Arlington, VA and Washington DC August 2010

Just after Jesse left in the late summer of 2010, Fletcher and I hit the road for our first long road trip together. We went up to Arlington, VA to visit Linda, a teacher I worked with for 3 years. We went before her husband returned and before she started a new school year.

This visit also included a dog, two cats, and her daughter, Malaya...who was a big help with all of the baby stuff I managed to cram in the car. Thank goodness I brought his exersaucer though, because at just over 4 months, this was his favorite place to be and a favorite for me as well, so I could get things done.

We also enjoyed the W and OD Trail, which is literally right next to their house. 

Fletcher had ridden the metro in Minneapolis to get from the airport to downtown, to the Mall of America, and back to the airport, but it was the streetcar type. This was his first metro ride on the underground version, so I just had to take a few pictures. We rode it into DC two days of our visit.

I love just walking around Washington, D.C. and the fact that you can see so much for free. I had only been there once before, and the National Museum of American History was closed and we were only able to see a bit of it on display in the Air and Space Museum. So, this was a spot I wanted to hit. How lucky for Fletcher's first museum to be this one! He checked out a few of the hands-on exhibits.

He also posed (or was placed by) some other exhibits.

He pretended to be The President of The United States too.

Then we went to the Old Post Office for some views. Linda is scared of heights, so Fletcher helped her get through it. 

Here he is with The Capitol and The Washington Monument and then all smiles after the 2nd day of touring.

The 2nd day of touring, we walked around The Mall. Here's The White House and Washington Monument.

Here we are in front of The Lincoln Memorial and The Vietnam, The Korean War, and The WWII Memorials.

Linda was our hostess and photographer, but we managed a self-portrait in front of The White House as well.

She taught Fletcher about the iPhone.

Dave came home just before we left, so I got a family picture of them in front of their new house.

The drive up was about 5-5.5 hours. The drive home was MUCH LONGER. I got stuck in DC traffic on the way out of the city on that Saturday morning and about 2.5 hours later, I was in Stafford for a quick visit with Jesse's college roommate and friend, John. I had met him, Gigi, and Ashley before, but now I got to meet Bridgette and Little John as well. Fletcher was given loads of attention and we took a few pictures before hitting the road again.

After a VERY LONG TIME in the car again, we ventured off the route to go to Fletcher's first party experience, which was Austin's First Birthday Party!

Since it was a baseball theme, I changed him into appropriate party attire for the evening. Even though he had been in the carseat for about 8 hours at that point, he was a trooper throughout the festivities.

After watching Austin eat cake and open some gifts for awhile, we hit the road for another 2 hours, the shortest leg of the day's journey.

It was a very busy week with an extremely long day at the end, but the visit with a friend, touring our nation's capital, a quick visit with old friends, and a celebration of a little life were all worth it!