Last minute tourism

We have less than a week remaining in Arlington. Last week R and I completed the Foreign Affairs Counter Threat course, wherein we learned about securing a tourniquet, vehicle skid control, firearms safety, self-defense, and much more. I'm not spilling any state secrets here; it's all out there on the interwebs. It was a fun week, but exhausting. And now that our remaining time is in limited supply, we're cramming all of those must-do, last-minute activities into the next several days.

Today we headed up to Havre de Grace, Maryland, a charming sea village located at the intersection of the Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay. The scarcity of tourists combined with the natural beauty of the area made it really enjoyable.

Built in 1827, Concord Point Lighthouse is the northernmost lighthouse on Chesapeake Bay.

A former bank in Havre de Grace.

More adventures in the coming week!

A visit from L

Our time in DC is drawing to a close. Soon (oh, so very soon) all the training will be past and we'll be in the middle of our first grand adventure with the Foreign Service.

This past weekend, we had a local grand adventure via a fun-filled weekend with L (she flew in on Saturday morning). First, we drove an hour or so to take a look at the Manassas National Battlefield.

I have to say that Stonewall Jackson is looking pretty buff.

And then we went to The Winery at Bull Run for some wine tasting:

Here's to family!

Then we went out to dinner.

Saturday: check!

We began Sunday with cinnamon rolls and mimosas, lazily lounging in our small apartment. We hopped the metro and went to the Kennedy Center for the matinee performance of The Book of Mormon:

Really fun! Hysterical, in fact. :)

We returned home where R proceeded to put the finishing touches on a delicious authentic sauerbraten roast that he had made from scratch (and had been marinating for nearly a week!). Dinner included spaetzle and red cabbage/apple yumminess, followed by Black Forest Cake purchased from a local German deli. Divine.

And then, in keeping with our family tradition, we played board games.

The Dominican Republic is going to have to bring their best game to surpass this weekend!

The only drawback? H was missing. But we'll make up for that with an island Christmas!

Antietam National Battlefield

Last Saturday, R and I drove up to Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg, Maryland, a little over an hour away. While Gettysburg is probably much better known, Antietam was the bloodiest one-day battle of the American Civil War. On September 17, 1862, nearly 100,000 soldiers waged a 12-hour battle near that small town. Nearly a quarter, 23,000 men, became casualties, meaning that they either died, were wounded, or were captured or missing.

Near the Union advance, Bloody Trail Lane.

The memorial to Maryland soldiers. (Dunker Church in the background.)

The memorial to New York soldiers.

Cannons.

Near the North Woods.

Burnside Bridge.

Monument to William McKinley (later to become the 25th U.S. President), who served as a Commissary Officer during the battle, handing out warm food and coffee to the soldiers.

There weren't very many visitors on the day that we were there, which is somewhat surprising, given the summer tourist season. It was a fascinating tour, but sobering in that I kept thinking of what a waste it all was. Not that the Union was preserved or that slavery was abolished, of course, but that the loss of life was horrendous. And that wars are still prevalent today - different causes, different justifications, but war and heartache all the same. Can't we get beyond all that already?

Fourth of July

For many years, we spent Independence Day in the best town in the world. On the 4th in Lander, two major considerations really make the town stand out. First, the city council waives the open container law for the day, which means that you can buy a bloody Mary from the Lander Bar and drink it while watching the parade at 10 o'clock in the morning, or you can leisurely sip a beer that was handed to you by the rowdy crowd celebrating their 10-year high school reunion on the back of a flatbed semi-trailer at that same parade.

But really, the most amazing thing on the 4th of July is that fireworks are legal in town, all day long. This is a picture of this year's celebration, but it's indicative of every other Independence Day celebration I've attended:

There are sporadic fireworks all day, but the big ones really start in earnest when the sun goes down and continue for two hours or more. (Photo credit: some random person on the Interwebs.)

That beautiful, crazy town.

This year for the holiday, R and I headed to New Jersey where his family has a little house on a lake. It's a pretty humble house, but the lake itself and the surrounding woodland are an amazing oasis in an otherwise hectic world - so peaceful and serene:

The view from the deck of the house.

