Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

Last night we finally went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, because it may not be long before it leaves the theater.  It is a good movie, with  some scary parts and it involves you with the characters we know so well.  Good special effects, too, but the movie is pretty long. By the end you're not just wandering whether these brave kids will succeed in their mission (ok they will) but whether your bladder will hold out until the closing credits.
I can't wait to see Part 2 when it comes out which I hope is soon.  And that will be the end of the series. I am going to miss reading the books and seeing the new movies.  I especially love Fred and George ( they are so funny) and  Dobby.
When the movie ended there was an altercation in the front seat::  a man and women were yelling at each other.  He was telling her it was rude of her to be shushing the kids and she replied with a f*** you.  There were several f bombs flung around.  Everyone in the theater just stood there trying to see what was going on but it was still dark so we couldn't see who was yelling at who.  As we got down to the bottom to walk out I saw a guy leaving through the side door near the screen.  Everyone was talking about it as they were leaving the theater. Some people just need to learn to sit down and enjoy the movie.

Seasons Greetings!

Seasons Greetings and Happy New Year!  Wishing you a joyous holiday season and prosperous New Year! May the peace and joy of the holiday season be with you throughout the coming year.

Total Lunar Eclipse

Last night early this morning there was a Total Lunar Eclipse.  It was spectacular.  We weren't sure if we were going to be able to see it because it was cloudy and rainy all day.  But the clouds cleared so we could see it.  The clouds were coming and going to we had to wait sometimes to see the eclipse.  We haven't seen a full eclipse in years.  The last one we saw was in the 1990's as we were coming home we saw the moon was covered so we stopped to see it.  Last night's eclipse also coincides with the Winter Solstice how cool is that?  The eclipse was the first total lunar eclipse to occur on the day of the Northern Winter Solstice since 1638.  My son stayed up and got to see it with us.  We got rained on a bit during the eclipse but that didn't dampen our spirits from watching it.

Washington DC Trip Day Eight 12-03-10

We stayed the night in Chambersburg PA. In the morning we packed up after breakfast and headed out to Falling Water in Mill Run, PA. It is a 2 hour drive from Chambersburg. It was cold this morning 31 degrees. There were some light snow flurries. After we had been driving for an hour we started climbing up the Allegheny Mountains. The temperature dropped and it started to lightly snow. Our GPS directed to a road that had not been plowed to get to Falling Waters. We started up but then the car started to slip and we skidded backwards a little ways. We were afraid we would get stuck so hubby backed down the hill so he could turn around. We tried calling the place but the phone kept dropping the call. We finally got a hold of them and told them we had tour tickets for 1:00 and if there was another way in so they gave us directions to come in on the main highway. Of course hubby was swearing at the GPS. I was getting worried we would get stuck and got a little freaked out when we started to slide back down the hill.

We finally get there. It is still snowing and 22 degrees. We got our tour tickets but the next tour started 20 minutes. We hung out waiting for the tour to start. Finally the tour started. We had to walk 5 minutes along the path down to the house. When the house came into view it was breathtaking. The guide met us at the front door. We entered the living room/dining room area. There was a roaring fire which felt good. The guide was good. She gave us a lot of information about Frank Lloyd Wright and Edgar and Lily Kaufman who he built the house for. The inside is just as amazing as the outside. There are three levels and bathrooms in the house. Lots of terraces. It was cool hearing and seeing the water. There is also a guest house that was built above the house with a pool and a wisteria patio. The tour lasted an hour and was very informative. After the tour was done we walked down the path a little ways for a full view of the house and the waterfall. It was breathtaking. Even more gorgeous then in the photos. We grabbed some lunch before heading back down the mountain to our hotel in Winchester, VA where are spending the night.

We thought it would be an easy drive since we’d be coming down out of the mountains and we would be on the freeway and there wouldn’t’ be snow. After we’d gone about half an hour, the GPS flashed and said that it had found an 8 minute shorter route. Well of course hubby takes that; he still trusts the GPS. These roads were different – 2 lane blacktop, unlighted, undivided, through the hills and forests of West Virginia. Probably very pretty in the daytime. In the dark of night, when you can’t see over the next rise or curve, when every oncoming car is running with their high beams (and they never dim them), it’s a white knuckle experience. Don’t know how long we were on these roads but it seemed forever, but at last we got to our hotel and settled in for the night.

Washington DC Trip Day Seven 12-02-10

Since we'd missed getting our sandwiches yesterday, we decided to pick them up before we left Philadelphia. This time there was no problem getting to Reading Terminal. It was 11 am and already there was about a 10 minute line. We got them, though, a plain pulled pork and roast beef with provelone and sweet peppers. Both very good.

