Washington, D.C. Archives - Isaac Church // isaactchurch.com

Day 7 – Manassas, Shenandoah // Maryland/Virginia 2023

Isaac Church — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 23:00:52 +0000

Today marked our final morning with the Pinkertons (and in Maryland), after a very fun and eventful week in Havre de Grace.

Breakfast // Goodbyes

We woke up, ate some homemade “Egg McMuffins” for breakfast, and said our goodbyes to the Pinkertons. After loading up the car, we hit the road, headed south for the next leg of our trip.

Rock // Wegman's

We didn’t make it but a few miles on I-95, when a HUGE rock flew out of a dump truck in front of us and hit our windshield. Thankfully, it just barely grazed the glass, and only left a superficial scratch. Even so, we were both pretty shaken, so we decided to pull off, get our composure, and check for any damage.

Rock damage

Just off the interstate in Abingdon, MD, we made a bit of a spontaneous decision to stop at Wegman’s, a privately owned supermarket chain known for its giant stores. It was truly a grocery store unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. The flower department alone was larger than our home in Boone. There was a second section of milk, as big as you’d see in a Food Lion in NC, by the checkouts in case you didn’t want to walk all the way to the back of the store to get some.

We got a cheese, fruit, and nut snack tray from the deli department (which was larger than our local grocery stores in Boone). I was particularly attracted by the Beecher’s cheddar, which was of course excellent. Resuming our drive, we ate our snack tray as we drove through Baltimore and DC – thankfully, rock-free.

Baltimore, MD

Manassas National Battlefield Park

Just south of Washington, we stopped at Manassas National Battlefield Park in northern Virginia just off I-66. Also known as Bull Run, this was site of two Civil War battles, including the first major battle of the war. We walked through the visitor center, browsing the small but interesting selection of exhibits.

Visitor Center

Uniform examples

Uniform display

Faith and I grabbed the stroller for Walker and walked around the battlefield for a while, enjoying the scenery and reading the signage while we stretched our stiff legs.

Manassas National Battlefield Park

Front Royal

Back on the road, we headed to the small Virginia town of Front Royal, and stopped downtown to pick up a couple coffees from Main Street Daily Grind CAFÉ. We walked around downtown, but had to get back on the road soon in order to stick with our timeline for the day.

Front Royal, VA

Main Street Daily Grind CAFÉ

Front Royal, VA

Shenandoah National Park

Just south of downtown Front Royal is the northernmost entrance to Shenandoah National Park. We paid a day’s admission fee at the park, and began driving south on Skyline Drive, the park’s famous scenic road. The road is akin to the Blue Ridge Parkway, and offers beautiful views of the Shenandoah Valley and surrounding mountains.

Shenandoah National Park

Skyline Drive

Skyline Drive stretches 105 miles from Front Royal to Rockfish Gap, where it connects with the northernmost point of the Blue Ridge Parkway. We didn’t have time to drive all of it in one day, so we just drove from Front Royal down to Thornton Gap.

Skyline Drive

Not far from the entrance, we pulled in the Dickey Ridge Visitor Center to grab a magnet to add to our collection. In the parking lot, a young woman was having car trouble. The park rangers didn’t have any jumper cables, so I took my battery jump starter pack and helped her get back on the road again. (P.S.: I would highly recommend getting one of these instead of jumper cables – many modern cars won’t easily jump off with traditional jumper cables anymore.) It was very smokey from some wildfires, but we still could enjoy some great views from the road, and we occasionally pulled over to snap a picture of a particularly compelling vista.

Skyline Drive

At Thornton Gap, we exited the park and headed west on US-211 to Luray and White House, VA, where we turned south on US-340 and drove south to our lodging for the next few days.

Massanutten Rendezvous

Mom’s birthday was Saturday (it was now Friday), so we met up with her and Dad in Massanutten, VA, where we’d rented an Airbnb for the rest of the weekend. We unloaded our cars, settled into the house, and then loaded up again to head to dinner.

Hank's Grille

We drove a short distance to Hank’s Grille & Catering, a place Mom had spotted on the way in. For an appetizer, we ordered KC-style burnt ends, and got a selection of grilled and smoked meats, plus some southern-style sides. The food was all good, but not exceptional. The only thing we didn’t really enjoy was the burnt ends appetizer – they came doused in an espresso barbecue sauce that was a little strange. Nonetheless, we enjoyed our meal and the time together.

