Road Trip!

This road adventure took us to some amazing places that I had never had the chance of visiting before. Our first stop was Gettysburg, PA. Then it was onto Washington, D.C., and to Baltimore, MD for the annual NFSA Conference! It was such a beautiful part of the country. I loved it all. It was a bit chilly some days, but seeing the new life of spring arriving there was beautiful.

Gettysburg

Matt has always and forever been a lover of history! He loves learning about the past...especially any war that was fought. He is an expert on WWII. He can tell you just about everything you would ever want to know on the subject. So when we learned about the conference in Baltimore and knowing that Gettysburg wasn't far, he turned his focus (and I mean ALL focus and spare time...) to learning about the Civil War and the Battle of Gettysburg. I kind of make light of his obsessions, but I don't know anyone else who puts so much effort into learning and studying their interest. Because of his study he was able to give us the greatest tour of the battlefield!

Since we drove (the rest of his family flew...sigh...jk) we got there a day ahead for everyone else, so Matt was able to spend one whole day, from sun-up to sun-down, walking around the battlefield! You should have seen him; like a little kids at Christmas! He had on his backpack filled with his books and maps, his hiking boots, and some water and jerky and he set out on a day every "Civil War-history-nerd" dreams of!

The next day when the rest of the Coleman clan arrived, Matt became our own personal tour guide! He added little stories about the soldiers, he knew insights about each day of the battle, and as we drove around to each spot he filled us all with such admiration and respect for what happened on this sacred ground. If you have never been to Gettysburg, you need to plan yourself a little trip and go. The feeling there is one of honor and bravery! It was an incredible place!

We started our tour at the Visitors Center (A must!! It was awesome). Abe welcomed us outside.

Meade...
And Lee...

It was all to exciting for Tal I guess!!

Being in and around the forests and hills where the fighting took place was a bit surreal. It put all the stories into real life.

At the top of one of the monuments. It was just a little cold and windy that day.

The Devil's Den. The deadliest and bloodiest area of the battle. Those rocks were unbelievable.

The Pennsylvania Monument. Emma loved the windy stairs that took you up to the top. She thought they were like princess stairs!

Part of the battlefield

The National Cemetery at Gettysburg
Gettysburg has a fun downtown area. It's such a small town, so it's easy to get out and walk. Neat old stores, gift shops, and of course ice cream!

We concluded our historic stay at no other then Battlefield Harley Davidson (don't you love Emma's pink Union soldier hat. haha)!

Washington, D.C.

I think I was the most excited to see Washington, D.C. Everyone else had been there before, but there was just something about experiencing all these monument and sights you've seen pictures of all your life. I loved it. Only problem...didn't bring a stroller and Washington, D.C. involves much walking! If your smart you'll walk (just remember the stroller). Driving here nearly put Matt over the edge. There is an incredibly long and horrible story that goes along with that, but it's one I think Matt wants to forget. Let's just say it involves during rush hour all lanes of every road lead out of the city...all roads! Enough said.

Our first stop was The White House...Emma's favorite. She was really fascinated by it. She wanted to keep waiting until Pres. Obama came out!

Don't you love it when you ask the funny dressed French guy to take your picture....!!

Due to the extent of our foot travel Tal wore his "really cool and awesome" backpack. I had numerous Asian tourist taking pictures of this. I am Tiger Mom. Here me roar!!!

Then we walked to the Lincoln Memorial...my favorite of the day.

The Reflecting Pool...not so reflective today.

We were lucky enough to be there during the Cherry Blossom Festival. They were absolutely gorgeous! As we walked, we passed a bright pink grove and it was worth a picture or two.

Over to the World War II Memorial. Very, very impressive!



Taking a much needed break. Walking around to all of the monuments put us on a bit of an overload! Walking and walking all the day long...with a 3 year old...whoa boy!
With Grandpa there is always something to see!
The squirrels in the park were very, let's say...personable! This one came up like he was going to sit down with us and ask us our opinion on Obama and then argue about it! He wouldn't leave. Emma kept telling him to go back up in the tree! haha
The Washington Monument

This is as close as we made it to the Jefferson Memorial. Have I mentioned we had done a lot of walking?! Thank goodness for zoom lenses!!
On are crazy and endless driving adventure around and out of D.C. we came around the bend on the freeway and there was the Washington, D.C. Temple. Holy cow! It was so unexpected and beautiful!

Baltimore

Baltimore is just lovely! The guys had their conference and we spent time down at the pier and in the neat down town area!

The National Aquarium!! It was super-ooper awesome.

My dad should put this picture in his dentist office..."Open Wide" (he says that 500 times a day...)! haha :)


Dolphin show! YAY!!!!


The jelly fish!!! I don't know why I love these little guys so much, but I do. They are by far my favorite things to see at the aquarium!

Tal was not a huge fan of the 4D movie!
We had some fun at the hotel pool (it was a little rainy while we were here)! It was an awesome pool. You could watch the Orioles baseball game from the windows.

Now these are some nice looking brothers, don't you think?!

Our hotel was right across the street from Orioles Park. We took a chilly little walk around!


This was the view from Matt's parents room. On one of the nights there we were supposed to go to an Orioles game, but it was rained out. Luckily, we were able to watch all the other games from their balcony! Not bad, huh!!
Spring was all around!!
Baltimore has a beautiful harbor.

And of course if there is a train to be seen we saw it!!

This was a very full and fun trip. Even the drive was nice.

HOME AT LAST!!!