Well, we got back yesterday after a grueling six hour plane ride, with one stop in Atlanta (although we didn't change planes, we were able to walk around for about half an hour. That was nice).

Sept. 1-Friday
Although our trip didn't actually start until September 2, I will start with the first, since we found out that morning that our flight had been cancelled (because of mechanical problems), and they were trying to put us all on a different flight. Later that afternoon, we found out that we would be leaving at about 8:00 AM, instead of 6:30 AM, so we wouldn't arrive in Baltimore until later. We told our aunt, who we were staying with, and everything was peachy-fine. It was kind of scary, though, to not know if we actually *were* going, but everything worked out fine. They were even able to get us on the same plane, which was a relief.

Sept. 2-Saturday
We arrived in Baltimore (at the BWI airport) at about 5:00 PM. We had one stop in Cincinnati, where we changed planes. The inflight movie for the first part of the trip was Big Momma's House, which I didn't watch because the preview made it look like a completely idiotic film, at least, not one that I would like and want to waste five dollars on. But it was pretty entertaining to watch it with no sound, as we made up our own dialogue. Still, watching it with no sound, it looked about the way I had thought it would. Dumb.

When we left the airport, the humidity was amazing. We come from hot, DRY Utah, and I had forgotten how humid it would be. But I LOVED it. It wasn't too hot, so it was nice, but it was still weird to come out of the airport into the muggy air. And I will get to be living in it. I am so excited.

We didn't do much the rest of that day. Just kind of hung around the house, took naps. My cousin (my aunt's daughter) and her fiance came over for dinner). My aunt lives right on the hole of the golf course, and it was really beautiful. All those trees! And it was SO GREEN! But it didn't have the Rockies.

Sept 3.-Sunday
We found a church to go to, which we did. It was nice. When we returned to my aunt's house, we ate lunch, then drove to Davidsonville, where we met the family I will be working for and living with for the next year or so. They were really nice people, adn the neighborhood was BEAUTIFUL. My dad is a photographer, and when he saw the area, he said that he could spend weeks there, just for the photographic opportunities there. There was this cool barn in a place the family told us was called the "Common". And it was so green. Everyone had lots of an acre or more. The house was an old Colonial one, and it was beautiful. I am so excited to live there. I loved it!

We then drove to Annapolis. What a COOL city! My aunt said that she had never seen so many people there, but the crowds were understandable, since it was Labor Day weekend. It was neat, though, and we spent some time there, after which we drove to Baltimore.

Baltimore is a cool city, too. We went to Fort McHenry, where the Star Spangled Banner was written by Francis Scott Key. When we came out of the visitor's center, however, it was poouring rain, so we decided to move on. I wish we had been able to go into the fort, but we decided not to. That is something I will DEFINITELY have to do while I am living there. It was really neat.

After Fort McHenry, we went to Vaccaros, which is an Italian bakery. We got some chocolate eclairs, a raspberry napolean, and an apple napolean. Oh, wow! It was SO good! Another place I will have to visit often while I am living there. They were the best pasteries I have ever tasted. YUM!

Sept. 3-Monday
We visited DC. We had tickets to the Holocaust Museum, but we had a little time before our tour, so we walked to the Jefferson Memorial and spent some time there. That memorial is pretty cool. My aunt and I walked to the Holocaust Museum then to see where and how to get our tickets. My aunt walks really fast, but I kept up with her. I had pulled or torn a muscle in my leg on our backpacking trip last August, and now every time I walk fast or very far, it starts hurting again. It started to hurt as we got to the Holocaust Museum, but I ignored it, although I *knew* it would hurt the rest of the trip.

The Holocaust Museum is a place where you can spend HOURS in and still not see/read everything. We only had spent about two hours in it, and I still felt like we were rushing through it. I had been there, along with Sarya, but Ticia and my brother Tim had never been. This museum is one of the truly touching museums, and I left there humbled and angry at what happened to these people. It is truly amazing to me how many people died in WWII. My favorite place in there is The Children, Daniel's Story. It is this room that is made up to look like a boy named Daniel's home. There are all these diary entries to explain what life was like before the war. Then you move to this part...the ghettos, where Daniel was taken. His father had won a meddle fighting in another war, so they weren't forced to move to a concentration camp. Until later. Then there was a room set up to look like a concentration camp. His mother and sister both died (via gas chamber). I think his father died, too, but I can't remember. When I left that place, the feeling was indescribable. Then we moved on to the tour. It was a strange feeling I left with, one that I remember very well the first time I went through it.

After the Holocaust Museum, we ate lunch at the Museum Cafe, then bought tickets for the Tour Mobile. The Tour Mobile is this bus that takes you around DC, stopping at various sites, and such. We stopped at the Lincoln Memorial, which is way cool. The FDR (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) Memorial is SO cool! It consists of all these walls and waterfalls and rocks. My aunt said they built it so kids could play in it, wade in the water, climb on the rocks, and so forth. It's really cool, and it is one of the largest (maybe *the* largest, but I can't remember if it actually is) memorial in DC. And Roosevelt always said he didn't want a big memorial...but this one is one he probably would approve of. It was very cool.

