and "squares".  There are 22 squares that are parks with statues, flowers and park benches.  These are surrounded by lots of homes and old buildings used for businesses.

The trees are covered with moss. We were told that the moss does not hurt the trees.  It makes the trees look amazing.

Typical home in Savannah.

You will see lots of iron, brick and painted buildings.  I loved this color combination.  The iron work is  very detailed on a lot of buildings and it has been painted black over and over.

I love doors.  This door was aged by weather and looked to not have been painted recently.  Most of the 1400 buildings in this area have all been restored and maintained perfectly.

This is another square

The historic district boast a lot of different nationalities, this was  in front of an English pub.  I love the red phone booths.

Down by the river walk they have lots of steam boats for dinner tours.  The river walk has some great restaurants.  The stairs are amazing, they are literally straight up and down.  At Mardi Gras they have to close the stairs...apparently green beer and steep stairs don't mix well.

This is the cemetery inn town.  These crypts are more designed to the times and the style of the day.  In Louisiana they have this style more for need.  The water table is too high to have underground burials.

The Pink House.  This is another typical style of the architecture that you will see in Savannah, along with this soft, painted  hue of pink or coral.

There are very few gingerbread houses left in the district.  These are two that were on our tour and the picture is blurred a bit because of the plastic that I had to shoot through.

They have tried to retain the cobble stone streets down by the river walk.  I love this look.

Savannah is beautiful.  It was absolutely one of the prettiest cities I have been in.  The thought that I have is one of gratitude that this city was preserved from the destruction of the civil war and how so many hands have maintained the buildings and spirit of the city.  I have waited a life time to visit this town and on the one day we decide to go...it's freezing and so bitter cold.  I did not let this detour us though.  Cory and I set off to explore this town and we had a great time.  I unfortunately did not get a ton of photographs..bummer.  We took a trolley tour, but the sides were down and so some of the pictures look hazy.  We ate at Hueys on the river walk...soooo goood!   The big kids were not up to more sight seeing and it was too cold for Isabella.  It was nice to have a day together.  We will definitely come back when we have a few more days to explore and hopefully get outside more.  They had some wonderful tours that I would have loved to take..but time was not on our side for this trip.

At Denny they are doing all things "bacon", including their Sundae's.  We ordered one and it was awesome.  Vanilla Ice Cream, maple syrup and bacon...YUMMY.   Of course we ate this first, the waitress thought we were weird.  You can take sandwich in a doggie bag but not ice cream...LOL

Savannah KOA.  We were so lucky to get their last spot.  We had a huge thunder and lightening storm that night and the next morning the park was cleared out.

Roanoke, VA KOA.  The trees are so huge here.  Drake could not get over how tall they all are.

Nothing like a bath in the sink.

I wish that we had taken route 17 up to Myrtle Beach and the by way.  It sounds beautiful but we were ready to get here and be done with long days of driving.  We stopped in VA and camped one night at a KOA in Raonoke.   Our last day was 4 hours and we arrived to freezing cold and rain, mixed with sleet.

Our set up to get to DC

I have to admit, this area is nothing like I expected it to be.  The wide openness of this area is amazing to us.  There are lots of small towns, with lots of open road and forested areas everywhere.  We expected it to be city for miles.

Drake and Rye in front of the White House.  The area to take pictures is not that large and their are a ton of people packed into this small area.

The Castle.  This is part of the Smithsonian.

Cherry blossom's on the trees...so pretty.  The couple off to the far right in the very back had just gotten engaged.  I looked over and he was down on one knee, heard the yes, then saw the kiss and a huge hug was given.   I walked over and offered to take a few pictures so they would and could remember their special day.  They were thrilled.  They were in town to celebrate her grandmothers 95 birthday and he wanted her to know they were getting married.  SO sweet!  I felt lucky to be able to witness such a special moment.

This is my "we made it" pose.  Yes, I am dorky...ask my kids.

I think this picture sums up our soon to be life in the city.  I like it, no...I love it!

Being in a large city, you get introduced to a lot of street music and vendors.  We sat and listened to this guy for a minute and he was really good. I think he worked for donations.

In side the Natural History Museum.  This elephant was pretty impressive on the first floor,

Sitting in the mall area, having a snack and resting our feet,

Hope Diamond...it's blue but the glass made it hard to capture the color and you had just a second to take a picture.

Isabella loves giraffes.  This picture is of  her sitting in front of the exhibit on Africa.

In the ocean exhibit they had this coral reef.  The whole thing is made up of knitted pieces.  This picture does not do it justice but it is quite beautiful to see.  The colors are very vibrant,

We did not walk over to the Lincoln monument, but this is it from across the water.  We will when it is not too busy with the festival.  

I think this is a tulip tree.  It was so beautiful and these are on the lawns of the white house.

This is the field in front of the white house, we did walk around the park and get a closer look...the picture below is better.

Cory and I set off to explore the area and to find his work.   He works in two different locations.  One is downtown and one is out in New Carrollton.  Both sites are easy to get to and he is looking forward to his new customer.

We took the kids down to the Cherry Festival yesterday.  The first thing they wanted to see was the white house.  We then ventured into the Natural History Museum.  The place was huge and very busy.  I think the kids are happy to be here and they seem to be adjusting to the prospect of living here.

We would love to have visitors come and stay with us when we get settled into a house or town home.  We are looking at different areas and options.

Maggie made it just fine with the trailer.  We were so relieved to have arrived and found that she is doing great still.  Pulling our large trailer is no easy task and I am sure she is glad to be unloaded of the weight of the trailer.  Now parking the beast is a different story..LOL  She's a big girl and requires ample parking, this is the tricky part.  Fortunately the Metro has parking at the top for larger vehicles.  We are looking into buying a "tuna can' to drive around town in.

Our travels have been an awesome opportunity for us to experience this wonderful country that we live in.  We are grateful for this and feel very blessed!  I know that our time here is going to go by so fast too.  We will be spending our weekends exploring the east coast and learning all that we can.  Love our life!