US Trip Abridged 2.0

So after many, many, many months of procrastinating, here's part 2! This tackles the second half of our US Trip last August, and I wanted to get his done and out of the way considering we have another upcoming trip to Canada in a few days and I didn't want them to clash. Besides, the longer it takes for me to delay this, the more I'll forget to type anything decent to owe the experience any justice at all.

My family's second half of the vacation had us leaving the busy city of New York City to the very hot place that was the country' capital, Washington D.C.! But that includes a side-trip (at least for me and my folks) to New Jersey while my siblings opted to stay an extra day in New York for their own personal reasons.

My internet was acting up so I'll have to upload the rest of the pictures another day.

14. Atlantic City, New Jersey

Atlantic City! This was where the firsts started, though technically not my first casino area since Las Vegas during one of our previous US trips. And before you ask, NO I didn't end up gambling, but I do remember spotting an American Idol game. My parents had some friends in New Jersey, and we stayed with one of them for an evening before they helpfully dropped us off at the train station to take the Amtrak in Pennsylvania to Washington where we'd be reuniting with my siblings. 

15. Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

The capital city was hot, but the travel there was worthwhile with the Old Town Trolley service that was the nice, rustic equivalent of bustling New York's HOHO (Hop On-Hop Off) tour buses. One of our first stops off the trolley was visiting the Lincoln Memorial. And boy was it a beaut! Considering we've seen this on many different occasions in the movies is a big fulfillment on its own.

16. US Capitol, Washington D.C.

The drop-off point of the trolley at the US Capitol was on the other side of the entrance of the inside tour, so we found ourselves making the LONG trek around. And in that heat? I was just depressed that I had to empty out my canister due to security protocol of touring the Capitol. The cool part though was that there was an awesome room we were in that could bounce off sound (even whispers) off the floor from one side of the room to another.

Oh, and did I mention that the area we toured was underground? Check out this high ceiling!

17. White House, Washington D.C.

The iconic White House beyond the perimeter was about as close as we could get to the structure, but that didn't really stop us from getting any pictures taken!

18. American Art Museum, Washington D.C.

A gaming exhibit is always a grand adventure, so we were able to head in and have a quick look around. Funnily enough, there were several exhibits that let you play some games. Pacman, Super Mario Brothers, Flower and Monkey Island to name a few.

19. Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Washington D.C.

If you've seen Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian and Transformers 2, then you'll recognize the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. The museum space itself is pretty big, considering the amount of exhibits you'd find there. I wanted to go on the Flight Simulator but I couldn't coax anyone to go with me, so I settled for taking a little tour around instead. Funnily enough, Dad found this picture of one of the Philippine Airlines plane models.

20. Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C.

Another of the featured museums in the Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. This one played up my alley much better since I enjoyed looking at wildlife, getting lost a bit to venture around and learn about some thing or another.