Hank's Grille

Kline's Dairy Bar

After dinner, we headed over to Kline’s Dairy Bar, a short drive down the road from the restaurant. Kline’s, which has multiple locations in the area, specializes in homemade custards, and has just a few flavors each day. We got all four flavors they had that day: pumpkin, chocolate, vanilla, and chocolate brownie batter. All were very good, and were a great way to cap off the evening.

Kline's Dairy Bar

Massanutten, VA

Great custard, with a small selection of rotating flavors. [By custard standards, it’s excellent, but wouldn’t rank as highly if compared to all types of ice cream.]

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

The Best Things we Saw Today

Isaac

The best thing I saw today was… “Skyline Drive and the battlefield in Manassas”.

The best thing I ate today was… “Kline’s Dairy Bar”.

Faith

The best thing I saw today was… “Skyline Drive”.

The best thing I ate today was… “Kline’s”.

Jerry

The best thing I saw today was… “the drive up to Harrisonburg”.

The best thing I ate today was… “Kline’s Dairy Bar”.

Amy

The best thing I saw today was… “the drive up to Virginia”.

The best thing I ate today was… “the custard”.

Conclusion

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Tomorrow, Dad and I will watch the football game, while Mom, Faith, and Walker explore the Harrisonburg area.

– The Churches

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Day 6 – Washington, D.C. // Maryland/Virginia 2023

Isaac Church — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 23:00:58 +0000

Today was our final full day staying with the Pinkertons. Since we didn’t get to go into Washington, D.C. on Day 4 of our travels, Faith and I decided we would venture into the capital for a day to see a few sites. The rest of the kids had a school-related event, so it was good timing for us to take a day trip. I hadn’t been to DC since I went with some friends back in 2017.

Pancake Breakfast // DC Commute

We woke up fairly early and ate pancakes for breakfast, hopped in the car, and immediately began the drive to DC. It took us about an hour and a half to navigate the Baltimore tunnels and DC beltway, but we finally made it to the city. We parked in an underground deck near the NASA headquarters on the south side of the National Mall, emerged above ground, and began walking without a real destination in mind.

We tried to find some coffee, a snack, and a restroom, but couldn’t find a good cafe anywhere nearby. We noticed on the map that the Museum of the Bible had a couple restaurants inside, so we decided to walk a couple blocks to try our luck there.

Museum of the Bible

We actually didn’t know much about the museum before we happened upon it, but after reading about it, we decided we’d pay the entrance fee and take the rest of the morning to tour it. Entering just after the museum opened, we headed upstairs to the Milk + Honey Café, grabbed a blueberry muffin to split, and then began our tour.

Museum of the Bible

Blueberry muffin - Museum of the Bible

First, we walked through the visiting/temporary exhibit on the lower level (something about the Bible and astronomy), and weren’t particularly impressed. However, as we ventured on to the main exhibits, we were amazed by the both the quality and quantity of exhibits. Because we didn’t have all day, we had to skim over some of the galleries, but we both wished we’d had more time to browse. There were particularly interesting displays on Bible printing and manufacturing, and on the life of Elisabeth Elliot.

Bay Psalm Book

Divina Comedia

Gutenberg Printing Press

Continuing upstairs, we walked through the “New Testament Experience”, which recreates many of the places Jesus visited during his ministry, some in 1:1 scale. There were replicas of wine presses, synagogues, and much more.

New Testament Experience

The Second Temple

Due to time constraints, we had to skip the Old Testament experience, as it took 30 minutes to walk through, and only started every 45 minutes or so. We started watching a 4D movie that they were showing, but it was a little loud for the baby, so we slipped out the back and moved on. We proceeded to a large exhibit hall focused on different versions of the Bible throughout time, including significant translations, versions, preservation efforts, etc.

Livestream of Jerusalem

Museum of the Bible

The Killer Bible

Museum of the Bible

On the way out of the translation galleries, there was an oval-shaped room documenting the translation progress of the Old and New Testaments into all known languages.

Translation progress

On the upper floors, there were two more visiting exhibits. One showed all the churches that bear the name “Haggia Sophia”, like the famous Turkish cathedral-now-turned-mosque. This was fascinating; apparently there are hundreds of them all around the world, all with different architecture and unique backgrounds. The other exhibit displayed a large selection of artifacts from the Holy Land. Each exhibit spanned a couple thousand square feet.

