The Adventures of Brittany and Jessica-week 1

Wow.... Life is just so much better when you have a friend to do stuff with. And the fact that it's one of my oldest and bestest friends is extra fabulous! Brittany flew in a couple weeks ago, and we've been having so much fun. We went to Jamestown, which is the oldest permanent settlement in America. And P.S. the Disney version of Pocahontas is definitely not what happened. lol. We saw her statue and John Smith's statue looking over the James River.... even though "river" doesn't seem like the right word to describe it. It's more like a lake. I guess I'm just used to rivers being a foot wide, not a mile wide.


So then we headed to Virginia Beach. I've only been to a beach a few times, but this one definitely is numero uno!! It was amazing and warm and the water was perfect and the sand was soft.... Mmmm. It was lovely.

On the way home from the beach we stopped at Yorktown and saw the battlefield. This was the battlefield where America won the Revolutionary war. Then we walked down the waterfront and listened to some performers and saw this old ship.



It was a really great trip. And we have so many more to come!

Monticello

Okay....take out a nickle and look at the "tail" side. See that building? Well, I went there. lol. I never really realized what that building was, but it's Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home, and it's really close to the Park. I find Jefferson, and any Presidential history in general, fascinating. So it was really neat to see this.


On the grounds is the family cemetery. Jefferson is buried there, along with his wife, children, and other family members (plus, his best friend). He did a lot in his life, but his grave marker only says "Author of the Declaration of Independence and the Statutes of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and The Father of The University of Virginia".


Speaking of University of Virginia.... it is so neat! The campus is really pretty and old. Charlottesville, VA, the city it's in is way cute too! I love driving through the historic downtown and going to the library and seeing all the old buildings. If I could afford to go to school here (it's super expensive!), I totally would!

I've been going to family home evening activities at the University singles ward. The people are so great, and it's nice to have people my own age and that have my same beliefs to hang out with.

Washington DC--take 2

What are the odds that I run into someone I know from Utah clear across the country on a crowded Metro in DC? Pretty slim to none I would say.... But that happened to me! When me and Sadie got onto the metro to go back to our hotel, my friend from SUU got into the very same section of the train (coincidence?.... I think not!) She was there for an internship for the summer, and told me I could come stay with her for a couple days. So I did. I was able to go back to DC a few weeks ago and see more. Which, buy the way, still wasn't enough time. You could spend a month here and not see everything!

Joy (my friend) worked in the Senate offices and she gave me a way awesome, behind-the-scenes tour of the capital. I saw all the statues (each state has 2 statues in the capital building), the Senate rooms, and sat in the Senate Gallery and listened to a couple of them give speeches. The inside of the dome was very cool.









Joy had to work in the afternoon, so I walked around the city by myself for a while. That was kinda weird, but I felt very independent. haha. I saw the Supreme Court building and I went to the Museum of Natural History and saw the Hope Diamond.


Next was the National Archives, and for some reason there was no line at all. Too bad that didn't happen when Sadie was there with me. You can't take pictures in there :( But I saw the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and The Declaration of Independence.

Then I went to the Air and Space museum. It was cooler than I thought it would be. There were lots of war planes and space stuff. The Spirit of St. Louis, the Apollo 11 capsule, and the actual plane that the Wright Brothers flew for the first time (at least I think it was the real one) were there. Joy met me here and we looked for the bobble-head Einsteins for a long time, but we couldn't find them :(















We walked to the Jefferson Memorial as the sun was going down. It was so pretty to see the city at that time of day. Then we took a taxi back to Joy's. I was so glad I got to go back. I still need to take at least one more trip to see some more stuff.

Finally an update! Washington DC!!!

Wow.... I've been terrible at updating my blog. We have dial up internet, so I can't really do much. So now I have good internet and some time, so here we go.

Washington D.C.

Oh my gosh! I really looooove that city! It is so amazing and there is so much to see. The best part is that most of it is free! yes! While me a Sadie were there, the first day we took pictures of the Washington Monument, and the USDA building (mom's boss. haha). We got into the city kinda late, so we didn't do much besides that and get some dinner. We didn't want to be out too much after dark cause my family scared me with all of the "most crime-ridden city in the country" stuff.













The next day we first went to Arlington Cemetery. Wow! That place is so neat! But I don't remember ever being so hot in my entire life!! While we were sitting there, watching the changing of the guards (sooooo cool!), I seriously thought I was going to melt into a puddle on the steps! But it was so worth it because I have never seen anything like that. It was amazing!











After Arlingotn, we went into the city and saw the Library of Congress, and part of the capital building. We also went to the White House, and while we were there we saw Sasha Obama and the dog playing in the front yard! We went to the National Archives, but the line was an hour and a half long, so we didn't stay, but we got pictures out front :)


We went to the American History museum, and I loved it! I could spend all day there! There was a cool exhibit with all of the first lady's inaugural ball gowns. The white dress is Michelle Obama's. Dorothy's ruby red slippers are also there, and a piece of the World Trade Center building after 9/11. There are so many cool little iconic items from American culture.














At this point we had been walking all day! We were so tired and sore, so we stopped at the World War 2 Memorial and put our feet in the water for a while. It was a really cool place, and I have never been so happy to see water in my life. haha.



