1-9-2011 Brunch at Sharkeys, Ellicut City

We drove up to Columbia Md today to have brunch with Brian and Deb Sharkey and kids Grace and Chris. It only took about an hour to get there. We had a good visit and a great brunch. We left at about 3pm and drove 10 min to Ellicott City, a old town full of specialty shops, antique stores, restaurants and so on. The architecture was different than what we were used to now, having quite a few big stone buildings in town. This is due to a quarry being right there. The claim to fame of the town is that it was the start of the B&O railroad, the first railroad in America, in the 1830s. The RR started out as a horse drawn system but in a few years steam locomotives were being used. Visited the museum, took these pictures. It was very very cold and windy so we walked around just a bit and visited a toy store - what else for grandparents?

12-29-10 New York City

A day trip to NYC! Wow. We left Union Station at 5:30 am - that required getting up at 4:30. The train was late getting in but it was still early when we got there, 9:00 or so. NY had gotten at least 20 inches of snow just days before so when we emerged from Penn Station, we saw the city digging out. We walked everywhere and got dunked in freezing pools of melt at several curbs. We walked to Macy's to see the Christmas windows (the point of this trip was Christmas decorations) and then down 5th avenue. We had tickets for the 11am Rockettes show in Radio City Music Hall. I was much more impressed than I expected to be. What an extravaganza. They did 10 or so numbers and the staging and costumes were very impressive. The stage is huge, so big that camels and donkeys were included in the Nativity Set.

After the show, we visited Rockefeller Square to see the big tree, the skating rink, the angels and take it all in. The crowds were not as bad as I had heard about. Next was St. Patrick's, close by. Then off walking we went - the sun came out and it got up to maybe the high 30s. Lunch in a Chinese restaurant. We waked through Central Park for awhile and then headed back, to see Rockefeller Square at dark.

The city looks much more festive at night but the cars and people came out in droves. Solid gridlock in the streets - they aren't that wide to begin with and with all the space taken by piles of snow, it was really a nightmare. We were on the train back home by 7pm and got home at about 10:30.

12-27-10 A break for luxury

Sue had been sad that she could not soak in a tub, like the one we have at home. So, for Christmas, she got a night at the L'Orien Hotel in Alexandria, in the Soaking Tub Suite. A huge bathroom, a deep clawfoot tub, she was a happy camper. It was really cold walking down there at noon - and a little strange, us with our backpacks checking into this luxury hotel. We missed going to the Greek restaurant we wanted to try, but Bertucci's is always good. A nice time.

12-18-10 Yo Ho Ho DC Christmas

Though it be cold, we ventured out to see the Christmas sights in DC. The first stop was the Biological Gardens by the Capitol. Lots of poinsettias and trees decorated for Christmas. We walked over to the congressional tree. We found out last year we liked this much better than the White House tree - "of the people" and all that. This year was Wyoming's turn to decorate. While we were at that end of the Mall, we visited the National Art Gallery Rotunda to see the decorations and found a choir singing carols. Nice touch. We headed then for the Smithsonian Old Castle, stopping at the ice rink in the Sculpture Gardens first.

Included here are pictures of the White House tree we went down to see on the 31st. And our own humble decorations in our place in Alexandria - Sue makes a little go a long ways.