The travel gods seem to be smiling on our DC adventure this time around.
Not that we're complaining!
We arrived Wednesday afternoon, just as several days of rain decided to leave
Good bye storm clouds...
Miraculously found an on-street parking spot
right on Capitol Hill
^ Love the Library of Congress interior.
When we were walking around there, we ran into the Alder kids, who we were supposed to meet later for dinner. Nothing like running into people you know to make you feel at home!
Then, an hour later, we ran into my cousin-in-law Jenny, who was running errands in her former neighborhood behind Capitol hill. What are the chances of that?
Caught up with Nate, Greg's best friend growing up
(They were both proud news carriers for our hometown paper,
The Herald Journal, which was posted outside the Newseum)
Then to dinner with him and his kids
and a night walk around the monuments.
I love this place.
I'm having to restrain myself from packing us up
and moving back.
{And bracing myself for a dose of bad luck
to compensate for the fabulous first day}
. . .
Today Maddy in China rode bicycles on top of the city wall,
attended Middle School for the 5th day,
visited a jade factory, a mosque, and a bazaar.
Yesterday she went to the Great Goose Pagoda,
then a tea house for a tea ceremony,
then to the Tang Dynasty Museum, and calligraphy lessons.
She had some homesickness early in the week
but we talked to her last night {and on Tuesday night}
and she's feeling much better and still loving her adventure.
She thinks the "squatty potties" are funny,
her host family is nice
(they wanted to buy her new shoes
because her {beloved Converse} looked "old"
and have treated her royally)