We didn't know what to expect from Longwood Gardens in Kennet Square. It's enormous! and seems to go on for miles. Some of the outside stuff is closed for the winter, including the giant lily pond I wanted to see, and some of the fountains and the topiary garden. The conservatory if full of room after room after room of wonderful exotic flowers and all decorated for Christmas. We wanted to see the holiday fountains which went off every hour. They were synchronized to holiday music. The fountains would be specatacular at night with all of the different colors. There were a few tree houses that the boy loved.

After spending a couple hours at the gardens we headed for Lancaster in the Amish part of Pennsylvania. We saw the carriages on the roads. And lots of yellow schoolbuses! We don’t have those at home – the kids take SAMTRANS. We stopped to take pictures of one covered bridge and to have dinner, and then let the GPS take us to Chambersburg, uneventful except when hubby missed the exit (hidden in a thicket of cones in a constructon zone) and we had to go 5 miles out of our way before turning around.

Washington DC Trip Day Six 12-01-10

Had an ok night of sleep.  The room was on the fourth floor but on the street side so it was a little noisy.  It started raining the night before. It was pouring rain and windy when we set off to see Independence Hall.  We had a heck of a time finding where to go in to see it everything was shut off.  We asked someone and they said we had to go down a block to the Visitor Center to get tickets to go into Independence Hall.  While we waiting for the next tour to begin we went and saw the Liberty Bell.  That was amazing to see the actual bell.  Walking along the sidewalks the cars love splashing the people with water as they drive by them. LOL! After seeing Independence Hall we went back to our hotel because we were soaked through  to dry and to wait for a lull in the rain. 
Finally got a break in the weather so we went to Citizen's Bank Stadium so the boy could get a Philly's hat to add to his MLB hat collection.  He got his picture taken in front of the stadium. We navigated to the Franklin Institute.  We got there an hour before closing so we went to the heart first so we could walk through it.  There are a lot of hands on exhibits for the kids.  The boy liked the sports and the Isaac Newton sections.
We navigated to Reading Terminal Market but the GPS in the car got us all turned around and we drove in circles so by the time we got there they were closing up shop.  The boy wanted a roast pork sandwich from Tommy DiNic's.  We saw them on Man versus Food.  The boy was disappointed he didn't get a roast pork sandwich.  Hubby said we would get the sandwiches on the way out the next morning.  We were hungry so we went back to the hotel to see what restaurants were within walking distance of the hotel.  We found an Italian BYOB restaurant a couple of blocks away. We headed for Panini's Trattoria.  It is a little quaint restaurant with about a dozen tables.  The staff was really friendly.  The boy ordered a bowl of soup which was the Italian Wedding soup, I ordered the New York steak special and hubby ordered the Lobster Raviollis.  The dinners came with soup or salad so hubby and I got the Italian Wedding soup which was really good. My steak was melt in your mouth good.  Hubby said the Lobster Raviollis was good.  I gave half of my steak to the boy and to hubby because it was a good size steak.  My steak came with potato wedges and eggplant and mushroom vegis.  They had free wine or sangria that came with the adult meals.  Hubby and I got the Sangria which was really good.  For dessert the boy and I split a cheesecake which was so good.

Washington DC Trip Day Five 11-30-10

Since we'd missed the chance to see Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown, arriving too late yesterday, we decided to backtrack to see them and abandoned the original plan to go north to Philadelphia via Assateage and Chincoteage Islands. After leaving Virginia Beach, CA we drove to Williamsburg, bought our ticket, boarded the shuttle and went into town.  We started off at the Governors Mansion.  We heard a speech by Thomas Jefferson.  We walked around alot and saw lot of old buildings.  They decorated the houses with wreaths and garlands.  We saw the Magazine house, the cobbler.  After walking around all day, we stopped at a tavern and had some lunch.  They seated us in the bottom of the restaurant where it was dark and lit with candles.  I had a BBQ pulled pork sandwich which was really good, the boy had a hot turkey sandwich that he said wasn't good so he ate half of my sandwich and hubby had chicken and dumplings which was pretty good.  We saw a few more sites before heading to the shuttle to get back to the visitor center.
Afterwards we drove to Jamestown.  That was a lot smaller and more interesting. This is the actual site of the first permanent English settlement in North America. And it's small! The original stockade looks like it would fit in one of my boys soccer fields, and that small space could contain the entire English presence on the continent. There were a lot of cool artifacts that they had dug up there from the settlers.  There are statues of John Smith and Pocahontas. Yep, they were really here.
We drove to Philadelphia to our hotel on Chestnut Street.  It is an old historic hotel.  The room was very small and a little cramped.  We had a king bed but was supposed to get a pull out bed for the boy the room only had a king bed.  The boy got to sleep with us because there was no room to put a cot in there.  It was interesting having 3 of us in the bed but we managed.

