Virginia Beach: (27th/29th September)

Virginia Beach, doesn't it just sound like a great place? Well it is. I have been to Virginia Beach before because I have a lot of family that live there however this was a long time ago. Our whole plan for out time in Virginia Beach was to relax on a beach and not have to explore anything, after the amount of traveling we had done a break was needed. From the very moment we drove into my uncles estate we knew that this was going to be a good destination, it was so tranquil, peaceful and sunny! We arrived pretty late in the afternoon so we decided to just relax and I wanted to catch up with my family and boy did I know I was with family because the first thing my uncle wanted to do was show me his new house that is right on the beach, which by the way is one of the most beautiful houses I have ever seen. Then after seeing a bit of VB we headed home to see my auntie and out came the Chivas Regal, not long after that we headed down to a nice Indian restaurant and had a few more drinks. It was a great evening being around family and just reminiscing about old times.


The following morning we actually got to sleep in a bit because we knew all we were doing was sleeping on the beach. For this first time on this trip we got to have a real breakfast, Indian style with aloo parntha! I don't remember the last time I had this, seeing as my dad used to cook it every weekend it was a lovely treat. Seeing as we were full from breakfast we just decided to head straight to the beach and chill, so we did, we chilled on the beach all day and it was perfect. There was a nice breeze and the heat was great, the sea was very cool and not to cold to swim around in. Now the highlight of this day was when Audrey Battah showed up! I have not seen Audrey in almost 2 years and it was great seeing her, even though she did make us walk like 12 blocks to Planet Pizza which turned out to be 30 blocks away from where we were so we bailed on that idea and just had mexican. Now I know I had a great day because when we were eating our food we saw a message on the TV about a flash flood that was about to happen and I didn't even care.. We walked back towards our cars and the storm started, you could see the lightening for miles and we somehow didn't run into any rain until we were only a block away from the car park. However that one block of rain literally was like a shower but we all laughed and didn't even care! After getting back to my uncles house we cooked goat for 2 hours, just like old times. A great end to a great time in VB.

I really wish we didn't have to leave Virginia Beach, it was great being with family and it truly inspired me again. Now the long road to Orlando begins.

Washington DC: (24th/27th September)

Well Washington DC, the capital of the USA I am expecting a lot from you. After arriving at a really nice hotel that has an iHOP right inside the building, which we have 15% off because we are staying at the hotel, things are off to a great start. So we have a lot to do in our time in DC, there are a lot of tourist attractions and things we know we must see. Our first day we decided to see the Lincoln Memorial, the Reflecting Pool and a few museums. After paying an outrageous fare for the subway we ended up in the city and headed straight to the WWII memorial which is right next to the reflecting pool and close to the Lincoln memorial, the memorial is beautiful, there are fountains and the names of each state of the USA with a dedicated fountain and memorial. There are also a number of gold stars that are dictated to each 100 men that devoted their lives for their country, it was called 'The Price of Freedom' and it was beautiful. After this moment however is when things started going wrong in DC. First and not the least of all was the fact that the reflecting pool, the one thing that I couldn't wait to see and have a photo with was closed for refurbishments.. Closed. So all we could see was a huge ditch and a mound of dirt. I could not believe it, but either way the Lincoln memorial was pretty cool.

In the Smithsonian distract of the city there must be at least 6 different museums so we figure we would just go explore as they are all free which was pretty cool, so we went to the Natural History Museum and the Museum of Air and Space. Both museums had a lot to offer but the problem is that once you have seen one museum like this you have seen them all, there are only so many dinosaur bones and old space shuttles you can see. The thing about DC is everything is pretty spread out but you want to explore so when you walk everywhere it really takes a toll on your feet, we got to a point where we couldn't walk anymore so we chose to go home seeing as we knew we had one more day to see everything else. We only wanted to see the White House, the Spy Museum and the National Geographic Museum.

Well the final day in DC we had a few things to do so we got out pretty early to try and see it all. The first thing on the agenda was the White House and I have to say, what a huge disappointment.. I was sure that you could see it pretty well from what I have seen in photos and other such things, I was very wrong.. You can see a small segment of the White House and I can understand that you can't get near it for obvious reasons, but really you can't make a big deal out of it, its like saying oh hey there is this amazing diamond that is huge and just the most impressive thing you have ever seen, oh but you can't see it. After a disappointing life house we heading to the Natural Geographic museum which we knew couldn't be a disappointment, well turns out we were wrong. This isn't actually a museum as we originally were told, its  an exhibition were you can see photos of natural wonders which I bet are amazing, but there is no way I was paying $9 to see some paintings. It was all lying on the Spy Museum and to cut this story short it was average, when you first get in you have to learn this new identity and a few details about your character which was right up my ally, but they don't tell you that you only use these pieces of information one time and its not even mandatory!!



 Luckily DC did have one saving grace; Ben's Chili Bowl, they put chili on everything, hot dogs, french friend, burgers and the famous half smoke. Now the chili itself is amazing, I have never tasted such a perfect chili! I decided to get the half smoke and some chili cheese fries on the side, it was one of the best meals I have ever tasted in my life, thank the lord that this place existed otherwise I really don't know what I would say about DC that is positive other than having a discount at iHop. It wasn't all bad I guess, it was nice seeing a lot of the city I just expected a lot more.

I don't really want to talk anymore about DC, it was fun seeing a few things there but all in all for the capital of this amazing country, very disappointed.