5/27/15 - Gettysburg, PA

5/27/15 - Today we took a bus tour of Gettysburg, PA. 

It was wonderful!  The battle of Gettysburg took place over three days, July 1st, 2nd & 3rd, 1863.  

The bus only made one stop within the battlefields so it was difficult to get good pictures, but here are some for your viewing. 

We sat up on the top of the open air bus for the tour. 

This was a gentleman dressed in clothing if the era who was answering questions of visitors. 

Us checking out the cannons. 

The back drop of this picture is some of the battlegrounds. 

In the evening we went down to the town of Gettysburg & we came upon a statue of Abe Lincoln.

Abe standing with a stature of a visitor.   The building in the background on the left is where Lincoln slept the night before the Gettysburg Address. 

The day before this we stopped at the Welcome Center & Abe was there too so we joined him for a picture. 

5/24/15 - Another Wonderful Day in Washington, DC

5/24/15 - We had another very busy day in Washington, DC.  

We started the day by standing in a long line waiting to see if we could get tickets to go up in the Washington Monument. 

We were lucky to get two of the few tickets left for the day. We went up to the top of the Washington Monument at 6:00 pm. It was wonderful. Here are some pictures from atop the monument. 

This statue of Washington is in the hall across from the elevator.  

Reflecting pool with the World War II Monument in the forefront. 

I thought this was a cool picture of the shadow of the monument from inside of it going across the ground below. 

White House. 

Jefferson Monument over to the right of the picture. 

Washington Monument from ground level looking up. You may notice that about 1/3 of the way up the stones change in color.  This is the rest of that story... 

"When the monument was under construction in 1854, the Washington National Monument Society ran out of money and the project ground to a halt. Twenty-five years later, the U. S. Government took over and completed the upper two thirds of the structure by 1884 using marble from a different quarry". That is why it is two different colors. 

We also attended the Rolling Thunder 2015 Motorcycle Rally. 

Rolling Thunder is an annual motorcycle rally that is held in Washington, DC during the Memorial Day weekend to call for the government's recognition and protection of Prisoners of War (POWs) and those Missing in Action (MIAs). The tribute to American war heroes started in 1988 with 2,500 participants.  Now approximately 900,000 participants and spectators are involved with this annual demonstration in Washington, DC.

This took place on Constitution Avenue which was closed to traffic for this rally. 

This is a picture of the Washington Police who were also in the ride. It was so awesome to see this. 

These are some of the rally members. 

Spectators out in the road trying to capture pictures of the riders & bikes. 

We finished our day with a free concert on the lawn of the Capital Building.  The Capital  Building is undergoing some renovations however it was still great to see. 

They had a monitor high in the sky so that everyone could see the concert. Beautiful sunset in the background. 

Prior to the start of the concert they made an announcement that the Secret Service had found a suspicious vehicle nearby and warned us that they were going to check it and there was going to be a loud noise and that we should not be alarmed. 

Sure enough, shortly after the announcement we heard an explosion!

In the news the next day we learned that the Secret Service had found a pressure cooker & a propane tank in an abandoned car & they blew up a pressure cooker. It was determined that these items were not a threat, however, they did not want to a chance with so many people attending the concert. 

Thank goodness for the Secret Service! 

We really enjoyed our stay in Washington, DC with many wonderful things to see and not enough time.  

5/23/15 - Happy Memorial Weekend

5/23/15 - we took a wonderful bus sightseeing tour around Washington, DC.  It was a full day of seeing the sites in Washington, DC which ended with a Potomac River Cruise. Awesome day!  

On the tour we saw the following historic sites: 

White House

World War II Memorial

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. 

This sculpture is a scene from the Great Depression when of people were waiting a bread line. 

Listening to a fireside chat on the radio. 

Dr. Martin Luthur King Jr. Memorial. 

The above monument was cut out of this mountain & it said "Out of the Mountain of Despate a Stone of Hope" Soyou can see this statement on the back of this monument below. 

Lincoln Memorial 

As you can see the steps of the memorial are covered by tourists. 

Korean Memorial that depicts our soldiers in real life sculptures. Very impressive. They were laying flowers at this monument while we were there 

On the wall of the Korean Memorial it says "Freedom is Not Free". 

Air Force Memorial Soaring Spires. There are only three spires which is a tribute to a fallen comrade. There should be four spires. 

Iwo Jima Memorial. Extremely impressive. 

We did a drive by of the Pentagon. 

We finished our tour with a Potomac River Cruise. 

Very busy, but wonderful day!  

5/12/15 - Mall of America, Minnesota

We took a trip to the Mall of America in Minnesota today. We had a great time seeing all kinds if roller coasters, a Ferris wheel, an amazing Lego display, a zip line four stories up in the air, totally awesome inside the mall. There were 500+ stores on four levels of this mall which was built around the amusement area. 

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment! 

This was a log ride that was like a roller coaster zipping around the bends of the track in the water. 

When the riders got to the bottom of the ride they would get splashed! 

Track for a car that would twist & turn around the curves at a fast pace. 

This is the car that would whip around the track & we heard folks screaming with delight & excitement. 

Fast moving car on the track. 

Roller coaster speeding by. 

The ceiling was all glass so that the sun could shine in. 

Bumper cars for the kids. 

Merry go round! 

Pineapple shaped bounce house. 

Guy on the zip line four stories up in the air speeding by. 

These animals are all made out if Legos. Absoutely amazing!  

A Lego dragon. 

A Lego man on a horse & another man next to them as well as a globe made out of Legos. 

Yes, this helicopter is all Legos too! 

All Legos. 

Carp & I enjoying all the fun at the Mall of America!  Lots to see.  We both felt like kids at this mall. 😃