We finally made it to the Lincoln Monument. It was bigger than I expected, and really cool. Lincoln was a stud! We sat on the steps and looked over the city for a while. Then we walked across the bridge to catch the metro to go back to our hotel. (We felt really grown-up, using the metro by ourselves. LOL) Our legs were in pain, but we had so much fun, and for a history buff-DC is like, the coolest place ever.


Sadie flew home the next morning and I headed into Virginia to start my job at Shenandoah. It is really beautiful and I am liking it so far.
I'll update again next week :)

Day 1 and Day 2 = very long!

So, we set out from FG at 7 a.m. and headed to I-70. We crossed into Colorado and it felt like we were in that state for a looong time! The scenery was great with mountains everywhere and cute little ski towns.We were making good time until we got to the Eisenhower tunnel (which was 2 miles long). From there to Denver the traffic was terrible! We lost about an hour and a half. We wanted to stop in Denver, but since we were behind we just got a picture from the road.

After Denver, and after we finally got out of the traffic, we made it to Kansas. There's a lot of corn in Kansas! And no mountains.

We stopped in Abilene, Kansas for the night. We didn't get there until after midnight. It was a really long day of driving and not much to see. But I did get a new state in (Kansas). When we woke up we got some gas and after seeing some billboards, realized that Abilene is the hometown of President Eisenhower. So we went to the little visitors center there real quick before heading out.











We finally got to Missouri, which is really pretty. We went through Kansas City and the hometown of David Cook.

On the other end of Missouri is St. Louis. It was raining really hard when we got there, but by the time we got the arch it had stopped. So we got out to see it and see the Mississippi river. We went underground to the little museum they have, then we kept driving.




We crossed into Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. In Indiana we went through Indianapolis and saw the Lucas Oil Stadium where the Colts play.




All through Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio there are soooo many trees, corn and soybeans! Everything is so green. And it seems like with every state line we cross the humidity gets worse. I can't imagine what it'll be like further east.

But the highlight of the trip so far probably has to be the thousands of fireflies we saw in the fields in Ohio. I've never seen them in real life, and they are super cool! :)

Tomorrow is a shorter driving day, so we'll have a day and a half in DC. I'm sure I'll have LOTS of pictures!

Map of the cross-country trip!

Trip from Fountain Green, UT 84632 to Shenandoah Nat'l Pk-Swift Run Ent, Skyline Dr, Elkton, VA 22827


It will be a long drive, but so fun! I can't wait to see the country and go to all these new places :)

Plans finalized!

So the plans for my cross-country road trip to Virginia are finalized. As I said before, my sister, Sadie, is coming with me. 2500-ish miles is a long way to go by yourself. We're leaving the morning of July 18th at like 6 or 7 a.m.

The first leg of the trip is the longest--14 1/2 hours! After driving through Colroado, we'll be stopping in Abilene, Kansas to stay that night. I've never heard of Abilene but Topeka was too far and there's nothing else after we pass Denver. haha.

The second day is about 12 hours. We'll drive out of Kansas and through Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.... stopping for the second night in Dayton, Ohio. We may stop and see a little of Independence, Missouri, and go to the little visitors center they have there.

Our third and last day of driving we'll go through West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland back into West Virginia, back into Maryland (lol), then finally end up in Washington D.C.!!! I cannot wait to be there! We'll stay 2 nights in DC (well....Alexandria, Virginia) and try and see everything we can in our short time there. And hopefully we don't die from the enormous heat wave they're having back there.

Early in the morning on the 22nd, I'll drop Sadie off at the (extremely large) Washington National airport before heading into Shenandoah to get settled into my dorm room and start my job! I seriously have never been so excited for anything in my whole life!!

I'll be posting pictures during the whole experience, so check back to see the amazing-ness of America. Don't be too jealous of me though. haha. :)

I'm going to Virginia!

I decided to start a blog so that I can keep everyone updated on my big adventure! I heard about Shenandoah National Park in Virginia last summer when my Lake Powell employment application was forwarded to the park by Aramark (they hire for both places). Shenandoah called a week before school started last August and offered me a job. I couldn't take it obviously because I needed to start school. But they said they would keep me in mind for the next year if I was interested. Well....March rolled around and I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with my life when I graduated in a few weeks. I kept Shenandoah in mind all year because I knew it would be so amazing to be able to go somewhere and do something fun like that, but I never really expected it to work out.... well, it is working out, because I'm leaving to start my job on July 18th! The day after Lamb Day (which I would never miss, of course!) I'm taking a cross-country road trip to get there, and my sister Sadie is driving out with me so I don't have to drive 3000 miles by myself. We're going to spend a couple days in Washington DC before Sadie flies back home. I'm so excited about that....If I could go anywhere in the country, DC would be the place, and now I get to go there! Shenandoah is about an hour and a half away from DC, so I'll probably get to visit a lot. It's 4 hours from Philadelphia and 6 hours from New York City, so hopefully I'll get to see a few of those amazing places while I'm there. The job ends in November, so it's just a seasonal thing, but I think that it all works out really perfectly. I can go do this and have this great experience, then come home and go back to school in the spring to start working on getting my teaching license. I cannot wait for my big adventure! Only 18 days left :)