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.