R's family were all at the lake, including lots of cousins, so he was able to see quite a few people that he hadn't seen in decades. We heard shouts from children at neighboring docks, and the harmonized chorus of the cousins singing from the screened-in porch of the house next door. We sipped wine on the deck and breathed in the scent of the water and the trees. R and I went out in the canoe for a leisurely look at the surrounding forest, a peek at the dam at the far end of the lake, and a glimpse of the fish in the shadowy shallows. At dusk we saw flashes of fireflies in the dark places under the trees, and steady starlight in the dark places over our heads. The weather was cool and perfect.

The entire experience was absolutely nothing like the holiday in Lander.

But, you know, both equally express the sentiment of the day. Americans can be loud and boisterous in celebrating freedom. We can be quietly contemplative and grateful, too. Occasionally, we have moments of both in the space of minutes.

*******

It's a five hour drive to the lake, so we headed back to DC fairly early on Sunday. We checked Yelp for things to do along the way and decided to make a stop at Hershey Chocolate World. Decadent, I know. Mr. Hershey was a pretty impressive guy (endowing a school for orphans to the tune of 30% of Hershey's profits in perpetuity - the school now has billions in the endowment).

R, in line for the production tour. (Here's a topic for you: We don't know the other people in this photo. Ever wonder how many other people's photos you're in? Discuss.)

Only four more weeks in the U.S. before we head out on our first adventure with the Foreign Service! It's really getting real, yo.

A long walk

Our house in Lander sold, R took a last long drive out to Portland, OR and then Bozeman, MT to deliver some things to L and H, and then flew to DC. After two+ months, we're in the same zip code once again. Hurray! Being alone, every weekend I tended to tuck in and watch Netflix, drinking tea and eating shameful quantities of cookies. Not really healthy - for my waistline or my psyche - so it's doubly wonderful to have R back.

Yesterday we decided to go for a long walk to "earn" our lunch. We ended up doing just over 11 miles.

The Mount Vernon trail is very near our apartment building, so we followed it for two miles. We probably won't do that again anytime soon. The trail itself is very nice and the views of the Potomac are great, but the sheer volume of aggressive bicyclists on the path makes you feel that you're risking your life by walking there.

We meandered over the George Mason Memorial Bridge and skirted the Jefferson Memorial:

Stopping a moment to marvel at the architecture, I remembered Jefferson's words inscribed inside:

I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions. But laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him as a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.

In light of the recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, I felt very proud to be able to incline my head in silent acknowledgement to Jefferson and his words. I feel privileged to be in Washington at this time in history. Times change. Society must adapt.

R and I walked on, past the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, to the Mall. On a whim we decided to keep walking to the Capital so that we could have lunch at Tortilla Coast. A word to describe this restaurant: Yum.

After an incongruous combination of salad and beer, we were on our way to the Metro to head to the zoo. But first, we passed the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court.

Library of Congress.

Supreme Court

Supreme Court

Supreme Court

And then the zoo!

Panda, snacking on bamboo. Pandas are adorable no matter what they're doing.

Parrot giving me the stink eye.

Peacock pretending to ignore me, but actually thinking, "That's right. I'm gorgeous."

We did our version of "speed zoo" (after all, it was nearly 5:00 in the afternoon and the zoo closes at 6:00) and then wandered back to the Metro for the trip home. Did we "earn" our lunch? I do believe we did.

48 hours later

And now it's 48 hours after my second final exam in Spanish, in which I finally achieved the elusive benchmark of 3/3. A bit of an understatement to say that I'm relieved.

It's been a very challenging eight months. You know that Greek myth about Sisyphus perpetually rolling that damned rock uphill? That's what it felt like. Same thing, over and over, with no end in sight, and no way of telling if I was improving. An aggravating and humbling experience.

The upside? I can speak and read Spanish! (At least a little bit, any way!) Which makes all the effort worthwhile, of course.

A throwback photo from my trip to Ireland in 2012 with R, but the sentiment is certainly appropriate:

Belleza natural

A few weeks ago a friend and I hiked a short way through Great Falls Park:

Taking the advice of the park's website, we got to there around 9:00 a.m. - ahead of the crowds. In all, we hiked about five miles in the fresh air just 20 minutes from the city. It's so easy to isolate yourself in your day-to-day activities (read: Spanish studies), that you forget there's a whole other world out there. This little expedition allowed me to remind myself that the world includes much more than verb conjugations.