Day 5 of the long weekend

Today was the last day of our long weekend. We are sad it is over but so thankful we were able to spend the time together. Today we headed out to Harper's Ferry, WV. The city is really old and is known for it's odd position. You can be in one state and see two others and two rivers.

This picture (stolen from the internet and not from my camera) shows the town in West Va. The picture is taken standing in Maryland and you can see Virgina at the top left. The Shenandoah river is on the left and the Potomac is on the right.

 

The entire city is a National Historic Park and they have signs up everywhere to guide you along. The city is part of the Appalachian Trail and played a part in the American Civil War. They have shops and restaurants but being a holiday everything was closed. Since it was really cold we hit the highlights and got back in the car. We would love to go back in the summer when they have white water rafting and tubing. They have tons of walking trails and zip lines as well. 

Since we were close to a Waffle House we decided to stop and eat lunch there. It was sooo good. I got an All-Star (don't judge, I split it!) so I could have a little bit of everything. You cannot find good hashbrowns like they have close by our house. Most places make them soft. It's not hashbrowns unless they are crunchy! Once again, lots of cardio cancelled out by yummy, horrible for you food. And I would eat it again right now if it was in front of me! :)

The city still has an open train station. There was a guy there from GA waiting on the train to take him to DC.

The lower section of the city

John Brown's Fort

Standing at the tip of West Virginia

The railroad crossing over into Maryland

We walked across but did not stay long. My fingers were hurting from being so cold. 

The shops and restaurants

St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church

Jefferson Rock

Virginia and the Shenandoah River

The ruins of St John's Episcopal Church

Day 4 of the long weekend

And on day 4 they rested. We were so tired from the first three days we slept in, lounged around the house, grocery shopped, and watched some football. Another perfect day! Stay tuned for the final day.

Day 3 of the long weekend

So today we headed to Philly. We were suppose to get up at 6:30 but my alarm did not go off (I had it set for m-f and forgot it was Saturday) so we got a later start than what we wanted. I packed up some snacks (left over John's and cupcakes) so we would have something to eat just in case. It took us about two hours to get there and the drive was quite nice. Could have done without the three tolls totaling $13 (and that does not include the three more on the way for a total of $26) but nothing we could do about it. We even passed multiple Waffle House and Cracker Barrels without stopping! Our first stop was to Independence Hall. The lines were fairly long for a cool winter day in January. The guy in front of us in line was from Alabama and lived in Panama City for a long time before moving to VA. What a small world, isn't it. We then went to the tomb of the unknown soldier and walked around trying to find a place for lunch. We decided to get back in the car and drive over to Tony Luke's. It is a famous cheesesteak place and they were packed. Parking was a nightmare! There were about 10 tables and 75+ people in line. The place was long and not very wide (think mobile home) with only enough room inside for the kitchen. All the seating and ordering line was once outside but they added a little closed in area to shield people from the cold/heat. As soon as we ordered I went and grabbed a table. The sandwiches were good and the onion rings were amazing! The cheesesteak I got was kinda bland. Next time I go I will have to amp up the volume (y'all know how I like that spice!). Maybe some onions and peppers is more my style. On our way back to the historic stuff we split one of our cupcakes from DC Cupcakes. The cookies and cream cheesecake was heaven in my mouth! Omg! Soo soo good! We finished up the day seeing the liberty bell, Benjamin Franklin's grave, and the "Rocky Steps". While seeing the steps we saw wedding parties taking their pictures from the top. With the city in the background, the location was perfect at sunset. I bet many brides pick that spot and I can see why.
I was really surprised how nice and clean the city was. I really went in thinking trashy, homeless ppl and gangs everywhere, and sketchy. But it was no where near that. I saw a few homeless people but they were nice and no more than you see in DC. It was much nicer than Baltimore, in my opinion, and had lots to do. Didn't get to the shopping side of the city but I think we did plenty of that yesterday. :)
For dinner we met up with Ryan and Sarah at Buffalo Wild Wings. Thank god for the beer bc if it was not for that I would have cried. It was just crazy! The mall area was so busy there was no parking. Doug dropped me off and I went in to get our name on the list. The guy told me 30 minutes or so. While we waited we sat at the bar and had a few beers. After 45 minutes I went and checked on the table. If it was going to be much longer we were going to grab a table around the bar area and just eat there. Well the guy told me there were 8 parties ahead of us. My response, "Well that estimated 30 minutes was no where close, now was it?" And I said it very politely... :) Maybe if I wasn't so tired with a belly full of beer that last statement would have been true... We grabbed a table and waited and waited for a server. After talking to two other waiters our guy finally came over and started an argument with us! Instead of asking if we had a tab at the bar he just assumed and kept walking past us. He never apologized or let it go, he just kept arguing that he had no business waiting on us. I snapped only slightly at him and suggested that since he was now clear on our status he should take our order. He did ok the rest of the night but he had to work his way up from a $0 tip.
With all our walking around I feel like I would have lost weight if it was not for all the junk and cupcakes we ate. Oh well! Maybe I will do better tomorrow... Maybe...

