Winter at George Washington’s Mt. Vernon
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Arlington Cemetery is one of those places that you have to visit when you come to Washington DC. The cemetery is beautiful, peaceful, saddening and yet hopeful. Visiting with young kids takes away a bit of the opportunity for contemplation, but my hope is in a trade off of small seeds of impression planted in
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The last day of our Disney World trip was spent in Animal Kingdom, and it was awesome. In general, AK felt less crowded than the other parks and we enjoyed the variety of rides and attractions. The new Avatar, Flight of Passage ride had opened shortly before we visited, so the plan was to head
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We bought 5 day park hopper passes for our trip to Disney World, which meant that one park could be repeated. We chose to spread Magic Kingdom over two days and I’m glad that we did. The park is full of rides that appealed to everyone in our group and we were able to repeat
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The third day of our trip to Disney World was slated for Hollywood Studios. We found that we only needed a few hours at the park with the kids, and their time was better spent on an afternoon nap. Thankfully, our traveling companions- my parents- rescued their tired little grandchildren and accompanied them back to
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After our first day, at Magic Kingdom, we were ready to tackle Epcot. We walked from Yacht Club, where we were staying, right to the back gate, which was super convenient, but also put us on entirely the opposite side of the park from all of the rides. Semi-undaunted, we walked all the way around
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Our Disney trip was months in the making. I think we started officially planning in March, and we traveled in October. Astonishingly, we were barely early enough, as some hotels were sold out already for military rates for our dates, and reservations for certain activities opened up within a month or so of our booking
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I’ve learned something new about film. Portra 160 doesn’t like quite as much light as Portra 400 and the other higher ISO films I’ve worked with. Exposing for the shadows leaves me with more highlight brightness than I’d like. Filing away “meter for midtones for Portra 160” for future reference. Has anyone else experienced the
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Our ‘great summer road trip’ rounded out with a few nights spent outside Boston. We found an AirBnB close to a Subway stop and spent a morning and afternoon walking around the city. First- figuring out the ticketing system. Not so self explanatory. A nice transit employee leaving her shift happened to walk by and
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After New Hampshire, we were headed down to Boston to see some family friends and check out the city. However, we want to hit as many East Coast states as possible, while we live in Virginia, so we made a side trip to the Southern coast of Maine for the day. Our first stop was
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After the epic one day road trip from Western upstate New York, across Vermont, to the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee, we had settled into our rental for the next two nights and were ready to explore New Hampshire. The state has long been on our list of possible places to land after we’re done moving
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On our summer vacation this year, we spent our first few nights in Ithaca New York, then drove across the state, and Vermont, to Meredith New Hampshire on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee. The drive was beautiful, but, let me tell you… don’t get off the highway at the wrong exit in rural New York.
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I love living in an area that has four seasons. Fall and Spring are my favorites, and I look forward to fall activities all year long. Over the past two falls we’ve visited several farms in the Northern Virginia and I wanted to share three of my favorites. Fall Farm Activities in Northern Virginia |
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College towns all have their own unique feeling, don’t they? I managed to attend 3 colleges in the 4 years it took me to accomplish my bachelors degree. The first was a community college in my hometown (so the vibe felt… nonexistent? ;) ), the second was a mid-size state university in the last dry
Pin ItWhen trip planning, I start with the locations, then fill in the details. When we decided on a road trip through New England it didn’t take long at all to choose to include a stop at Watkins Glen in the Finger Lakes region of New York. We were booked to stay just outside Ithaca, and
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When we lived in Sicily we wanted to ease our kids into the European travel scene. We decided that traveling to a location with English speakers and an easy-going culture would be the perfect fit. Malta was the perfect fit. A bonus for our plan of visiting Malta with kids was that the flight from
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After leaving Virgin Gorda, we sailed for a few hours until we reached the island of Jost Van Dyke. The plan was a few hours on the beach enjoying the libations at the Soggy Dollar Bar, then dinner at Foxys, both of which are storied institutions. As youthful (we think ;)) mid-30s folks we felt a
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Some people might be excited about the prospect of… A) Not showering for 5 nights B) “Showering” in a wetroom where the floor was literally 1 foot x 1 foot square -or- C) Jumping into the ocean and calling yourself clean…. but Courtney and I were not. So, we agreed to reserve 3 nights during our
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After our time on the sailboat in the British Virgin Islands we headed back for an overnight stay on St Thomas before flying out the next night. This time, we stayed at a hotel down near the water, called Olga’s Fancy. The owner/proprietor is a lovely lady who was very helpful arranging taxi service to
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During the time that we lived in Sicily, we did the majority of our traveling in Italy. However, we did make one trip up North, to London and Paris right around Christmas time. Each city has its own charms, but I did find London a little more kid-friendly. That may have had a lot to
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January is the perfect time of year for a girls’ weekend. Georgetown is an awesome location. Food, coffee, cocktails, shopping and laughter. Followed by a little bit of work. But, not too much ;) Pin It
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Philadelphia’s historic district is quite compact and perfect for walking around with kids. Within several blocks we were able to visit Independence Hall, The Liberty Bell, The Betsy Ross House, Benjamin Franklin’s grave, Elfreth’s Alley and had a fantastic lunch at High Street Market. The walk to City Hall and Reading Terminal was a bit
Pin ItI wasn’t aware just how storied and well traveled the Liberty Bell is. The exhibit that accompanies it is very educational and the building designers did photographers a favor with the wall of windows and white marble on either side (…if you can elbow your way past all of the tourists and wait for an
Pin ItI still am not over the feeling of awe that arises when we “stand where Washington stood.” Or Hamilton. Or Lincoln. Or…. And then I fall down the rabbit hole of contemplating what made the individuals that we remember history makers. What factors combined perfectly to propel them to making the choices they did, that
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