DAY ONE
Jer and I had been talking about visiting our brother and sister-in-law for a while (ever since they moved to DC actually). When we found out their time in DC would be coming to a close, we cashed in our credit card miles and booked our flight. We were flying out of San Jose, so we went down the night before our flight and stayed in the airport hotel. We had a leisurely morning at the hotel (full breakfast included!) and made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. The flights across the country went very smoothly and we finally made it to DC about 11:00 pm. It was so great to see Jon's smiling face (and new car!) It was too dark to really see any scenery, but we did see the Washington Monument in the distance as we drove to their apartment. The next morning we had Jewish bagels for breakfast and hit the road for Gettysburg.
Very excited to go to Gettysburg!
A little background on this day-trip: I had been very vocal about my "excitement" to go walk around a field out in the middle of nowhere. (Picking up on the bad attitude?) Jer knew I really didn't want to go, but he was very excited about this portion of the trip and I, being a good and supportive wife, was going to appease him. What he didn't know was that I had been planning a birthday/anniversary surprise for him over the months prior.
We arrived at Gettysburg and spent about 4 hours driving the 26 mile loop around the battlefield. To be fair, the experience was quite amazing. The number of men killed in that battle is staggering. It is impossible to stand at one of the look-outs, knowing 200,000 men fought and killed each other directly in front of where you are standing, and not be in awe.
Made it!
Tough guys
Shoot it over there!
No, I can't see it...
This guy was one of the few survivors of the battle.
Many stairs, but worth the climb!
Tough guys
Shoot it over there!
No, I can't see it...
This guy was one of the few survivors of the battle.
Many stairs, but worth the climb!
As the tour came to a close Jer requested we stop at just one more point of interest, the house Abraham Lincoln stayed at the night before he gave the Gettysburg Address. As luck would have it, the point of interest was only one block away from the vacation home I had reserved for the night. Jonathan (being in on the plan) was letting Jer believe we were heading to Abe's place, but in reality was listening to my directions toward the vacation rental. We pulled into the driveway of the vacation rental, the three of us telling Jer this was the point of interest. I got out of the car and Jer was desperately trying to convince me this was the wrong house. We talked him into to coming inside (even though he thought we were walking into some stranger's house!) Soon, he realized something was fishy, and I let him in on the surprise. We had the house for the night, and reservations at an historic restaurant.
The house was absolutely adorable! It was built before the war and had since been renovated. It had a bedroom downstairs and a loft-style master suite upstairs. It had a cute little backyard with a huge hot tub inside a gazebo. What a great find! After touring the house and bringing in our stuff, we all got changed and headed out to dinner. (Actually, one of the bags got left behind by mistake so we made a quick stop at Gap on the way to dinner.)
The front of the house:
Kitchen:
Hot Tub:
Unfortunately, dinner was mediocre at best, but the company was great and the building itself was beautiful. As part of the surprise, I had arranged for a local bakery to deliver a birthday cake, which was amazing! After dinner we headed back to the house and spent the evening in the hot tub (where I saw fireflies for the first time!) We played cards for a while and then headed to bed.
At dinner
CAKE!
I couldn't think of a better way to start off our trip. We had a great time seeing the battlefield (yes, I was wrong, it was actually interesting) and an even better time celebrating with family!
The next morning we packed up and hit the road for the monuments and museums. Check bag for the next blog on day two of our trip.
