Urban Adventures....

It's been a while since we've posted, it would appear...

Life has finally slowed down a bit, thanks to the cold weather and the approach of winter.
After the Colorado Trail, we proceeded to stay busy, finally cracking in October and designating November to be our "Off Month".
So, what do the Clarks do in an 'off-month'...?! We go urban adventuring!

We went to Baltimore, Maryland, to visit our very good friends The Bells, who used to live near us in Colorado. We had a fantastic time visiting with them and their two lovely girls, seeing their hometown, playing games, going on walk/runs, and watching the girls do their homework. Is it just me, or does the level of academics for grade school children seem to far exceed my own college education?! These girls are doing an hour or more of homework each night, creating riddles and solving fraction math problems! They are the smartest girls I know, and we thank them and Stacie and Matt for opening up their home to us! Love you guys!

In between our visit with our friends, we took a one-night detour to our nation's capitol! I had never been to Washington D.C., and it had been a long time since Hal had been there, so we took the metro in from Baltimore and spent a day and a half walking around and seeing the sights. For the record, D.C. is our most favorite big city, hands down! The people were all extremely friendly and helpful, the city was clean and well taken care of, and all the museums and monuments are FREE! Also, it was about 60-70 degrees both days and sunny, which helped...

We arrived in Chinatown, and proceeded to get a free map from a kindly lady standing outside of the metro station. 

Chinatown



On our way to Union Station, we saw this very rare and endangered albino squirrel! Well, maybe not so endangered, seeing as it was scavenging in the grass for leftovers, but certainly rare to us!

Washington D.C. Albino Squirrel!



Union Station



We did notice that there was construction work going on, everywhere, in the city. Even the Capitol was covered in scaffolding. Not to mention the heightened security...We couldn't get close to the Capitol or any of the Congress buildings.

Capitol construction

As close as we could get...

From the Capitol area we headed to the Smithsonian museums. We hit the Botanic Gardens, the American Indian museum, and our personal favorite, the National Air and Space Museum. We also breezed through the Museum of Natural History, where we saw the Hope Diamond. Turns out it doesn't look all that different from the one in the movie Titanic - Ha!
Then we found ourselves a nice hotel near the National Mall, put our feet up for a bit, and headed back into the city for a delicious, authentic Mexican meal!

The next day was Veteran's Day, which we didn't plan, but it was neat to experience. The whole National Mall and surrounding streets were barricaded and blocked off due to the inaugural Concert for Valor. Hal was marveling at the immense amount of police, fire, and ambulance support that was present the entire day...



All the ambulances, and this was only from one street!!!







We walked and saw all the monuments, including the White House, before we took the metro back to Maryland. I think we had to have walked at least 10-15 miles each day, and we still didn't even come close to seeing it all! We definitely want to return to D.C. again, maybe for 2 weeks, and explore Georgetown and spend more time in the museums.



Barricaded from the Washington Monument...

A picture of our reflection in a mirror. Note the Washington Monument in the background...

Hal with the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial in the background...

As close as we could get to the White House

Looking across the Reflecting Pool..





Thanks Bell Family and the wonderful city of Washington D.C. for a fantastic urban fall adventure!

P.S. If you are interested in urban adventuring and fast-packing, we highly recommend these brand new packs - Ultimate Direction-Fastpack 20.  Thanks to Mom and Dad, for giving them to us as an early Christmas gift! They have two sizes, S/M (which fits me) and M/L (which fits Hal). They fit in the overhead bins on the plane, so no extra luggage charge, and they are super comfortable. We wore them all day, both days in the city, and didn't have sore shoulders or anything!

Thanks for reading and hope you are all enjoying fall!