The Best is Yet to Be: Travel review

Showing posts with label Travel review. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Washington DC with Sister Egan

In May we took a quick trip to Washington DC during our Nashville Temple's maintenance shutdown to visit my sister, Kathy Egan, who is serving a full-time mission at the DC Temple. She was a wonderful host--- taking us to all the touristy places (she has already been several times), feeding us yummy meals, and spending time with us in the Washington DC Temple. Everything Kathy makes is delicious, but her homemade coconut ice cream was to die for. Kathy and I went for many walks, as is our practice. And in the evenings we played game after game. Russ and Kathy are very competitive, and I just enjoy watching their rivalry. After all the game playing was done, I think we came out pretty even, each winning a few. I won most the Phase 10 games, Russ won most the Crown games, and Kathy won all the Banana Gram games. Thanks, Kathy, for a fantastic visit.

Beautiful Washington DC Temple

My sister, (Kathy) Sister Egan

The temple glows at dusk

View from the Visitor's Center

Second longest escalator in the world---located in the DC Metro

Kathy & Sharlene

Washington Monument reopens while we are there

WW II Memorial - Russ & Kathy up front

Russ & Sharlene by Tennessee Memorial

Library of Congress

Inside the library

All of the inside of the library was beautiful !

Entrance to the Holocaust Museum. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the museum. We were told as we entered to expect to spend 2 hours inside. But we ended up spending 3 hours and still didn't get to see and read everything. We'll have to return again to see and experience everything. Very humbling experience.

Washington National Cathedral

Azaleas were in full bloom

THANK YOU, KATHY!

Thursday, July 18, 2013

The Great Northwest

It’s become a tradition. We visit my sisters and their families in the great Northwest every other year, coaxing them to visit us in the beautiful Southeast on the off years.

We always say we’re going to Seattle, but my sisters actually live in Monroe and Federal Way. They willingly drive us up and down the freeway between their homes. This year while in Monroe, we were able to see five of Kathy’s six children and some of their family members. And while in Federal Way, we had lunch with Tamara and her daughter, Cindy.

We ordered up a week of PERFECT weather. I kid you not. The daytime temps were between 72 and 74. It dipped to about 60 in the evenings. Clear, blue skies and lots of sunshine. Very low humidity. Thank you Seattle, WA, for giving us perfect weather.

Highlights of the trip include: tons of game playing at Kathy’s, delicious meals, spending time with her family, freshly-picked homemade raspberry pie at Kammy’s, shopping at Deseret Book, attending the beautiful Seattle Temple, going to the Chihuly Garden and Glass Exhibit with Kathy, eating at Salty’s with Tam and Cindy while looking out at beautiful Puget Sound, and of course, many walks with Kathy’s dog, Teddy. Russ tried to be helpful to both my sisters and ended up spending a good part of two days on a deck project for Kathy. Just one reason I love him so much. He is awesome at giving service and does so with a smile.

I wish we could squeeze the middle USA states together so that TN and WA were almost touching. I would visit the Seattle area much more often. But for now, I’ll just cling to the wonderful memories of this year’s visit.

Kathy and me at her home in Monroe

Playing "Slide Five" with Kathy and her son, Scott

Below: a few of the pictures I took at the Chihuly Exhibit

Kammy's homemade raspberry pie

Lunch at Salty's with Cindy and Tamara

Only pix we had with the Puget Sound showing

Inside Salty's with my sister Tamara
and her daughter Cindy

Space Needle at Seattle Center Seattle, WA Temple

Thanks for the memories, Seattle, Sisters, and Company.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

New York, New York

I love BIG cities!! Give me a big-city vacation/getaway any time. This time, my children gave me and Russ this little trip to the Big Apple. The gift was a total “surprise” – read here for the details. It was fun, fun, fun from the moment our feet touched the ground in NYC. We saw and did many things, but two of my favorites (for different reasons) were being on the Live with Kelly and Michael Show, and visiting the 9/11 Memorial gardens, fountain pools, and viewing the names (engraved on granite) of those who were killed on 9/11/2001. So here are some (a lot of, actually) pictures of just some of the stuff we did. BTW, our first day there we walked about 10 miles (or 20,000 steps).