The first two photos show drinks on 'Egret' and then all of us meeting Mike and Marguerite's neighbours at a function in their home on Sunday 7th October. We were very welcome in the neighbourhood and it was a little sad to move away from friends and continue on our adventure.
Drinks on 'Egret' and a party at Mike and Marguerite's
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
On Wednesday 10th we bid farewell and headed for Washington DC. It took four days to sail/motor along the Potomac River to "DC". We passed miles and miles of waterfront homes with boats moored to private jetties and we anchored each night in peaceful surroundings. When the sun was out it was terrific, but for most of the time we were rugged up in multiple layers of clothing and with boots, gloves and wooly hats. By the time we got to Washington Andrew had a cold and was feeling sick. Fortunately we have enjoyed weak sunshine for most of our sightseeing in Washington.
Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial
Lincoln Memorial and the Reflecting Pool
IT'S A LONG ROAD On day one we visited the Washington Monument, the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials, the Reflecting Pool, most War Memorials and the White House. Unfortunately we were too late to join in the garden tour but it's probably just as well as we starting to fade after walking for miles.
Korea and Vietnam War Memorials
FREE MUSEUMS
The next day we started our adventure with the Smithsonian Institution and went to the National Air and Space Museum. We arrived at 10.30am and left when the doors closed at 5.30pm. It is the most wonderful museum and we joined a conducted tour for 2 hours which concentrated mainly on space travel. Our tour guide was very knowledge and totally wrapped up in the subject. I think he would have happily talked on all day. The museum covered every significant air and space happening from the Wright Brother's first flight through landing on the moon and up to the present Space exploration. We loved it so much we even went back the following day for another look.
The Whitehouse and the Smithsonian Castle
The Wright Bros "Kitty Hawke" and a Space Command Module
Over the next few days we went to the National Museum of American History, the highlight being Thomas Edison's light bulb, the National Museum of Natural History, the highlight was tracing man's history back for millions of years, the Postal Museum, the highlight was a movie showing modern high speed sorting machines and finally the National Museum of the American Indian, the highlight was leaving, as we were too tired to take it all in. The Smithsonian Museums are huge; we would need many months to see everything.
Elephant and the development of the Edison light
A few days ago I tripped on an uneven footpath and fell face first on to the concrete scraping my forehead, my cheek and blackening my right eye. I punched the footpath with the knuckles on my right hand causing them to swell and bloodied both my knees. So now I am limping and Andrew is still coughing and feeling poorly with his cold. We are a fine pair!
Capitol Building and inside the Visitors Centre
Old Judiciary and the Statuary Hall
We went to the Pentagon, not expecting to get in but I hoped we could see some of the outside and take some photos. We were out of luck; we saw two of the five sides which looked very boring and drab. There were police everywhere, some carrying automatic weapons and there is definitely no photos allowed.
So our next adventure was to visit The United States Capitol and Congress. We weren't expecting to get in here either but in fact admission is free along with a terrific guided tour. We saw the Old Judiciary, the Crypt, the Dome and the National Statuary Hall.
INTERNATIONAL FRIENDS
On Thursday we met up with an American lady (Joan) who we first meet in Italy in June 2011. At the time we were anchored in Le Grazie and had Chris (Andrew's brother) and his wife Heather on board. It was good to catch up again and share what has been happening since we last met.
SO WHAT'S NEXT
We will leave in the morning and start traveling south to rejoin Chesapeake Bay. The good thing about travelling south is the expectation of warmer weather.
Love Candy xx
At 1:42 AM16/10/2012 (utc) our position was 38°52.62'N 077°01.55'W
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