4th of July!

Amazing things happened when Hudson, Jamison and I went to Washington DC for the 4th of July, one amazing thing being proposed to by my wonderful now fiancé! I just thought for this post that I would let all the pictures do the talking, and in some areas make my comments be known. Enjoy!

If wanting to go to DC on the 4th, forget about driving!! The best way to go is by the Metro, for $9 you get an all day pass on the Metro and can travel into DC without having to worry about taking a car and finding parking spots! The only problem? Millions of other people too are taking the Metro too, it literally is the only form of transportation out here for the 4th that can get everyone in and out of the city in the least amount of havoc possible! 

And riding on the Metro is actually a lot of fun, it moves pretty quickly and when times start to get boring the individuals riding on the Metro are quite entertaining to watch. The Rail Operator was hilarious to listen to as well, you could tell he was enjoying working on a holiday so that I could go out and have fun....

When we finally got off the Metro we headed toward the Washington Monument (hard to miss!) so Hudson could take a look around. Hudson didn't have any pictures of the area so we made sure to include him in a lot of photos during this trip. I personally love this picture, it seems to fit Hudson and I's relationship to the T. We aren't touching, the look of harassment clearly shown on our faces. Hudson is my favorite.

The Washington Monument is huge!!

This is Hudson trying his best to look bad "A" protecting America. Strangely I don't feel very safe...

This is at the World War II Memorial, it was so bloody hot and humid that we had no choice but to put our feet in the water like everyone else. 

It was a beautiful, extremely hot day, notice that my hair is no longer long but up in a pony tail?!

In front of the Lincoln Memorial, that paper I was holding was smashed into smithereens by the end of the day. It was the thing thing a street vendor could have given me, a homemade fan!

The Lincoln Memorial is very neat, and in a room that is quite suffocating with all of the tourists and humidity!

Fail....

Much more realistic!

Jamison took this picture from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, it was so hot and only 3 PM that we decided to take a long rest on the stairs and to just hang out and snack on some food that I had brought. In the meantime we took pointless pictures that nonetheless were part of the experience!

After several hours on the stairs and a quick bite of food from a very expensive vendor...we headed back towards the monument to save us a spot for the fireworks later that evening. Who knew that it would take over an hour to walk to the other side, but it sure was worth it! 

These were our seats, right in front of the Washington Monument facing the Lincoln Memorial, with a couple of outstretched blankets and some friends from the office we all just hanged out and relaxed listening to the Navy Band perform!

I have this picture to show you the before and after stages of how many people filled into this field, so this is the picture earlier in the afternoon....

and this is right as the sun was setting (obviously!) It was crazy to see how many people could fit onto this field!

This shot was a glimpse to try and see how many people were on the stairs of the Lincoln, the lights happened to be turning on while we took this shot. The fireworks were getting closer!!

The fireworks were spectacular, and not too long into the show Jamison got on one knee and proposed! 

This was taken as we were racing back to the Metro station to beat the crowd of millions of people. We were lucky that only several thousand people beat us to the station and not the millions! There were so many squished into the square that it was crazy, and incredibly humid. It was so hot it was nearly suffocating, to be more disgusting I knew I was breathing at least several hundred people's sweat....even more gross I was covered in it! Yuck!

It was crazy, but definitely worth the experience. I would suggest everyone to come out to DC on the 4th of July. Nothing like spending the nation's birthday at the nation's capital!

The Philadelphia End Cap

For those who hate reading, this is a very short version of our day told by myself at Love Park.

Love Park!

Can't you feel....the love?!

Also being in Philadelphia...I needed to have a picture with the Love sign!

And what better to have a picture of the Love sign with the man I love?

And this is the fountain behind the Love sign, it is super refreshing to sit next to it after a very hot day! {In fact, some people enjoyed it more than we did, one man went in and laid down in the water and then left! The water was full of mold! Gross!}

This is me enjoying myself at the pond/fountain area. Jamison loves taking pictures sometimes!

And this is me again, with pretty flowers in the background at Love Park.

Ultimately, I think we felt the love!

Pat's and Geno's!