Haggai Sophia across the world

Israeli artifacts exhibit

We ended our visit with a short walk through their rooftop garden (akin to one in Jerusalem), visited the museum gift shop, and then exited back onto 4th Street.

Rooftop garden

Museum of the Bible

Rice Bar

From the museum, we walked north past L’Enfant Plaza to the Capital Gallery Shopping Mall, in the same building that houses the Smithsonian’s headquarters. We ate lunch at Rice Bar, a Korean build-your-own bowl counter chain that is very popular in the DC area. Faith and I both got bowls with shaved Korean beef, Korean BBQ sauce, broccoli, carrots, and crispy onions. One bowl had brown rice, and the other had black rice, something neither of us had ever tried (or even heard of!) before. The black rice was more purple than black, but it was incredibly delicious, and definitely our favorite of the two. Here’s an article if you’d like to learn more about the “forbidden rice”.

Department of Education

Rice Bar

Washington, D.C. // Multiple Locations

Build-your-own Korean bowls with delicious options. Be sure to try the black rice!

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

National Museum of American History

After finishing our lunch, we made the nearly mile-long walk to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Along the way, we enjoyed nice views of the US Capitol and Washington monument.

U.S. Capitol

Washington Monument

As usual, the museum didn’t disappoint, but it was very crowded with tour groups from various schools. We walked through the exhibits on American enterprise, the history of American food, American technology, and American farming.

We quickly dipped into a smaller room with displays of various unique currencies, and then headed back outside so we could get in a longer walk before we needed to head back home.

History of Currency

Outside the museum, we decided the best way to spend our time was to just walk around and see some of the monuments. We bought an outrageously expensive strawberry smoothie from a food truck, and began strolling west down Madison Drive towards the Washington Monument.

National Mall

First, we walked to the base of the Monument – something we’d never seen up close. We’d hoped we could maybe ride to the top, but you have to book that at least a day in advance.

Washington Monument

The White House

Jefferson Memorial

Next, we walked around the fountains at the World War II Memorial.

World War II Memorial

Finally, we finished our National Mall walking tour at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting Pool

Metro Difficulties // Long Drive Home

It was now time to start heading back to our car and back to Maryland. The closest metro stop was back on the mall near the Smithsonian Castle, so we walked a very brisk mile to the broken escalator (temporarily stairs) and descended to the platforms to find a train to take back to our car at Federal Place and Patriot’s Plaza.

Metro Station

Unfortunately, the broken escalator was only the beginning of our troubles. Since we only wanted to take one short Metro ride, I decided I’d pay on my phone, rather than having to load a minimum amount on a card. Apparently, you can’t pay for multiple fares on one phone, like you can with a physical card, and Faith’s phone was dead, so we couldn’t use it to purchase another card. It took us over 30 minutes to sort the payment situation out with the attendant, and then we had even more difficulty getting the accessible turnstile to work so we could fit the stroller through.

I was not a very happy camper/metro rider at this point. We were both miserably hot in the sultry tunnels, and the stress of trying to explain the situation to a rather disagreeable attendant was not helping matters. Thankfully, Walker stayed asleep in his stroller for the duration of the fiasco, and we were finally able to get on our less-than-merry way. By this point, we’d missed a handful of trains because of the delay, so we had to wait even longer to catch the correct line.

The drive into the city took us less than an hour and a half, but it took us over three hours to get back to Havre de Grace! Despite our best efforts to avoid both rush hour and the most congested roads, the Metrorail mishap had delayed us right into the middle of rush-hour traffic. Our valiant effort to leave in plenty of time was all for naught. At least the agonizingly slow drive up the Baltimore-Washington Parkway was somewhat scenic, highlighted by a few deer crossing the highway, and seeing the NSA’s headquarters at Fort Meade, MD.

Crabs!

We arrived back at Havre de Grace just in time for dinner. Since it was our last night with the Pinkertons, William went out to get a sack full of steamed crabs so we could have a proper Maryland dinner before we left. It was incredibly delicious, and even more so after a long day. We learned we need a lot more practice shelling crabs, though!

Maryland steamed crab dinner

After dinner, we made some more affogatos, finished the rest of Gettysburg, played a couple games of Scrabble, and then headed off to bed.

