Ireland

We got to Ireland yesterday after a long plane ride and managed to stay awake until 8:00pm or so. That was quite a feat since both Karen and I were dog tired most of the day. We did get to make it to an ATM and withdraw some euro's which, with the exchange rate, costs a lot. 150 in Euro's costs $215 and change, in dollars. From what we saw in the store, costs are pretty comparable for staples and we saw some pretty good deals on clothes.

Today we are treated to a nice sunny day even though Paddy says that can change very quickly around here. Since it rained most of the day yesterday, that was a nice change to wake up to, and after a good night's sleep I am feeling pretty good this morning. Yeah... Ireland!

Union Station

Took the Metro to Union Station and saw what it is like to be at the big train station. The place is very busy, and not all people traveling on the trains, the Metro stops here and from the station you can go to many parts of the city. There are also tons of shops and lots of places to eat so it seems to be a shopping destination too. I guess this place was built way back in the early 1900's and the architecture matches the rest of the city.



Right next door was the Postal Museum so we went through part of that too. Apparently the Postal Museum used to be a real post office but now it's just a museum and it even has a brewery in it if you need to get something to drink... beer, of course! A natural thing to find in a post office, huh? I didn't take any pictures of the Post Office Museum so both of these are of Union Station, inside and out.

Big Doors

Yesterday we went to the National Archives to look at stuff like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. We mistakenly walked up to the front door but that was not the way to get in. The doors were certainly worth seeing though and here they are.

The documents we went in to look at were there and so faded that they were hard to read which is why they don't allow flash photography and the lighting is so dim. Still it was very interesting to see them and the guards were very knowledgeable and showed us misspellings and other little known things about them.

We also went to the National Portrait Gallery which had some very interesting paintings and sculptures but there were just so many that we didn't make it through the whole place. I wanted to see some old paintings made by a guy back in the 1800's of many of the old Indian's and we found them there and that was one of the things we had wanted to see along the way.

Walking down the street I had to do a touristy thing and stand in the middle of the street looking toward the capitol and take a picture. I felt a little weird about standing in the middle of the street in front of traffic (they were stopped for a red light) but Karen and I got a good laugh out of it anyway.

Another interesting day seeing sights in DC.

More DC

Check out the Forest Service Museum. Yep, that's about all of it in that picture of me with the fire video going. Of all the museums we have been to so far this one was the smallest and least impressive. One thing about it though, the receptionist actually knew Bob Shultz from the Plumas and I couldn't believe she actually knew someone I know... small world.

The Lincoln Memorial was pretty impressive too and from the front steps you could see the Washington Monument down at the end of the reflecting pool, the same one I saw in Forrest Gump, I might add.

We even took the tour to the top of the Washington Monument and I took that last picture of the White House from the dirty window.

I was a little disappointed with some of the government buildings including the White House in that they are like armed camps. No trespassing signs should be posted everywhere since they won't let you on places like the front steps of the Capitol or anywhere on the grounds of the White House. I guess that's just the sign of the times considering the terrorist crap going on in the world these days. Every place we went they send you through metal detectors and your pack and camera need to run through scanning devices. I guess that's the price we pay for a level of safety, huh?

Still, it's been wonderful exploring the tourist areas and we have seen all sorts of very cool stuff, so it's all worth it.

Exploring DC

We have been busy the last several days exploring Washington DC and for me, learning about mass transit. The Metro is a great way to get around without a car so we have been using that to get from where Steve lives in Bethesda to downtown. It has been quite a learning experience but all good since it hasn't been crowded at all during the times we are commuting. There are so many things to see here that each day we walk until we start getting tired and still haven't scratched the surface of all there is to do. It rained on us the other day but we had raincoats and since it is so warm and humid, it was a pleasure walking in the rain.

The first picture is of the Library of Congress. The second is the Capitol, of course, and next the reflecting pool in front of the Capitol. The last one was taken in the Botanical area near the Capitol.

Today we are going to try to visit some of the memorial spots and go by the Whitehouse. Also, yesterday there was a big hoopla downtown as Senator Kennedy's body was transported to Arlington and that had us trapped for a time inside the Capitol grounds as they had the streets blocked off for the motorcade.

So far this has been a fun trip and we still have tons of stuff we want to see so the adventure continues!

Off on another adventure!

This afternoon we are leaving to go down to Logan to spend the night at Krista's place and then tomorrow we are flying out of Salt Lake City to go to Washington DC. We won't be coming back to Idaho Falls till October 1 so this will be a long trip. Here we are, going from the big city to a much bigger city. Not exactly what this country boy is used to but it will be good for me to see how the other side of the country looks. I've never been on the east coast and seeing the capital city is really going to be interesting. Hopefully I'll have time to post a few pictures along the way, we'll see...

Heise Hot Springs

We took a drive yesterday out to Heise Hot Springs. That's pronounced Hi-C. The hot springs out there are very commercialized and they have a swimming pool, RV parks, picnic areas, campgrounds, you name it. It costs $8 to use the pool, another $1 to use the hot pool, another $1 to use the slide which looked like fun, or you can pay $15 per person to get everything. There were lots of people and it was a very popular place and not like the hot springs I usually like to go to. Needless to say it was a nice day to visit since it was nice and warm and sunny most of the day. It was a good thing we went yesterday because it's been raining on and off all day today and it's pouring down right now so not a good day to be out driving around.

After we left the hot springs we drove out along the Snake River and followed the road all the way to the end. That was a nice ride and again there were lots of people camping along the river and ATV's running all over the place but still it was nice to be out of town. The picture we took up the river about half way to the end. There were lots of fishermen in boats and on the shore but I never got to see anyone land one. And I didn't take any pictures of the hot springs but then I didn't see too many things to take pictures of there anyway.