There is no place like home!

I just returned from a 6 day vacation with my family to Lancaster, PA and Washington D.C. We have gone on vacation before, but that was always with my in-laws (thereby providing some babysitting) and in places where the focus was just on relaxation. This was the first time it was just the four of us and the focus was on sightseeing. We put in plenty of down-time, but still, the point of the trip was to see some places none of us had ever seen. More or less, that happened. There were obviously lots of places I would have liked to have seen that just didn't happen (like the Library of Congress), but I am choosing to focus on what I did get to see, which is obviously way more than I had a week ago. We also learned how to ride the subway in DC which was pretty cool! 6 days, 4 hotels (one of which we only stayed in for a couple hours because it was rather scary), and 7 states later, we arrived home all in one piece. It was definitely an experience and we learned some things that will help us the next time we venture forth. We met some kind strangers who helped us find places along the way, and even had our toll paid by a car in front of us via a random act of kindness. We discovered we like Hampton Inns. DVD players in the car help make the ride much more palatable for children as does stopping every 1 and 1/2 hours and breaking an eight hour ride into two days. Planning the trip to avoid New York City and DC proper made the ride home much less stressful. Overall, it was good. We all survived (which truly was the only real goal I had)! We were all so happy to see the sign for Springfield, MA on 91 North, however. There truly is no place like home.

Here are some photos I took along the way.



















Lancaster, PA (Amish country) was nothing like what I expected. Even though, we got to see some farmland and a few Amish people, but that was it. Most of it was actually quite city-like. These photos are from "The Amish Village" - a touristy spot that shows how Amish live.













Some Amish clothes




A one-room school house
























Tuesday afternoon, we went to Arlington National Cemetery. This is JFK's tomb.


















These next two photos are from the WWII Memorial in D.C.









The Merry-go-Round on the Mall



The National Air and Space Museum




President Lincoln



Another shot from the WWII Memorial


Because I am a person who obviously has a lot of time on her hands, I decided to get a souvenir I had to put together (a quilt kit!)






Mt. Vernon - our last stop, and home to our 1st President, George Washington. This was my favorite place we visited. It was so beautiful and peaceful. I could stand living with that view!



This is from the National Gallery of Art (sorry these photos are out of order!). We spent exactly 1/2 hour there, but I did get to see some originals by the Old Masters. That was pretty awesome!