The Best Things we Saw Today

Isaac

The best thing I saw today was… “the farming and food exhibits at the Smithsonian, and the various Bible translations”.

The best thing I ate today was… “the crab dinner, with black rice getting and honorable mention”.

Faith

The best thing I saw today was… “the Museum of the Bible”.

The best thing I ate today was… “crabs!”.

Conclusion

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Tomorrow, we’ll head south into Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley.

– Isaac, Faith, and Walker

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Day 10: New York

Isaac Church — Sun, 20 Aug 2017 03:58:41 +0000

Today was a long, hot day in the concrete jungle of New York City, so I will keep the post short in an effort to go to bed as soon as possible.

Staten Island Ferry

This morning, we took the Staten Island Ferry into New York City, enjoying a view of Lady Liberty from the boat.

New York City

Statue of Liberty

New York City

Central Park // Belvedere Castle

We took the subway north to Central Park, and enjoyed the view from Belvedere Castle, near the museum of Natural History.

Central Park

Levain Bakery

Next, we took a bus over to the Upper West Side and stopped at Levain bakery to get breakfast, consisting of a jam/butter filled baguette, a blueberry muffin, and one of their famous chocolate chip walnut cookies.

Levain Bakery

New York City, NY

Everything here was excellent, but if you read reviews you’d think they are the best pastries in the world. While good, I’ve had better – but, they are definitely worth visiting. Levain has multiple locations in NYC.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Grand Central Station // New York Public Library

After stopping briefly in a Marshall’s to look around, we took the subway to Grand Central Station via the Times Square underground shuttle, stopping inside the station and also walking in the the New York Public Library.

Grand Central Station

New York Public Library

Empire State Building

We walked down the street to the Empire State Building and briefly visited the lobby to snap a quick picture.

Empire State Building

Lunch

Now starving, we grabbed lunch at the first pizza place we saw, and then headed to Herald Square Park to grab dessert from Wafels & Dinges. The pizza was pretty good, and the waffles were excellent.

NY Pizza

Wafels & Dinges

New York City, NY

A great place to get a sweet treat. Look for their multiple locations around the city.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

World Trade Center

Another subway ride brought us down to the World Trade Center, where we visited the 9/11 Memorial and the newly opened Oculus building that connects all the WTC buildings.

One World Trade Center

Inside the Oculus

One World Trade Center

Staten Island ferry // Shake Shack

The subway line that runs back to the ferry terminal was closed for some reason, so we found a bus stop and waited and waited and waited for the bus, which finally came close to 17:00. We took the bus back to the Whitehall Ferry Terminal, boarded the 17:30 ferry, and departed Staten Island to head south towards Delaware.

Staten Island Ferry

We stopped briefly off of I-95 in Delaware to eat a quick supper at Shake Shack, and then journeyed through Baltimore down to Alexandria, arriving at our hotel around 22:15.

Shake Shack

Conclusion

Tomorrow, we might explore DC for a short while, or we might head straight home. Thanks for keeping up with our travels!

Half dead in NYC

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Introduction // Church Trip 2017

Isaac Church — Tue, 08 Aug 2017 21:00:22 +0000

Before we get too far into the details of this post, I think I’ll give a quick update on what’s going on with the family.

If you’d like to skip all that and get to the new stuff, click here. If not, you can keep reading at your own risk.

I completed my Master of Science in Accountancy degree from Appalachian this June, and I’m currently in the second half of my graduate program working on an MBA in Data Analytics. Mom has been working on the pastoral search committee at church, and Dad has been keeping the Town of Granite Falls functioning amongst a collapsed bridge and a massive fire.

Graduation (Halfway Point) // May 2017

In May, I studied abroad in the Alps to complete the global requirement for the MBA program. You can click below to read about my adventures in Switzerland, Italy, and France!

Lausanne

In July, my roommates and I conducted a water taste test (long story), so if you’d like to find out what brands of water to buy/not buy based on the scientific observations of a handful of college students, click here.

[If you didn’t get an email about that post, please check your spam mailbox and check the alert below about avoiding spam filters.]

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Church trip 2017

For those of you who don’t remember, our family went on an unprecedented trip up north last summer. I’m still not quite sure how we got Mom to travel that far, but she enjoyed it so much that she essentially demanded that we take a similar trip this summer!

It didn’t exactly take much convincing for Dad and me to agree to travel back to the land of Red Sox games and lobster rolls. Since we now have some experience galavanting around the New England, we hope that this will be a more streamlined, yet equally adventurous trip.