Although it was a Sunday, Jamison and I decided that since we are in Philadelphia...gosh darnit we have to get a philly cheese steak! {It knocks out one of the those life goals, to eat a philly..in Philly!} We couldn't just eat any cheese steak...but the world's best cheese steak! So to satisfy our needs we decided to go to both Pat's and Geno's!

Pat's and Geno's both consider themselves to make "The Best Cheese Steak in the World" and to make it even better..they are next door neighbors! So, we decided to put them to the test and decide for ourselves who we thought had the "World's Best Cheese Steak". We bought one cheese steak at Geno's and then walked across the street to Pat's and bought another one. So ultimately we had a sandwich each. Not too unhealthy right?!

For all of you rookies...this is a Philly Cheese Steak with 'Wizz with' {Meaning cheese wizz with onions}. This seemed to be the standard from all of the locals to get the 'Wizz with', {and President Obama ordered this when he visited the place} so we followed along with everyone else and ordered this! Yummy!

So after eating at both places...we then had to choose...

Geno's...

or Pat's?

And although both places had some delicously made Philly cheese steaks...the winner by slim margins is......

Geno's! We felt that they both had wonderful taste, but Geno's had better food presentation, better customer service, and slightly beat out Pat's because of the flavor in 'each' bite that we took. {ha! I sound like the Food Network!}

Jamison and I in front of the 'winning' cheese steak joint!

{Did anyone else think that it was funny the stark differences between the level of 'showiness' from both Pat's and Geno's? Geno's looks amazing...while Pat's looks like a local diner. Nonetheless, they are both yummy places to go eat!}

Next stop? Love Park!

Independence Hall

Independence Hall-the place where the Declaration of Independence was signed! Although we weren't able to tour the inside {because we didn't get the free tickets fast enough} it was still neat to just be able to walk around the area and in the courtyard behind the hall. It was a beautiful area, and something cool...the road right in front of Independence Hall is a cobble stone street!

This is the backside of Independence Hall, I love the clock tower/steeple thingamajig. And in front of the Hall happens to be a statue of a founding father {man unknown}.

And this is me, looking inspiring and doing a wonderful representation of the statue of the unknown man. This statue is evident that our Founding Fathers worked really hard to be an inspiration through not only their writing but through their body positioning in their statues. Can't you see the resemblance?

This also happened to be the statue where several "New Englanders" read the Declaration of Independence to us. Very cheesy but none the less still cool.

And this is another picture of the backside of Independence Hall, I couldn't help it...it is such a beautiful area with all of the surrounding trees!

Next stop? Geno's and Pat's for cheese steak awesomeness!

Liberty Bell Center

After visiting the Independence Hall/Liberty Bell Visitor Center we walked across the street to the Liberty Bell Center where the bell is displayed. The entire Liberty Bell Center is a tribute to the Liberty Bell {shocking} and before you enter the room where the bell is at you are led through tons of historic artificats about things pertaining to the bell and the historical significance it is to America.  

This is the historically famous 'cracked' Liberty Bell!  The bell has actually been cracked twice! The first time it cracked was in 1753 when the makers of the bell John Pass and John Stow were giving it a test ring. After it cracked they remade the entire bell all over again. The bell cracked again, {which is the crack shown today} when it was being rung at the funeral of John Marshall in 1835 {who Marshall was one of the signers of the Declaration of the Independence.} The crack is so large that it has silenced the Liberty Bell for forever. It is sad to think that a bell that would bring so many people so much happiness from just the sound of it and it will never ring again.

On the bell it is written: "PROCLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND UNTO ALL THE INHABITANTS THEREOF LEV. XXV X." Under this reads, "BY ORDER OF THE ASSEMBLY OF THE PROVINCE OF PENSYLVANIA [sic] FOR THE STATE HOUSE IN PHILADA." Lower on the bell are the inscriptions, "PASS AND STOW," the last names of the founders who cast the bell (John Pass and John Stow). Beneath this is "PHILADA," short for Philadelphia. The lowest inscription is the Roman numerals MDCCLIII (1753), the year the bell was re-cast. Very cool!

Very neat experience, in fact, one of the coolest things that I have done since living out here on the East Coast! 

