Adventures with George and Jane : Grumpy Gaithersburg and Whirlwind Washington

We decided to stay outside of Washington DC in Gaithersburg MD because the hotel was much more reasonable. While it was much more reasonable for our wallets, it certainly was not reasonable in the eyes of my mother. The guests at the motel represented a wide cross section of society to put it kindly. To put it less kindly, several of them were lounging around outside their rooms and weren't completely covered by conservative clothing. There was also a train that run all night long right outside that caused the entire room to vibrate. None of the dogs were very happy with the arrangement and since the train woke them up every time it passed, none of us were able to sleep very well. We were excited to spend time with Kim's mom, even when we found out that Gaithersburg offered little to do but eat. Luckily, that is one thing that all of us are quite experienced in and we managed to squeeze more meals into the visit than I would be comfortable admitting on here.

The three of met went to Applebee's for dinner on Thursday night. Based on our waitress and the people we ran in to at the motel, we ventured a guess that Gaithersburg wasn't known for its hospitality. No one smiled in the entire restaurant and when we stopped by Target to pick up a few things, we were overwhelmed by the grumpy faces and borderline rude behavior. We cut the night short because there was a major thunderstorm, which would throw all of the dogs into a state of panic, hiding under sinks and in bathtubs.

On Friday, we spent the entire day restaurant hopping in Gaithersburg, with the exception of the 16 minutes that was spent sweating profusely as we took a paddle boat in the shape of a swan around a duck pond.

It was awesome to just hang out with Kim's mom, but we were still curious about some of the DC attractions.

No one could sleep with the trains passing through so frequently, so Cathy was ready to head back to NY by 8am. We decided to do a DC whirlwind and attempt to cover The Museum of Natural History, The National Archives, and The Museum of American History... all in the 2 hours between 10am (when the museums open) and 12am (the time we'd have to leave in order to check out on time).

We found a parking spot in front of the Museum of American History, so that was our first stop. The museum contained an incredible collection of artifacts dating back to the revolutionary war. It was a great way to be able to visualize history. Some of the highlights were General George Washington's uniform:

The original Star Spangled Banner:

Part of the Berlin Wall:

Railroad Hall:

Dorothy's Ruby Slippers:

And Miss Piggy:

Next we walked the short distance to the National Archives to view the Bill of Rights, Constitution, on Declaration of Independence. No pictures were allowed and it took a while to enter the building due to security.