Coming into the city

Independence Hall

Congress Hall

Tony Luke's Cheesesteak

The Liberty Bell

Benjamin Franklin's grave

The city skyline

The Rocky steps - are you singing the song yet?

Day 2 of long weekend

Today we headed into D.C. to do some shopping. And where is the best place to do that? Wisconsin Ave in Chevy Chase and M Street in Georgetown. My feet are tired from all the shopping, my nose is permanently red from frost bite, but it was so worth it. I needed to get my Tiffany & Co jewelry cleaned so we bopped around Wisconsin Ave (in a previous blog) for a bit. The hot chocolate helped with the morning cold! :) I found lots of stuff I wanted at Tiffany's and in the windows of places I could not afford to put one toe into (Gucci, Jimmy Choo, Louis Vuitton, etc). We then headed down to the Washington Harbor to walk along the river. We made a note to go back when the weather was warmer and we could enjoy being outside more. I also want to go back to ice skate at the outside rink they had! We then walked up Wisconsin Ave to M Street. Now that was a cool street. They have a little bit of everything. I picked up a few shirts, some jewelry, and some cupcakes at D.C. Cupcakes (the famous bakery that has a show in TLC). The half a dozen of cupcakes were $15 but worth every penny. Doug and I split one and I would highly recommend going there. It is worth gaining hundreds of pounds over! Tonight we are ordering pizza and watching tv; resting up for another fun day tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Walking along the river at the Washington Harbor. (Please disregard the thumb. Fail!)

Cupcakes! @ D.C. cupcakes

Getting our shop on at M Street

Lunch at J Pauls on M Street

More shopping on Wisconsin Ave in Georgetown

Day 1 of our long weekend

So we were suppose to go to Virginia for our long weekend/mini vacation.  But with auburn's allergies we decided to stay at home and do day trips. Today was suppose to snow/rain all day so we didnt want to wander off to far. We started with a quick trip to Target and then we were going to eat Chick-fil-a and go to a movie.  Since the weather was nice Doug suggested driving up to Baltimore.  One of our favorite sandwhich restaurants, John's, is right out side of the city so we decided to eat there instead. As always, it was great and I have tons of leftovers. After that We drove around the inner harbor,  Fells Point, and Fed Hill. We quickly realized we were there at the wrong time of the day. It was 1 in the afternoon and we were surrounded by bars and restaurants.  Ha! Maybe we will go back one night.  We decided to head south and go to downtown Annapolis. We had only been there once to bar hop for Doug's 30th birthday so we decided to see what it was like sober. :) After walking around in the cold and no bars being open yet we headed back to our neck of the woods to hit up happy hour at the Green Turtle. For dinner we tried a Mexican restaurant we had not eaten at before. It was not Monterey... We are giving up and surrendering to the "different" Mexican food. So we just won't be eating it until we go back to the south. :) Now I am am the couch cuddling with auburn and Doug is playing Xbox. Perfect ending to a great day! Oh, and we got zero inches of snow. Alabama gets it and we get nothing. Really?... On to day 2! Stay tuned.

A hypoallergenic dog with allergies

Only I would have a hypoallergenic dog that has allergies...

I took Auburn to a new vet yesterday for a second opinion on her skin. They agreed with the other vet, that it is more than likely allergies. Since it is year round they are leaning toward food allergies over environmental so they have put her on a STRICT diet. No treats, no yummy food, no anything with taste. She gets this prescription hypoallergenic (aka expensive) dog food that is almost colorless, white hypoallergenic dog "cracker" treats (which ironically has a picture of a schnauzer on it), and that is it. Breaking her of the tomatoes, chips, and sweet potato addiction is going to be difficult. We have to give her a medicated bath twice a week and half of a really expensive antibiotic once a day. Hopefully she will be feeling better after a few weeks. If she stays good after the antibiotics are done then we know it was the food. If not, we HAVE to do the allergy tests. Crossing our broke fingers it is just the food!

2012 in Pictures

Doug Turned 30 - Cherry Blossom Festival and Arlington National Cemetery

Orioles game for Heather's 29th Birthday

Happy 4th of July!

Trip to Georgia to see family and friends

Trip to Alabama to see family and friends AND to go to a game!

Sarah's birthday at Olive Garden and then off to the Casino

Ryan's birthday at Dave and Buster's

Merry Christmas!