Next? Independence Hall! {close up version}

Independence Hall/Liberty Bell Visitor's Center

Welcome to Independence Hall! Well, the far away view of it at least. At our first stop, we started  across the street at the Independence Hall /Liberty Bell Visitor Center in hopes of grabbing tickets to take a tour inside of Independence Hall! {Which sadly, we failed...first come, first serve is hard when tickets are available at 8:30 AM}

The Visitor Center was a great place to get us in the 'historic' mood. Inside there were a lot of New England characters playing roles and telling stories of what happened at Independence Hall. {Which for those who don't know this is where the Declaration of Independence was signed}. There were several 'New Englanders' playing instruments that you don't particularily see nowadays, one man was writing vistor's names in calligraphy with a quail pen and ink from a bottle, as well as a woman who would teach you how to knit! Also in the Visitor's Center there were exhibits to see about the Declaration of Independence/Liberty Bell as well as movies that you could get tickets for to view the reenactment of the making of the Declaration of Independence. {Heads up, the movie was lame}.

It was a beautiful day to be out sight seeing, as you can tell from the pictures there wasn't a cloud in the sky at all, and very surprisingly the humidity wasn't horrific for being so close to the shore! {Which was very good news for my frizzy, long hair!}

Next stop? Across the street to the Liberty Bell Center!

Sunday Destination: Philadelphia!

This last week Jamison and I took the long drive to visit Philadelphia! We made sure to see the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Love Park and to visit Geno's and Pat's to decide for ourselves who really does have the 'world's best' cheesesteak!

We took a lot of pictures of our trip and some videos that will hopefully load up on Blogger...so check out the next couple of posts to see what we did!

And although there may not be a lot of words in each post, you will definetely get the experience from the pictures!

 {There is a good chance of duplicates...I can't decide which pictures I like best!}

                  xoxo,
                                                 auburn 

Sunday Destination: Arlington National Cemetery

Because Hudson, Jamison and I work Monday through Saturday from early afternoon to late evening we are unable to sight see the amazing places surrounding Baltimore during the weekdays. So when I have some spare time in the office I plan out our Sunday destinations! Because our only available days are on Sundays it has been difficult because we want to spend money on food/souveniers etc. So to compensate, we try and spend our time in the local free places and do our sight seeing that way in attempts of keeping the Sabbath day holy.

Our very first Sunday destination was at the Arlington National Cemetery. This is an enormous cemetery with acres and acres of land that holds the bodies of those who served our country and died in battle.

Although incredible does not seem to be the appropriate term, it is a very incredible and humbling experience to be able to walk through such hallowed grounds. For every tombstone, I see a family who suffered from the loss of a loved one. This same individual died for our country, for me, so I could have the freedom that I enjoy each and every day. It is truly a humbling experience to have been able to be here.

Also included in the Arlington National Cemetery is where President John F. Kennedy is buried along with his wife and children. This man died serving our country in a whole other way, he gave hope, and gave an incredible speech where he told the world that the United States was going to land on the moon. How I wish I could have been alive to hear that in person!

Also in the Arlington National Cemetery there is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, that included in the name, represents those who died that we couldn't identify their remains.

At this tomb it happens to be guarded 24 hours a day, regardless if it is raining or stifling hot. We happened to get there as they were doing the 'Changing of the Guard'.

I battled the idea of expressing how I really felt about the 'Changing of the Guard' because I don't want to be judged by the feelings I felt for it and what I experienced. {But then I realized this is my blog where I can say whatever I feel, which happens to be a freedom I enjoy, and I'm going to share my thoughts anyways!}. With these thoughts I say this out of respect and in reverence for those who died for my sake. I feel like the 'Changing of the Guard' was a presentation/show for those who visited the cemetery. The soldiers on guard appeared as if this was a job, or a mundane task, that was needed to be performed every 15 minutes. While walking through the cemetery I realized that we can get so caught up with every day routines that we forget those individuals who sacrifice the most for us each and every day. It made me sad to see that even standing in front of the tomb that the spectators were watching the 'show' and not fully understanding the importance of why the tomb is being guarded each and every day.

I hope that from my own experience this last Sunday that I may never forget and remember those who sacrificed so much for each of us. What a humbling experience.