DC- Day 2

Hi everyone! This is Mike. Erin is a little under the weather, so I get to blog for the very first time. Hope you like it!

So here was our night after arriving back from Cosi and the wonderful S'mores:

8:30 p.m.- Arrive back at hotel, no luggage

10:30 p.m.- Get ready for bed, call front desk, no luggage

1:30 a.m.- Erin wakes up, calls front desk, no luggage

3:30 a.m.- Erin wakes up again, calls front desk, no luggage, Mike snoring

5:30 a.m.- Erin hasn't gone back to sleep, calls front desk, no luggage, gives Mike dirty look for being able to sleep soundly

7:54 a.m.- Erin wakes up (she was able to get a couple hours in), calls front desk, luggage has arrived!!!!

So at 8 a.m. our luggage finally joined us in our room. This gave us just enough time for Erin to take out her contacts and give her eyes a rest, get ready for the day and head out to the Metro to meet up with Shelly and her kids at the new Air and Space Museum. We took the metro 15 miles straight west to Vienna, VA, which was the end of the line. This was Erin and my first time to the end of a Metro line. Shelly and her daughter Mia met us in the parking lot and off we went. The new Air and Space Museum is right next to Dulles Airport. We arrived at 10 a.m. which was a great time since there were not many lines yet. One we entered the building and got past security we were greeted by the fastest (and in my opinion the greatest) plane of all time, the SR-71 Blackbird (below)

We then took in all the other cool planes in the museum. There is an F-14D Tomcat, a MiG-21, a Boeing 707, a Concorde, and X-35 (going to be the latest and greatest Joint Task fighter plane in about 5-10 years), many missiles and rockets and even the space shuttle Enterprise (first shuttle, but not operational). There were over 200 aircraft that have a significant impact on the history of flight. Here are some more pictures of these great planes! Closed circuit to dad- you gotta get out here sometime soon and see this place. It's amazing!!!

So after spending close to three and a half hours at the museum (yes, that is a record for me at any museum), we headed off to find lunch. It just so happens that while taking an exit we happened to run into our favorite pizza joint, Cici's Pizza. This is the place where for $5 you can grab a plate at the best all you can eat pizza buffet. Erin and I introduced Shelly and her son Micah to Macaroni and Cheese pizza. It's a delicacy that needs to be enjoyed by everyone. Oh yeah, we also had some cheese and pepperoni pizza as well.

After getting our bellys stuffed (see below), it was back to the Metro for Erin and I. Thanks to Shelly and her whole family for taking good care of us and driving us around!

We went back to our hotel to take a little nap, then headed back to the Metro to meet up with the Zumbrano's (Bob and Barb). Bob picked us up at the closest Metro stop and drove us to their place. We had a wonderful time catching up with them on the latest and greatest and were treated to a wonderful dinner. We wish we could have spent more time together (it gives us another reason to come back soon!!!!). Here I am with Barb.

Bob was kind enough to drive us back to our hotel, but gave us a little tour of D.C. along the way. I know for the people who live here, the monuments might just be part of their town. However, I cannot get over how beautiful they are, especially at night. There is so much history here and we can't wait to take it all in over the next 4 days.

Tomorrow we are going to meet up with Jonathan and his girlfriend Kelly. I believe we are going to the National Archives, the Supreme Court, check out some monuments and other things. Erin is the keeper of the schedule, but she's asleep. So I guess you will just have to check back in tomorrow, same D.C. time, same D.C. channel to see what we did!

We hope all is well with everyone,
Mike and Erin