Washington DC Trip Day Four 11-29-10

We woke up at 8:00 today, a gorgeous day, sunny and mild.  After the hotel breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, tortillas and potatoes, we got on the road.  It was already 11:00, a bit later then we wanted to leave. Part of the fault was the rental GPS which could not be programmed to go to Mount Vernon! Hubby was getting mad because he didn't know which way to go and it was putting us behind schedule.  Hubby had his panties is a big wad!  Yelling at the GPS, yelling at us, totally frustrated.  We stopped to look at a paper map but it didn't give us any details so we dug our own portable GPS from deep in the luggage and plugged it in. Now we had directions , straight into a construction zone. Oh well. We finally got past the construction.  Hubby calmed down after we got our GPS set up with the driving instructions.
Our GPS did get to Mount Vernon and it was a pretty drive along various highways, but I bet it was spectacular earlier in the fall. Now the colors are muted and many of the trees are bare.  We got there about 11:30, parked, and walked up to the entrance to get the tickets.  The building was decorated for Christmas so it was very festive!  We walked a longish path, passing a camel, a pardoned turkey, and a colonial chocolate making demonstration before we got to the mansion.  When we got up there it was gorgeous.  There is a huge lawn and in the distant there is the house in all of its glory.  There are two paths on either side that go up to the house.  When we got closer we got a glimpse of the wide Potomac that is behind the house through a covered walkaway.  So pretty.  The tour started in the newest room built by George Washington.  It was a dining room that had a big huge table and a huge fireplace.  The house was originally a 2 room farm house but the Washington's added on several rooms.  They were known to entertain 600 people there.  We got to see the 3rd floor that is only opened during the holidays.  After the tour we went out back where there is a veranda that runs the length of the back of the house where one could sit down in the chairs and enjoy the lawn, hill down to the water and the trees.  The view was gorgeous and I bet really pretty when the trees in their full fall colors.  It was so quiet and peaceful there.  One could see why the Washington's chose to live there.
We spend a couple of hours there.  We had some lunch in the cafe and looked at the gift shop.  It was late afternoon when we left to go to Williamsburg.  It was too late to stop at Williamsburg because they close at 5:00pm and we wouldn't be there until 6:00 or so.  We decided to just push on through to Virginia Beach where we are spending the night before moving on to Philadelphia.  It was smooth sailing until we got closer to Virginia Beach then we ran into the commute traffic.  We didn't realize that that area is a major commute corridor.  We decided we will leave early tomorrow so we can see Williamsburg/Jamestown area.  We have to double back but it is an hour away and we want to see that area before heading up to Philadelphia.  We got to our Virginia Beach hotel at 6:30.  The room faces the ocean but it is dark so we can't see the water. We can look out the window and see Christmas lights including arches of colored lights over the board walk which cars were slowly driving through.  We will see it tomorrow before we leave.  We found a place a block away for dinner.  It was ok.  A bar and grill.  The hamburger and fries I got was good, the pork chops hubby got were overcooked and the boy enjoyed the crab alfredo he ordered. 

Washington DC Trip Day Three 11-28-10

We got a very late start this morning because we slept in late.  We are still trying to get acclimated to the time here.  We went to Safeway to pick up a few things then we drove the car to the Dunn Loring Metro Station to take the Metro into DC.  We wanted to see the White House and the Capitol Building. We got on the Old Town DC Trolley tours and got off at the Treasury building. It's a little walk up to the closed portion of Pennsylvania Avenue that runs in front of the White House where we took our pictures.  We didn't get it together in time to get tickets for a tour -- you need to get those through your Congressman, and months in advance. We'll do that next time.  They were decorating the White House Christmas tree.  They are supposed to light the tree on December 11th but we won't be there then.  That would be cool to see.  A lot of the places and buildings are getting their  holiday decorations up so it is starting to look really festive. We only had enough time to see the outside of the Capitol from the trolley.
We rode the Metro back to the Dunn Loring station where we had left our car. The train was crowded with Redskin and Vikings fans coming back from their football game.  We drove to Captain Pell's Fairfax Crab House to meet our friend for dinner.  These crab houses are interesting places -- the table is covered with brown paper and you're given the steamed blue crabs and mallets and knives and you have at them. These blue crabs are good, maybe milder than the dungeness crabs we're used to, but they're smaller and take a lot of work to get the crab meat out.  We had sides of fries, onion rings and chicken tenders.  We also tried dipping the crab meat into vinegar which they do on the East Coast.  On the West Coast we use melted butter.  It was pretty good with the vinegar but I prefer the butter. Of course, the vinegar is healthier!  We got back and managed to get to bed not much after midnight.