Day 2 - Washington, DC

A day 1 evening toast over a supper that the girls made... G&T, Wine, Coors and Water.

Thanks Marsha for the House of Representatives Gallery passes that you gave us.

Carol, her necklace and US Capitol Tour pass. It was a great experience.

Carol and Doug, posing at the Capitol Reflection Pool in front of the General Grant Monument.

Carol and Linda in the outdoor Botanic Garden.

The American Indian Museum - what a beautiful building.

Whatever happened to the Teepee spelling that we learned in South Dakota?

The American Indian Museum dome.

Artwork found in the American Indian Museum.

The Capitol through the the Vistors Center.

Linda, Jim and astronaut Jim Swigert.

The Rotundra in the Capitol.

Carol and Doug in front of the same memorial.

Jim and Linda in front of the General Grant Memorial.

Quinine - the plant of ages... Michael and I are very interested in the history.

Here is the Quinine plant.

The Silver Man... in front of the Smithsonian Institution.

Yuko Ono - the inventor of the Wishing Tree...

The Wishes hanging in the Yuko Ono tree... (I wished that I was a Hang 5)

No novel for me...

Day 1 - Washington, DC

Dulles Airport cell phone waiting ares... Carol and I are waiting for Jim & Linda. There flight was scheduled to land at 1:45, they were early, we saw their United plane land at 1:36.

We went to the Dulles Smithsonian Aviation Museum right after picking up Jim and Linda. This was spectacular. Linda took our picture on the 7th floor of the museum where they have set up a viewing station with real time pilot-to-tower communication piped into the room. The tower clears a plane for takeoff and then a turn. Depending on where they are headed the turns are different. Pretty cool stuff to see them make their first turns after takeoff.

Carol, Jim and Linda in front of the Enterprise space shuttle. This was a pretty neat experience.

We went to a IMAX movie called Fighter Pilot. It was rather trivial but the flying scenes were phenomenal. The price was very reasonable as well at approximately $8 each.

I think that this is the second time that I have shown this post but gosh golly, I miss the babies. (already)

Amaya watching television - she is not very happy with Cramers's view of one of her stock holdings. I agree with you Amaya, your LVLT stock will be some day be paying your way through Notre Dame.
ENOLA GAY is on display here at the museum - I did not expect that I would ever see this airplane. This was a treat...

Melissa and Eric From PA Come For a Visit

Melissa and Eric from PA visited to go to the Nashville Summer CMA Concert Series. They had a great time and posed for a "head shot." Then all of a sudden...

the boys remembered that they had them there boots on. Not many opportunities to pose with their boots on... better getter done... after all they are going to town to listen to some country music.

Carol and I ventured cautiously into town on Saturday afternoon (after taking Pancake home). We briefly hit a bar or two stopping to listen to Michael Peterson at the Hard Rock Cafe Pavillion. (You may also see a short clip of him in this post...)

I think that these two are going to be close cousins. Panama had an overnight with us...

The foursome is heading to town again on Saturday night. They went into Second Fiddle to say hi to Megan and then on to a few other bars. At the end of the evening, they found themselves playing cards in a quiet little Irish Pub. A nice end to a short visit.

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A short video of the Michael Peterson show at the Hard Rock Cafe. He had a hit a few years ago and has not "been struck by lightning since." He is playing one of his new songs, called "My Dog Bit Me, My Girl Went Off With My Best Friend, I Lost My Job, A Tree Fell On My Car, My Water Heater Went Out, I Tore My Pants This Morning Bending Over to Get the Paper and My Neighbor Saw My Crack. I Have Had Better Days."

Cute Amaya Toes

Almost 4-months old now - it's summertime - break out the sandals.

Early June Hangliding Trip to Lookout

Left the house in rain but the rain stopped along the way. Not many pictures as my camera ran out of energy just before I got a burst of picture taking energy. 

I missed pictures of the TTT site - looks like a great place to fly. As they say, "The #1 HG Club in America."

The LMFP field was pretty wet when I got there on Thursday afternoon. Rain washed out both the Thursday nite and Friday morning tandems. However, I cleared the mountain with a tandem with Pete on Friday evening. I was able to get 2 flights on both Saturday and Sunday. That means I now have 10 mountain flights - I can now fly on my own without an instructor.

Went with Shaun to see Willie Nelson on Friday nite in downtown Chattanooga. Someone says he is 80 years old - still moves the crowd though. Thousands of fans - of all ages - at the outdoor concert next to the River.

Stages set up all over downtown with really good bands.

Chattanooga in a very nice city - would not mind living there.

Keith and Barb Visit from MCO to MHE

Keith and Barb dropped in on their way from Orlando (MCO) to MHE. They went to Disney World with their Kids and Grandkids. We had a great couple day visit and toured Nashville.

Meg and Barb - Megan and Pancake came out to visit while Keith and Barb were here. We had a nice BBQ. It is always so sweet to see my daughter and grandbaby. I bought Panama a red pair of heart jammies for when she comes to visit (3T but bound to fit into them without rubber bands soon...)

Barb, Keith and Carol at the New Opry Land Hotel. It is beautiful there.

Carol and Barb bragging about their purchases to Keith at the Opry Land Mall. They got grandbaby socks for less than a dollar. They got brandbaby jammies for less than 3-dollars. Well, Keith did not mention that he bought Dairy Queen ice cream for both of us that completely negated their savings. I am getting a chuckle out of neither of us mentioning our treat.

While in the Opry Land Mall, we took a short detour to the Gibson guitar/banjo factory. It is quite interesting and should be visited by every string musician.

We went to visit the original Grand Ole Opry (the Ryman) downtown. It is, of course, a historic building in every sense of the word.

A bit of Ryman history.

Keith, Barb and Carol in front of the Ryman.

Trivia Question: Do you know where this picture was taken in Nashville?

Do you know why this picture would be important to Doug as it relates to business?

If you get both things right, you win a 12-pack of Coca Cola Products.

(Only the first one wins...)

Broken Butt Mountain Tour - Home Sweet Home

After 27 hours in the car driving much of the time in the rain from Western Nebraska, we are almost home.

Steve caught Carol and the baby on the floor enjoying each other.

Steve caught Amaya and Grampa having a good time after a long two week trip.

Whats new? Carol and Michael put in a walkway in the backyard.

Broken Butt Mountain Tour Gas Mileage

We discussed our plans for maximizing gas mileage before we left. I have always wanted to go on a road trip and achieve 50 mpg with my VW etta - we almost made it. Steve learned that there is no secret method to maximizing mileage - check out the speedometer... you just need to have the intestinal fortitude to just meet the minimum highway speeds.

3,174 miles Total, 64.4 gallons Total

Average MPG for the Trip: 49.3