The Great Outdoors in DC

So, I've managed to do a lot of outdoorsey things in DC, which is good! Last week was cool in temperature, so it was perfect for being outside. It heated back up today and should be in the mid-90's for all of next week. Emily and I went hiking one day along the Potomac River on the Potomac Heritage Trail off of the George Washington Expressway. There were lots of toads which jumped out of the path and I finally found some day lilies that I was able to pick because they weren't on private property. They're good to sautée and eat - they taste like green beans - it's a little trick my mom taught me - thanks, mom! We also went to the National Arboretum, which is about 460 acres - it's huge - we didn't even get to see everything. They have a State Tree exhibit, in which there are 51 plots of all the state trees, plus the District of Columbia tree. There were also original columns from the Capital Building that had to be removed once the Capital Building was expanded. We also went to the FDR memorial (thanks, Halle!) and strolled along past the Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument. There were lots of middle-school kids there with matching shirts. It made me think back to when we came here in 8th grade and how badly I feel for the teachers who had to put up with us. We took Friday off from work and went Riking, which is a name we made up for Biking and Rafting. We biked 12 miles on the towpath along the Baltimore-Ohio canal through Harper's Ferry, WV and then rafted (thanks, Sue Lynch, for the idea!) down the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers. It was a lot of fun, but there were only Class I-III rapids, so hopefully we'll get to go again when we're in Pittsburgh or Cleveland because there are rivers with stronger rapids closer to those cities. Yesterday, we shopped for a little bit and then hung out on the roof-top terrace of Team 2's apt. building. The drinking started there and ended after hitting up the Wonderland Ballroom in Columbia Heights. Good bar, good beer, good times. Today we worked for a bit and we're going to Team 2's again for pizza and pirate day, which consists of making pizza and stealing each other's music! So, that's my life in DC right now. We're planning on leaving here on June 25 and heading up to Pittsburgh. Happy Father's Day, Happy Birthday Courtney, Happy Almost Birthday to my little sis, Lindsey and Traci!!!

Taking it slow

So, DC has proven to be a pretty cool place to live. We have great neighbors, are within walking distance of a yoga studio and are being recognized on the streets everyday. Thanks Google. We worked really hard the first week we were here and now we're slowing things down a bit, which is nice. We're collecting downtown DC now and are being pulled over on a daily basis - no tickets so far, so cross your fingers for us! We get pulled over often because our car is suspicious looking, so I guess it's a good thing that the cops are looking out for everyone here in our nation's capital. I still don't have any pictures, but hopefully will take some soon of our apt. and post them here - sorry about that. Emily and I went out last night with some of her friends. Well they were her friend's roommates, but whatever. We went to see an 80's DJ at Black Cat and then walked ourselves down to M St to see Bassnectar at Club 5. I saw him on Jamcruise and have wanted to see him since then. He usually plays on the West Coast, so I was pretty excited to see that he was going to be in DC while I was here. All I have to say is that they don't call him Bassnectar for nothing - I think I'm a little deaf today. Anyways, I think we're going to lay low tonight and maybe go see a movie. I think we're going to a farmer's market tomorrow and maybe a museum or two. Oh, and by the by, I'll be home June 23 for my sister, Sharon's, wedding. But I leave the following day, so hopefully I'll be able to meet up with a couple of you for some lunch or something. Hope all is well. Peace.

Washington DC

Hi All! We arrived in DC on Sunday and stayed the first two nights at Gigi's house - thanks, Gigi! We moved in to our brownstone apartment, just NE of the capital building on Tuesday. It's really nice and has 2 bedrooms and exposed brick and a spiral staircase. So, again, if anyone makes their way to the DC area, just let me know and the stay is on us! We started working yesterday and have put in 2 full days so far. It's been great! However, it's super hot here so it's hard to do anything outside.
So, we are allowed to share who we are collecting this data for; however I cannot post it on the blog. So, if you'd like to know, either give me a call or shoot me an e-mail or comment and I'll fill you in. It's really exciting. Also, our company has just promoted two of the bug drivers, so we are hiring immediately. If you're interested in driving around the country with all expenses paid, just let me know and I'll forward you the information. Unfortunately, I don't have any pics to post from DC as we haven't been out exploring much because we've been working. I'd love to hear from anyone/everyone, so let me know what you've been up to. Much love! Oh, and happy one-day-early Birthday, Devon!!!

