Vacation/Back To School/New List

Hope everyone had a good summer! The kids are back in school and lots going on!

We took our vacation this year in conjunction with two conferences Dan had in Washington DC. It stunk for him to not be able to go and do a lot of things with us, but he did get to do some things. Instead of flying this year, we drove.

Since we needed to be up in DC by Monday, we headed off on Friday morning. We didn't push ourselves and made it to Memphis, TN. By the time we got there it was really to late to do much site seeing. We were going to see a movie, but decided dinner and back to the hotel sounded better. Saturday we drove until we got to Abingdon, VA. Dan and I left the girls in the hotel and we went off to the movies. We saw Cowboys and Aliens. Not a bad flick. The popcorn machine was hosed up and they didn't have any ready before our movie so they hand delivered it to us just before the movie started. Very nice folks there!

Dan wanted us to go to the Air/Space Museum near Dulles Airport so we did that before heading to the hotel where his conference was being held and we were staying. Here are a few of the many pictures that we took while we were there.

This is the Enola Gay, the airplane that dropped the bomb on Japan.

Dan and two of of the girls in front of a flying car. We need one of those to go with our boat car!

Another picture of the Enola Gay with Dan and girls.

An overlook of the space area. You can see a small part of the life size mock up of the Enterprise Space Shuttle.



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On Monday, before Dan had to go to his conference, we went to Arlington Cemetery. What an awesome place to go. To see the gravestones of so many men/women who gave their lives for this country. Some very famous and many not so famous, but the sacrifice was the same.

Lee's Home. They were remodeling when we were there so a lot of the furniture is at Mt. Vernon - Robert E. Lee married the granddaughter of Jackie Custis who was Washington's stepson. Lee is also GW's third cousin, twice removed, since both men are descended from Augustine Warner, Sr., and Mary Towneley Warner (GW by way of their son, Augustine, Jr., and Lee by way of their daughter, Sarah. Just a brief history lesson.

View of DC from the front yard of the Lee home. It was very hazy that day. You may have to enlarge the picture, but you can see the Washington Monument and the Capital in the background.

Another view from the front lawn of the Lee home. In this picture you can see the Capitol and Jefferson Memorial in the background.

In this picture you can see the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial (left side of picture) in the background. They have dug up the Reflecting Pool to do renovations to it. Pretty weird not seeing it there with water in it.

This is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Very solemn place to be in the cemetery.

This is one of the soldiers that guards the Tomb. They walk 21 paces, turn and walk another 21 paces. You can see the wear marks where they stop after those 21 steps each way. Watching the changing of the guard is very cool. We saw it last year. We were getting ready to leave but our middle daughter got to watch part of the ceremony. Last year, when we were there, the soldier coming onto duty had to be inspected before she could take over. She had her flap up on her uniform and the soldier inspecting her fixed it before letting her take over. We also saw a military funeral when we first got there. From the uniforms, the person was in the Navy. They were given a 21 gun salute. Very chilling!

This is John F. Kennedy's grave. Jackie O. is buried beside him as well as two of their children who died as infants. Bobbie is not buried here, which I thought he was. Teddy is buried near but not in the same plots as JFK, Jackie O. and the two children. I was also surprised to not see John Jr. buried with his parents.



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I took the girls to New York City for a couple of days. Except for Susie getting sick, we had a great time! Here are a few pics of that trip -

A view of Herald Square. You might remember this name mentioned in the song "Give My Regards To Broadway"

We had taken a few pictures of the Empire State Building up close, but a guy on the street blocks away tapped my shoulder and pointed up to this great view! He said sometimes you just need to see something from a different point of view.

Macy's and 34th St. Miracle on 34th Street is my all time favorite Christmas movie (the Natalie Wood version). Couldn't go tho NYC and miss seeing this corner!

This was strange statue in the Madison Square Park around the corner from our hotel.

These are a few pictures from Central Park -

The Plaza Hotel outside of Central Park. This is where the Eloise movie with Julie Andrews takes place.

Carriage rides around Central Park. There were lots of guys trying to get us to buy a ride on the carriage, bikes or rickshaws, but we wanted to walk. I didn't get a picture of it, but we did buy hot dogs from one of the vendors at the entrance to the park. A little pricy, and not that good!

A beautiful view of NYC from Central Park.

A guy playing the sax in the park. He was good, but forgot to put money in his case.

Mary posing for me in CP.

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Off to 5th Ave and Tiffany's

Susie in front of Tiffany's window - just like Audry Hepburn in Breakfast at Tifrfany's.

Front of store. Lots of women getting their picture taken in front of the store. We went in and the cheapest thing they had was a charm for $150! BTW, there are 5 floors to the store.

Don't know if you've ever seen the show Obscura on cable tv, but it's a very fascinating show. Basically, a husband and wife, who own a shop in East Greenwich, buy and sell obscure and odd items. The show is a lot of fun to watch and I though since we were there, we should check it out. It's a very tiny store. For a souvenir we bought Dan a t-shirt and a real stuffed Parana.


When we came back to DC, we walked the National Mall, but I forgot to take my camera with me. We also did one of the museums at the the Smithsonian, but again, I forgot my camera. The girls got some cool pictures. I think I might have a few on my phone that I'll post when I get them uploaded to the computer.

I was grateful that we were not there for the earthquakes. I can't imagine how terrifying it would have been to be on the Metro (subway) or in the Washington Monument or the Pentagon when they hit.

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As for business! We just put up a new list yesterday. Sorry it has taken so long! Trying to get ready to go on vacation, being gone and then getting back and trying to get the kiddos ready for school.

We've added a new page for cassette tapes. Folks have asked for them, so we've put them on. We also have lots of cases, both for cassettes and 8-tracks, so let us know what you need.

We're also having a 10% off back to school sale (doesn't include s/h).

We've got a couple of other things in the works. One of the things we're working on is putting up an auction site where you can sell anything musical - tapes, players, etc. We'll keep everyone posted when it's all up and running.

Have a great week(end)!