Then we went to the Vietnam Memorial. Dave describes this perfectly. I had seen it before, and loved it, but this time was different, partly because of Dave's description. But this time, I saw a man, perhaps in his late sixties or so, leaning against the wall, tears running down his cheeks. I could see a tatoo partially covered by his sleeve. As he left, he walked past me. Someone asked him if he had known someone, and he said "Quite a few." It was very touching, and I felt like crying.

We then went to the Korean War Memorial, which, while not quite as neat as the Vietnam Memorial, is still pretty cool.

We then returned to the Washington Monument, where we had tickets to go up in it. I hate heights, but it was pretty cool to know you were 500 feet high (55 feet lower than the top), and you can see everything! It was awesome, but I kept imagining it falling over because the tour guide said that the foundation is only 36 feet deep, although it spreads out really wide under the ground. Despite my fear of heights, I enjoyed it, but I was glad to be on the ground when it was over.

Sept. 4-Tuesday
We started at Union Station, but we didn't spend much time there. It was near my uncle's work, and so he dropped us (along with my aunt) off nearby and we walked the short distance to Union Station. Nothing was open yet, so we walked on down to the Capitol Building. It was closed, so we walked over to the Justice building and my dad took some pictures there. We then returned to the Capitol Building and waited in line for a tour. It was only about a twenty minute wait (we were the third group to go in and were there fifteen minutes before it opened). That is one cool building. We found Philo T. Farnsworth, Father of Television, which is one of the two statues Utah has. The other one, of Brigham Young, was in a part that was being worked on, so we didn't get to see him. But it is still a cool building.

We then walked over to the White House, where a woman met us to get us past the guards, since the woman who had our tickets called in sick and couldn't get the tickets to us. She got us past the guards and we went on a self-guided tour of the White House. It was pretty cool, but it is kind of disappointing knowing that you aren't even seeing a TENTH of what is there. The gardens were beautiful, though; or rather, what you could see of them through the windows was.

We then walked all over town, my thigh BURNING (it was hurting worse than the day before), trying to find Planet Hollywood, where we planned to eat. We finally did, after walking all over DC, but it was pretty cool. The bathrooms were really neat, set up to look like some sort of weird dressing rooms. It was a pretty fun place to eat, and itself was its own kind of museum, with clothes and props from various movies and shows.

We then walked to the National Archives (which we found quite by accident, but decided to go in) where the original Declaration of Independence, the Billy of Rights, and the Constitution are kept, along with the Magna Carta. That was really cool, but unfortunately, we couldn't spend much time there because we had to be to the FBI building by 2:00 PM. We left the National Archives and walked the short distance to the FBI building. We then went on the coolest tour I have ever been on! It RULED competely. My favorite part was the firing range, where they shot a fully automatic weapon that the SWAT team uses. Very cool, indeed! I learned that the shirts that street vendors were selling were illegal because they looked just like the ones that realy FBI agents wear, and to wear them is also illegal because only FBI agents can wear them. I have no idea why they don't do something about it, but I suppose it really isn't all that important, or something like that. I also learned that every time ANYONE accesses a bomb- making site on the Internet, the FBI knows. If you access it more than two or three times, you are red-flagged and put on a list of possible terrorists. This also applies to every time you check out a bomb-making book from a library. I had never known that before. This was definately the coolest part of the trip, at least in my opinion. There was even an FBI agent who didn't identify himself on the tour; I think he was watching these two guys who weren't on the list of people who had reservations for the tour, and were goofing off the whole time. My aunt saw him flash his badge at the end and disappear through a side door. Very cool, indeed.

After this tour, it was almost time to go home. We took the tour bus to Arlington Cemetery, where we watched the changing of the guards and went to Arlington House, which is one of the coolest views in Washington DC. You can see for MILES and MILES, and it's beautiful. My uncle picked us up at the visitor's center there, and we drove to Union Station where we stopped at a Vaccaros there (it truly is a wonderful place!) and got a LOT of candy/sweets/pasteries there. YUM! Then we drove back to my aunt's house.

Sept. 4-Wednesday
We got up early (well, somewhat early) and drove to Monicello, a three+ hour car ride. But it was worth it. Monicello was Jefferson's home while he lived, and it took him 40 years to build it. The coolest part was the porch, which ran UNDER the house and contained wine cellars, the kitchen, stables, and rooms for a few of his slaves. The gardens were beautiful, with so many different flowers and trees. It was beautiful country. We drove home, then, and as we passed Washington DC, we saw the Mormon temple there, a truly magnificent buidling. It was set up on the hill with the sun setting behind it. Wow! It is also gorgeous at night, when it is all lit up, because it looks like it's glowing and is sitting in the clowds. It has caused many accidents, though, because, as you round a curve, it is suddenly there, and people don't pay attention to the road because it is such a marvelous sight. They now have to turn off the lights at around 11:00 PM (I think) or so to reduce the risk. But it is still beautiful in the daylight. I had seen it before at night, but it was still a sight to see as the sun set behind it. Wow.

Sept. 5-Thursday
We woke early to get ready to leave. Our plane took off at about 7:05 AM. We stopped in Atlanta, but continued on to Salt Lake City, Utah (the city, not the lake), and drove the thirty minutes to Ogden, where we live (Sarya and I; not Ticia, although she is staying until tomorrow).

That was our trip. Sorry this was such a long post. But it was a blast!

Mi"slept for three hours yesterday after we got home and STILL slept well last night"a