Appreciating warmth

We're warming up in a coffee shop after a cold, wet night camping in West Virginia. We arrived at the campground before dark and set up our tent, planning to drive into the nearby town for some dinner ingredients, but then found out that the park gates get locked at dark. Not wanting to risk being locked out, we opted to make do with the food we had. Thinking we only had a can of black beans, popcorn and some tuna, we joked about initiating a potluck with our camp neighbors in hopes that they'd have some better food options. (There were several other people camping, but we were the only ones crazy enough to use a tent.) But then we found a can of chili, which made a decent meal paired with some stale blueberry bars and popcorn. (We're really glad we brought a camp stove!) We then huddled in our tent and watched "Freaks and Geeks" on my laptop until the battery died before turning in for a long night of huddling for warmth and tossing and turning, attempting to avoid the wet half of my sleeping bag.

I do plan on writing about our NYC experience eventually - our hostel, in particular - because it really deserves a decent post. For now, we'd really better hit the road. We're headed south-ish (toward Kentucky), so hopefully the clouds will clear and the temperature will start to rise again.

A quick hello from Harlem

The drive through Chinatown was crazy, but we made it to our hostel in Harlem, NYC on Sunday without a scratch on the car or ourselves - a feat I'm quite proud of. Have you ever driven amongst New Yorkers?

We're staying in what might be the quirkiest hostel yet (Europe trip included). Perhaps I'll elaborate on that more later. We don't have free Internet, so I have to make this snappy. We leave NYC and start heading back west in the morning.

English as a second language

We returned to Becky's apartment this evening to find this sign posted in the entryway after a fresh coat of paint.

(It reads "Pant Went," just in case that photo isn't legible.)

D.C. Sites

Audrey and I took the Metro from Becky's into Washington D.C. for a day of museum exploring and site seeing. We visited the U.S. Holocaust Museum and the National Air and Space Museum. The National Museum of American History is closed for renovations, but we were happy to find part of their collection on display at the Air and Space Museum (such as Abe Lincoln's top hat, George Washington's uniform, Dorothy's red slippers, Alexander Graham Bell's first telephone, etc.) I think it's safe to say that today has been the most educational day of the trip yet (although I did learn a lot at Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame).

As for governmental sites, we saw the Washington Monument and the capitol building today, but only from the outside. We might try to get a tour of the capitol tomorrow. The White House, Lincoln Memorial and all those other must-see sites are on the list for tomorrow. As a side note, the large pond that reflects the capitol (see photo) was not a pretty site. You can't really tell from the photo, but a lot of the water is gone, leaving a thick, smelly sludge. To add to the ugliness, some people have been using it as a trash can. It's more of a swamp than a pond. On top of that, much of the grass around the capitol is dead (although the front lawn is nice). Still, I was expecting it to be surrounded by lush, green lawns. Did I just come at a bad time? Has anyone else been surprised by how much ugliness surrounds this otherwise grand building? Perhaps it's maintenance season.

Self Portraits

Audrey spotted some transparent, pyramid-like sculptures next to the National Gallery and sensed a photo-op. We had some fun playing with our reflections.

Virginian countryside

Before I get into DC photos, here are a few from our drive through Virginia along the Blue Ridge Parkway. It's a windy, two-lane, 45 mph road, but the gorgeous scenery beats the Interstate any day - especially now that the fall colors are starting to come out.

We've made it to the east coast!

I've been absent for a few days due to a disabled wireless card and two nights of camping in the boonies (very beautiful boonies, I might add). Now we're staying with Audrey's friend Becky in Arlington, VA - right by the WA DC border. Becky's boyfriend is a computer techie and was able to fix my Internet issue in about 3 minutes flat. I'm glad it was such a simple fix, although I do feel like a bit of a technology dunce. Anyhow, I went a little crazy with posting tonight trying to catch y'all up on our latest travels. The posts got a bit lengthy (especially the one I wrote while we were camping), so I won't be hurt if you just scroll through and look at the pictures. Tomorrow morning Audrey and I are taking the metro into DC, so I'd better get some sleep.