Family visits and touristy adventures

This weekend was simple and full. We snuck in a Friday night "date" before the hubs' dad and stepmother arrived to hang out with us the rest of the weekend.

Here is my hot husband with a cart full of groceries. How about that for a date night?

After we finished shopping for food, we window-shopped for new TOMS - also at the grocery store.

(Yes, we went to Whole Foods; no, that is not our normal grocery store.)

We took his parents to the Charleston Aquarium. It was Shark Week, so the afternoon feature at the big tank was a game show called "Sharkelogy 101".

Oddly, he didn't think an afternoon at the aquarium warranted a picture.

The view from there.

We had an early dinner at Fleet Landing, which I highly recommend for mid-priced seafood if you ever visit our lowcountry location.

A Saturday night of games.

Church on Sunday.

This is my favorite picture. The hubs and his folks headed back downtown after church on Sunday while I stayed at home feeling a bit under the weather. I asked him to "bring me something back," and he brought home this ornament. It was a perfect choice because I've been collecting ornaments from places we visit, but I didn't have one for our current hometown yet. I did tease him about that being an "old man" purchase.

Gratituous dog picture. You're welcome.

I very much enjoyed playing tourist in our own town this weekend.

The icing on the cake was when my sweet better half found out he was selected for a promotion (in miltary terms, he made rank). Woo hoo! I'm SO proud of him. 

(This post brought to you by "Sydney got a new smartphone with one of those picture apps, and she's still really excited about it." Ha!)

Back from our work-cation (and other chaos)

As mentioned in my previous post, I had a work conference last week in National Harbor, MD. B was able to take some time off work to go with me. Monday - Thursday morning I attended sessions, supported our presence on the tradeshow floor, live blogged key events (Yes, I get to do it for work, too.), and took video clips. Basically, a little bit of everything (the life of a marketer). On Thursday - Sunday, we stayed on Ft. Belvoir in Virginia. Ft. Belvoir holds fun memories for me - it was where I was born.

There's something so great about vacation. I'm just not a relaxed person by nature, but being away from our normal routine really helps me to be a little less obnoxious more calm. For a short period of time, your normal obligations aren't there, and you get to explore more freely - embracing the title of "tourist."

On Sunday, we grabbed dinner at this fun, Mexican restaurant that was known for its guacamole. I only recently developed a taste for guacamole, but now I love it, so "guacamole made fresh at your table" was right up our alley.

 

 After dinner, we checked out our temporary home. National Harbor is one of those live-work-play developments that jams condos, hotels, shops, and restaurants into a 1.5 mile square space. 

 (The hubs was trying out the new video camera that accompanied me to work for aforementioned video clips.)

I'm not sure about living there (Things were expensive!), but it was fun to avoid the car and just walk everywhere for a few days. The whole area is punctuated by the harbor it backs up to. This view made for beautiful sunsets and a pleasant breeze for morning runs. 

On Friday, we trekked downtown to visit the Newseum. It's relatively new, and it features a ton of stuff related to the past and present of media and journalism. It was pricey to get in, so we spent 5 hours there to make sure we got our money's worth. They had a phenomonal collection of newspapers (and their predecessors) - some more than 500 years old. It was really cool to see everything in one place. We also really enjoyed their collection of Pullitzer Prize winning photos. The other cool thing was the view from the top floor.

 Pennsylvania Avenue

 With the Capitol building in the background

Before we left downtown, we visited the Navy Memorial. That's the Lone Sailor.

On Saturday, we checked out Annapolis. I wanted to stay there. I think I belong in "southern New England."

Awesome.

While there, we ate at a place called Chick and Ruth's. It was super busy and slightly chaotic, but eating there is worth the effort. Adam from Man V Food beat their food challenge once. How cool is that? (Also - references to the show were everywhere.)

 I snuck a shot of the "collossal milkshake." This was one half of Adam's food challenge.

Other best parts of the DC area - IKEA! And 7Eleven! Slurpees for the win.

While I was working, B contacted the Navy sailing club and managed to connect with a retired gentleman with a 46-ft sailboat. They spent a few hours sailing the Potomac on Tuesday. I didn't get to join them, but this was an insane opportunity. Investing in a boat like this is like investing in a house (an expensive one, at that),, so the guy was incredibly generous to let B in on the fun. I was pretty proud that he actually took a few pictures.

 

 My husband, the sailor.

Basically, this trip was lovely, and it was tough coming back to reality. Thanks for the (new) memories, D.C.

Road trips bring the world together.

The hubs and I just completed an eight-hour road trip. Here's the thing with road trips. They always sound fun - kind of retro and All-American. And they are fun, when the right song is on the radio to belt out (off-key, much to the dismay of my husband).

However, not so much when you have to go the bathroom.

We stopped at our first gas station, and it did not have indoor plumbing. We had to use the portapotty in the dirt lot beside the station. I told the hubs as I walked out, "Whatever you do, don't look down."

By lunch, we upgraded to the travel center offering both a Quizno's and a Dairy Queen. While we ordered sandwiches (Quizno's subssssssssssss. They are gooooooooood. Or so sayth that weird, annoying, yet slightly charming commercial from a few years ago.), the hubs charmed me with stories of cleaning out the ice cream machine when he worked at Dairy Queen as a young lad.

But seriously, yall, the next exit took the cake. I was charmed by the exit signs promising Starbucks. I wanted some coffee to counter the images of portapotties still crowding my head. When we exited, we saw this sign, situated in middle-of-no-where USA across from a corn field.

Yes, that is a Starbucks, a Denny's, a Subway, and a Burger King. Something for everyone.

Would you like an obnoxiously large chair for your man cave?

They will ship it to you for $89.98 plus tax! (If you don't believe me that it was obnoxiously large, note that the piece of paper is 8 1/2 X 11.)

The Starbucks? Not a random gas station coffee bar "proudly serving Starbucks coffee." Oh no. This was the real deal. I didn't know whether to be impressed or annoyed that Starbucks sold out.

And at each gas station we stopped at, people from all walks of life were doing the same thing we were. Pumping gas, going to the bathroom, marveling at the bizarreness of it all.

The moral of the story is this: At some point on a road trip, every one of us - black, white, lawyer, student, whether you own a Mercedes or '89 Chevy Cavalier - will have to go to the bathroom above all else and our only option will be a gas station with no indoor plumbing.

But, please don't worry. Our end location has indoor plumbing. And a lovely view.

(Welcome to National Harbor, Maryland. Work beckoned, but we'll enjoy some fun time as well.)

Joining up with Carissa to share this travel miscellany.