Still Going....

Yes we are! We are still going.....

Not even a week in and already we have been to two camp sites, hiked about 8 miles together (me about 20), gotten rid of beds for new ones (Katrin could NOT figure out her cot), burned things (cooking with propane or an open fire pit takes some getting used to), gotten lost (lesson: do not try to get lost cord replaced while navigating Washington DC freeways - holy hell!!!), had individual melt downs (mine was over said cord I had lost), lost the bird 4 times, wished we had lost the bird 20 times (he is like having a 3 year old all over again) and more.....

Our trip to Six Flags was AMAZING.  The day turned out to be perfect and we never once waited in any lines.  We each rode whatever we wanted as many times as we wanted and enjoyed the superbly cool weather.  That was a welcome change especially the last two nights.  We slept 10 hours each night.

Today we spent the day in DC trying to fit in all the sites we would have tried to get in in two days.  We went on a walking tour with Free Tours By Foot and I had a really great time.  Dan Kent was our tour guide and he was extremely knowledgeable, entertaining and just genuinely nice.  The girls were a bit bored but liked some of the fun tidbits he threw their way.  All in all we saw the George Washington Monument (not a memorial because he was alive when they started planning it although it wasn't finished being built until the 100 year celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence), the White House (which used to be situated on a canal and marsh land and was so overrun by stink, mosquitos and the such that presidents would high tail it out of dodge first chance they got), the Jefferson Memorial (so situated so that Jefferson could watch to make sure the Executive branch didn't have "too much" power), the National Mall (who can forget the pictures of the "I Have a Dream" speach?), the WWII Memorial (where the states are so organized in chronological order but across the aisle from each other), the Vietnam Memorail (made of black polished marble so that we see ourselves in the names listed), the Lincoln Memorial (where one side of him deals with his "ideals" in the Gettysburg address and the other side with the realities of what happened after the war) and the Korean War (called a war by those that fought in it).  Whew!  Typing that was exhausting!  No wonder after we were done, Katrin was ready to call it a day.

After a rejuvenating $10 sandwich in our Nation's capital however, we headed off to the "free" National Zoo in the Smithsonian park.  I was told by several locals that although, one of the most heavily visited tourist attractions of our nation, public transportation for tourists was not obvious or easy and we ended up walking another mile (after our already estimated 4 miles) from the Metro.  We saw our pandas, elephants, otters, zebras and more via another walking expedition (the park is over 8 miles) and then walked the mile back to the Metro.  It was a ton of walking.  In the end, though, I am proud of the girls.  Ella never once took a hard line and only the minor, "this is not the most fun" moments, she really was a trooper.  Katrin might be struggling a little more.  We have high hopes for the rest of the summer.  She (and I) can do this!

The pictures are really good from today.  Take a look at the looping feed on this page.  I add them as we go.  So far the girls have forgotten their phones every adventure but soon you will see their initials on the photos that are theirs.

Tonight's dinner was a grilled chicken salad and oh my Goddesses was it amazing.  As a special treat I have some campfire popcorn (a throwback from my childhood camping trips) and that should be a treat.

Tomorrow we are off to our next location and a couple of days of really doing nothing at all except bike riding, lazing on the beach and hiking around.  I think we are all looking forward to that.