The Magical World of Disney

Hello again! First, I would like to congratulate Brian Oestrike and Justin Hewitt on their summit of Mt. Everest. I'd also like to congratulate Katie Oestrike and Rachel Rankin on being a wonderful support team at Advanced Base Camp in support of the summit. We're all so proud of the amazing feat they have accomplished for a wonderful cause, LUNGevity (www.lungevity.org). If you'd like to learn more about them and their adventure, visit their blog at www.climbforcancer.blogspot.com. Congratulations again!
I'm currently in St. George, SC aka The Grits Capital of the World. We've stopped over here on our way to DC. We're leaving shortly to go to the Grits Headquarters, which I'm sure I'll post pictures of in the near future!
So, Disney was good, but I'm glad to be gone. We stayed at a Disney Resort called Pop Culture - it has 2800 rooms and giant plastic statues of different icons from the 1950's - 1990's. We stayed in the 1970's and it was pretty cool - by cool, I mean weird!
Anyways, we collected on two different days of the Magic Kingdom. We had to wake up at 5am and be in the park by 6:30. We were allowed to collect from 7am - 7:45am each day. We collected Main Street, FantasyLand, and ToonTown the first day and then TomorrowLand, FrontierLand, and Liberty Street the second day. On the first day, we were given free hopper passes so we hit up Animal Kingdom during the day and then had dinner and fireworks at Epcot and rode the Tower of Terror and Aerosmith's Rockin Roller Coaster at MGM at night. MGM was open late for Disney Resort Guests, which we so luckily were!
We didn't do anything special the second day because we were super tired. Then on Friday, Team 2 (we're Team 6 by the way) had a friend from Miami, FL visit and we went to Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure. Universal is different from Disney in that there are less Mickey Mouse crocs and less crying children, so that was nice. There are also much bigger rides there. The last bonus is that I got in free. It's a long story, but basically, I kept a hold of a 2-day pass for the past 6 years because I only used it for 1-day thinking I'd one day end up in Orlando, FL again, which I did. I learned on Friday that the pass had to be used within 6 days of the original date it was used, but they were nice and let the 6 years pass instead!
We then left today and are headed to DC. We are renting a really nice Brownstone apartment just Northeast of the Capital Building, so if you want to visit, we have a nice place for you to stay. Alright, well I've posted some photos of me being a Tourist and of the wonderful World of Disney and some of a beautiful sunrise I experienced in Jacksonville. Enjoy and hope everyone is doing just grand in B-Town, C-Falls, etc. Happy Memorial Day (Blossom Time) weekend!

Leaving J-Town

Hey everyone! Hope this finds you all doing well. We're leaving Jacksonville in two days and I'm sad to be leaving the beach, but also excited to go to Disney and then DC. I haven't been to DC since 8th grade, so I'm sure there is a lot more exciting things to do now. So, we went and saw the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra play with the Glass Camels, a Grateful Dead cover band. It was a good show - a diverse crowd due to the Orchestra and a nice venue. It was about half the size of the Palace Theater in Cleveland.

We did a little planning for DC on Saturday and then we played tourists for a day. We drove down to St. Augustine, which is the oldest city in America. We went to the Fountain of Youth and paid $7 to learn how Ponce de Leon navigated his way to the Americas, which he named Florida back then. It was great. We shared this learning experience with the usual Florida mix of senior citizens and babies with babies. We then had a craving for Mojito's so we headed over to the shopping/dining area and ate at the Columbia - it was delicious. If anyone heads that way, make sure you get the 1905 salad - they make it for you at your table. We then headed out last night to a bar - Eddie Bahama's on Jacksonville Beach. Most of today was spent at the beach and reading in the hammocks at our condo. And I've just finished making chicken parmesean for dinner, so I'm going to get to eating that.

Finished Collecting in Jax

Showin some Navy Love (for my Lynnie) at the beach.

Our shadows

Best teacher's ever - Jacqui & Maureen

A blowfish ashore

Emily in front of the Dino's

so, we've finished collecting the city of Jacksonville. we sent everything in today. we don't have to be in Disney until next Wednesday, so we have the rest of the week to kind of just hang out and plan for DC. we found a cool place near Chinatown in DC and hopefully will be staying there from May 27-June 30. so, if anyone wants to come for a visit, let me know!

i'm not sure if anyone's heard, but there have been some pretty bad wildfires in southern GA and the smoke has been blowing through northern Florida. there hasn't been too much smoke here - most of it centralizes over a city west of here called Lake City. however, you can notice a haze pick up around dusk. let's just hope it rains up there soon.
not much other news to report. tonight we're going to a sports bar to watch the Cavs play the Nets for (hopefully) the last time! then to a local bar in JaxBeach called Fly's Tie to see some Reggae music. I hope everyone is doing well and feel free to call or e-mail if you ever have the chance!

Jacksonville

So, we collected for the first official time today in Jacksonville. Collecting is what we use to refer to as mapping and recording cities. We only got to collect for about an hour because it started raining. So, we have about another hour of work for the day and then we're done. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny, so hopefully we'll be able to finish up Jacksonville before moving to Disney World. We'll always finish collecting the city we're currently in and then overnight the data to Portland so they can make sure they have everything they need before we move on to the next city.
Yesterday, we went to the beach for a bit and then planned out what we were going to collect today. The beaches here are nice and we were able to take a long walk to the pier, which is closer to where we will be living for the next week. We get to move in to our place tomorrow. We checked it out yesterday on our walk and it looks nice.
I hope everyone is doing well and Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there - the list of mothers is growing quickly!!! Love you all! p.s. - there aren't any Jacksonville pics yet, but look below for some more pics from the drive here!