Since I am actually sort of making a go at teaching this year, I thought it might be fun to use March Break as a vacation like other teachers do. Fortunately my friend Jen thought this was also a good idea, and together we went galavanting.
We decided to head a little bit south in the hopes of encountering nice weather, and also to take advantage of the fact that my aunt and uncle live at the top of Maryland and were willing to house us for a few days. So we left on Saturday at noon thirty and headed for Chesapeake Bay. It was less cold there. Always a plus. The downside? It was a hilly neighbourhood, which made jogging somewhat difficult, but I prevailed!
The next day we went into Philadelphia in an attempt to go to the Art Museum, which was thwarted by the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and some crazy road closures. We did get to see the Liberty Bell and some of the other historic stuff downtown, and then we went to get Jen a philly cheesesteak. Then it was back to the interstate, where we stopped off at a large mall in Delaware (no sales tax there, bless their hearts) but it was close to closing so we checked out the stores and planned to come back the next morning. Then we hit a movie theatre and watched “This Means War”, which was highly enjoyable.
The next morning we took advantage of Delaware and set off for Margate and Lucy - the world’s largest elephant! We then headed to Atlantic City to experience the boardwalk in all it’s somewhat garish glory. It was very neat, something I think it might be fun to go back and see at a later date - and perhaps to even go to a casino. The Trump Taj Mahal was particularly spectacular, though perhaps not in a good way. After the boardwalk we hit the outlets and came back with even more fun stuff. Nothing like a little retail therapy while on vacation.
Baltimore was our next destination. Here we checked out the National Aquarium, toured four historical ships (people slept with the torpedos on submarines!), went to the American Visionary Art Museum (a model of the Lusitania made of 190 000 toothpicks and 5 gallons of glue) and then had Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Pretty sure I will need to find one of those on every vacation from now on. Delicious! From Baltimore we drive to a HoJo outside of DC in preparation for the next day.
We decided to focus our time in DC on the National Mall, and we got to see a fair bit, but also managed to miss a few things too (the White House). All the Smithsonian stuff is free to enter, so we made it through the Air and Space Museum, the Hirshhorn Gallery, the Smithsonian Institute, walked by the Washington Monument and looked at the Lincoln Memorial from the top of the hill, went to the Natural History Museum, the National Gallery and walked around by the LC and the Capitol. Next time I am for sure going to make it to the Library of Congress - but that is the library geek in me. It wasn’t as touristy as we expected, so we went back to Cheverly for dinner and found an Outback. The Onion Blossom was just as delightful as I remembered, and I am sad that they no longer exist in Canada.
The next morning we drove back to DC to go to the Zoo, where we saw all the big animals, especially the Panda Bears and the Elephants. I sort of wish they came in miniature so that I could have one. After the zoo we headed back to Canada. I dropped Jen off at about 10pm, and then went to stay with baby bro, partially because I wasn’t sure I would make the rest of the drive alive and partially because I had to drop off his duty free. We had brunch the next day and then I went home home where I finally unpacked a lot of the crap that has been living in the trunk of my car. Like the cooler I brought home from Matt’s in January - finally made it into the house last week.
The tutu is still out there though, because you never know when you might need a tutu.
Little oranges! Delicious!
I am eating grapes. They are delicious.
That is all.
I went shopping with Momma yesterday and it was a surprisingly good experience. This is not always the case when Momma and I do the same thing at the same time, so it was a nice change.
It all started with a belt. I seem to never own pants that will stay up of their own accord, and gravity being what it is, I really needed a new belt. Plus I had a couple of coupons, so I wanted to use them, and I really haven’t been shopping in a while, so I figured it was worth the risk of my selected shopping companion.
And it was a really good day. I got my belt - not where I expected, but on sale nonetheless. I also got a new skirt, three new shirts, a sports bra and a new purse, all of which were clearly vital purchases. The best part is that everything I bought was somehow discounted due to sales or coupons. I rarely pay full price for things any more.
And now I have some more clothes that are appropriate for school to, which will be helpful if I am ever in the same school for more than two or three days, because that is about the current limit of my ‘business casual’ wardrobe.
