D.C. on a Dime!

As usual for our Amtrak family (Dear Husband works there!) we took the train last Thursday with Washington D.C. as our destination. We were happy to finally be on the road...due to inclement weather, we had postponed it twice! :) Using our free passes is a real blessing!

We arrived in Union Station and were wowed by it! It's huge and very unique!

I have so much to post on, but I can't resist some snapshots of the great architecture of the station! With 3 photographers in the family, we have our share of pictures from this trip!

As you can see, it was lovely inside, and out!

To the delight of my sweet husband, we finally left the train station and truly began to tour D.C.

Just a couple of blocks to the U.S. Capitol building. (You can actually see it in the picture outside the train station above in the background)

You can get an idea from the shot above as to how lovely a day the Lord allowed us to have!

Then, off we went to the Library of Congress for a brief visit...

If you've never been there, it is beautiful inside! We also got to see the Gutenberg Bible, lots of neat items from Abraham Lincoln (including his family Bible!) and the books from Thomas Jefferson's library but we weren't allowed to photograph any of them. :)
I have to interject here, that they are trying (very hard-yet of course unsuccessfully) to draw a comparison between Lincoln and Obama...and I have to say that the thought that jumped into my mind while there was...NO WAY! Abraham Lincoln freed people, Obama has put us in bondage!

Obama has also said recently on the news, that American is not a Christian nation...well, I don't think he gets out of the White House much! Almost every Memorial, Monument etc...that we toured in our nation's capitol has the Living God's name referenced on it. We were a Christian nation before this election, although we've been backsliding quite a bit. Now, I think we're going to be in real trouble. Be praying!

We didn't get to spend nearly enough time at the Library of Congress, we're going to try and go back soon!

Not far from there was the Washington Monument. We have like 1,000 photos of this! LOL I think we took one from every possible angle except aerial!

No, the WM isn't leaning, it's the photographer! (me!) LOL See! I told you that we covered every possible angle! LOL How did you like those trick shots?

And, the reason I called this DC on a Dime, is because we got to take the train, and ride the metro for free b/c of hubby's job, and we took our lunch and water with us. All we had to do was pay for parking at the train station ($10) Saying DC on a Hamilton, or on a Ten just doesn't sound as catchy! LOL

I will continue this trip in another post. :)

We Made Tracks!

Remember our trip to FL for the wedding? Well, our family got to take the Amtrak auto train to get there. (A perk of my sweetie's job--we get to go for free!) And we took our van with us! :)

The way it works, is that we drove from DE to VA to the Lorton Station. They loaded our van on the train, and then us! We left at 4pm, and arrived in Sanford, FL at about 8:15am the next morning!

Here we are waiting to get rolling! Since we are passriders-we are only entitled to coach seats (which means we would sit in a row w/other people) UNLESS there are extra sleeper cars available... On our trip to FL, the train was pretty full of "snowbirds"... so we got a small sleeper car called a Family Car. It is made for 2 adults, and 2 small children.

But, as you can see, we were just happy to get a private car at all! We got the last one left! We did have to travel down the train car to use the "facilities". :)

As you can see, we had a little bit of cramped quarters, but we didn't mind!

The scenery was lovely while it was still light out!

Above, the kids are trying out their beds for the night! (The steward puts them down for you while you're at dinner in the dining car) Which was delicious by the way! I had surf and turf! :)

We woke up, ate breakfast in the dining car, and got off the train in FL, ready to start our vacation!

And then...before we knew it, we were back on the train again, doing everything in reverse!

My daughter managed to take this shot from the moving train not too long after our departure.

Here we are in the dining car!

And here the kids are in the cafe car where they served us snacks, and they also show a movie if you want to watch it. In the daytime, this is an observation car as it is mostly glass.
Briana cranks off another picture before it gets dark. The scenery was breathtaking! And kudos to Bri for having such steady hands!-and artistic eye and talent!
Oh, and this time we even got a "full ride"! We got 2 deluxe sleepers with 4 adult-sized beds--complete w/facilities! Here I am washing my hands in one of our little sinks. :) Woohoo!
Yep, you know it--we went in style! :)