Geno's Steaks...
Bobby getting ready to order. Focus now Bo... "One Whiz Wit and Two Whiz Widdout please."

Contents of my purse... GPS, Wallet, Cheese Steak...

Bobby looking for turtles at the Zoo....

The prettiest thing about Baltimore... this painted bridge....

So, the Baltimore Zoo was, in fact, much better than the Lincoln Park Zoo. It's a good thing, too, because if I made Bobby go to one more zoo and it housed a few monkeys and a couple of goats somebody would not be very happy.

This Zoo was definitely cool, with polar bears, lions, giraffes, cheetahs, leapords, foxes, elephants, etc. there was even a cool little section with farm animals that we could pet. i definitely chatted with the chickens for a little while.

but overall, we are not very impressed with Baltimore. Did anyone else know it was such a run down city? There's not really any nice sections like you could say about Philly, Chicago, and other cities we've been to.

After the Baltimore Zoo, we headed for Philly for CHEESESTEAKS. You can't drive through Philly and NOT go to Geno's, in our opinion. We decided to sample both Geno's and Pat's Steaks. For anyone who doesn't know the history, Geno's is famous for it's cheese steaks, and lots of famous people go there and the owner has famous people eating Geno's steaks plastered all over the place. There is a very specific way to order your cheese steak sub. If you want cheese and onions, you order it "A Whiz Wit" meaning, Cheese whiz with onions. If you just want the cheese, you have to say "A Whiz Without". If you order it wrong, they kind of hassle you a little bit, but it's all part of the fun.

Now, Pat's is another cheese steak place that is right across the street. We're not sure who opened first, but it's clear that they are rivals. The thing to do is go and try a sandwich from each place and declare your favorite. Now, Pat's has more meat and they have interesting varieties, like a Pizza Cheese steak, but I think Geno's tastes better. You'll have to try them yourself and decide! Bobby smuggled three cheese steaks out of Philly before we got a hotel for the night in Jersey and watched the Jersey Shore as we were falling asleep. seriously.

I'm Proud to Be on This Peaceful Piece of Property

Gravestones at Arlington





Abraham Lincoln Memorial






Memorial for soldiers in the Vietname Was

Kennedy's Gravesites

Bobo in front of the Capital Building

Shanny in front of the Capital Building

Yesterday we went to Washington DC for the day. We probably walked twenty miles when it was all said and done. Both of us have sore feet and blisters today to prove it, but it was well worth the hiking. We did it all, monuments, museums, and even Arlington Cemetery which is profound and moving.

To start off the day, we went to the space museum and the museum of natural history, and the national museum of american history which displayed the enormous flag that was the inspiration to Francis Scott Key for the Star-Spangled Banner. It is so big the stars on it measured two square feet and the flag itself was bigger than the lady who sewed it's house. She had to bring the flag to a brewery to finish sewing it.

After that we walked all over the place, from the Washington Monument across the NAtional Mall and to the Lincoln Memorial. We saw the WWII, Vietnam and Korean war memorials. When we finally got to the Arlington Cemetery where there are more than 32,000 soldiers buried, we were sun-burned, tired and blistered, but how could we complain? We took a tour trolley all around the cemetery, saw where JFK and his family are buried, and saw the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown soldier.

The tomb of the unknown soldier housed three bodies that were unidentified until the 1980s, when DNA testing was able to identify two of them. The symbolism of the guards protecting the body of the unknown soldier was very moving, to see how they perform the ritual of the changing of the guards with such integrity. I overheard a guy talking about how even during a hurricane four or five years ago, the guards would not abandon their post. They were allowed to take the day off because of the 50 mph winds but they chose to stay. It is so extremely honorable what our soldiers do for us, whether we agree with the wars that we have fought in or not, there are so many people who have lost their lives defending our freedom. If there is anything that going to Arlington has made more clear, it is that we are so lucky to be Americans. We have people who fight for our freedom, instead of other countries where people fight to take that freedom from it's citizens. Something that should so clearly be a natural right, causes so much pain across the world.

Where the Kennedy's are buried, there are beautiful quotes carved into the stones surrounding the gravesites. We tried to get pictures, but I'm not sure if the words came out clearly. One picture certainly came out clear enough, and that is the one that reads Freedom is not Free.

"Arlington" by Trace Adkins

I never thought that this is where I'd settle down,
I thought I'd die an old man back in my hometown,
They gave me this plot of land, me and some other men,
for a job well done.

There's a big white house sits on a hill just up the road,
The man inside he cried the day they brought me home,
They folded up a flag, and told my mom and dad, 'We're proud of your son'.

And I'm proud to be on this peaceful piece of property,
I'm on sacred ground and I'm in the best of company,
I'm thankful for those thankful for the things I've done,
I can rest in peace, I'm one of the chosen ones,
I made it to Arlington.

I remember daddy brought me here when I was eight,
We searched all day to find out where my granddad lay,
And when we finally found that cross,
He said, 'Son this is what it cost, to keep us free'.
Now here I am a thousand stones away from him,
He recognized me on the first day I came in,
And it gave me a chill, when he clicked his heels, and saluted me.

And I'm proud to be on this peaceful piece of property,
I'm on sacred ground and I'm in the best of company,
And I'm thankful for those thankful for the things I've done,
I can rest in peace, I'm one of the chosen ones,
I made it to Arlington.

And every time I hear, twenty-one guns,
I know they brought another hero home, to us.

We're thankful for those thankful for the things we've done,
We can rest in peace, 'cause we were the chosen ones,
We made it to Arlington, yea, dust to dust
Don't cry for us, we made it to Arlington.

funny things we forgot to blog about

first of all, we just remembered yesterday how funny our hotel was in nashville....

it was the only nice, expensive place we stayed on the whole trip, and we were going to be there for two days, so we were looking forward to a little pampering. the guy at the front desk was really funny, a young indian guy with a dry sense of humor. When he wanted us to pay, he said to bobby, "okay, give me some green, how about a couple of benji's" (mom and dad: benjamins=100 dollar bills) so we laughed at that for days.

then, around eleven o'clock at night, our AC breaks in our room. now, it's like a hundred degrees and as humid as it could get without raining in Nashville. Bobby was so mad, he called the front desk and they sent a guy up to fix it. a few minutes after the guy left with the AC fixed, it turned off again. we called down to the front desk and they offered to move us. So, at almost midnight, we packed up all of our things and moved to the third floor.

In this room, we unloaded all of our stuff again, put the AC on and got back in our pajamas. At this point, bobby turned on the TV and discovered that didn't work. we called the front desk again. They said, sorry, nothing we can do about that. bobby wasn't having it.

after our THIRD move in the middle of the night, we finallly got upgraded to an awesome suite that had both an AC and a TV. i guess it doesn't seem like a big deal now, weeks later, but at the time...you should have seen us, trekking all over the holiday inn with all of our bags in the middle of the night!

We have been on four or five different MLK Jr. Blvds in four or five different (slums) cities... one thing is for sure... MLK Jr. Blvd. is definitely the worst, most dangerous street in any city even if it's Sunday at noon. Don't go there.