Our itinerary includes, among other things: Hershey and Amish Country, Baseball Hall of Fame, northern Appalachian Mountains, Maine, New England, NYC, DC, and more. Along the way I expect we’ll have lots of good food (I know that’s shocking—I’ve been researching hole-in-the-wall restaurants for months), see some beautiful scenery, explore some new territory, and experience some inevitable craziness.

For those of you who would like to follow our adventures, you can subscribe by email. (If you’ve subscribed to a previous blog, there’s no need to subscribe again.) Once again, the link so subscribe is below.

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to sharing our adventures with you!

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Washington, D.C. Day 4

Isaac Church — Wed, 15 Mar 2017 23:37:22 +0000

Today marked the fourth and final day of our adventures in Washington, D.C. Our day got off to an early start. After we woke up, we ate our homemade blueberry cheesecake pop tarts from Ted’s Bulletin (which were fantastic), and headed out for the day.

Ted's Bulletin

Arlington National Cemetery

We drove to Arlington National Cemetery, and after fighting the nightmarish DC morning traffic, closed roads, roundabouts that wouldn’t let you turn, and our GPS, we finally made it across the Memorial Bridge in to Arlington. It was very cold with a biting wind, so we didn’t spend an exorbitant amount of time taking pictures or exploring.

We saw JFK’s tomb and the eternal flame, Robert E. Lee’s house, and the Tomb of the Unknowns. We got to witness the changing of the guard, and a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb.

National Archives

We left Arlington and traveled back across the Potomac to the National Archives museum, and managed to find a metered parking space on the street outside. We waited in line for quite a while, but got to see the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights, as well as other various important documents and drafts of important documents from our nation’s history.

We toured the museum exhibits, which were very interesting, but unfortunately we did not have time to see much, since we needed to hit the road. No photographs were allowed anywhere in the building, so I only have a picture of the outside.

National Archives

Chicken Fiesta

We headed back to the car and hit the road towards Richmond. We stopped for lunch at a place called Chicken Fiesta (shout out to Daniel for recommending it), and got some outstanding Tex-Mex food. Payne and I got chicken quesadillas, and Cody got chicken nachos.

chicken Fiesta

Richmond, VA

Amazing Peruvian food – cheap and delicious.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

The Treat Shop RVA

After lunch, we went to a place called The Treat Shop RVA and got some donuts. They were good, but not great–nothing special.

The Treat Shop RVA

Conclusion

We hit the road again, make a quick stop for gas in Wilkesboro, and arrived back in Boone around 7:30pm.

It’s been a great trip, and we’ve enjoyed sharing it with you! I might write one more post as an addendum at some point, but I believe that’s all for now. If you’d like to see some photos I’ve taken from this trip and other trips, you can go to my photography website.

Thanks for keeping up with our travels, and I hope you will continue to do so in the future.

Until next time,

Isaac, Alex, and Cody

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Washington, D.C. Day 3

Isaac Church — Tue, 14 Mar 2017 23:22:11 +0000

Today marked our third day in our great nation’s capital. It was certainly a day to remember for several reasons involving food, famous politicians, and other adventures.

DC got a good bit of snow last night, so everything government related didn’t open until noon.

DC Airbnb

Chinatown

Once everything was closer to opening, we headed out and caught the Metro to L’Enfant Plaza, transferred to red line, and got off at Gallery Place to stop for lunch. We accidentally hopped off one stop too early (Gallery Place instead of Gallery Place-Chinatown), so we had a few extra blocks of walking before we reached our lunch destination.

DC Chinatown

Dangerously Delicious Pies

For those of you who didn’t know, today (3/14) is National Pi Day! So of course, we charted out a place to find pie for lunch in celebration of both geometric and tasty circles. We stopped at a place called Dangerously Delicious Pies, which turned out to be accurately named. The pie was outstanding. If one were to eat there every day, he might turn a bit more spherical.

Dangerously Delicious Pies

We got a variety of savory and sweet pies. Payne and Cody both got a pulled pork pie, while I got chicken pot pie. All the pies came with a salad with red peppers and balsamic dressing. Cody got chocolate chess pie for dessert, while Payne and I got ‘The Boston Bomb”, a vanilla chess pie with a thick chocolate chunk cookie baked into it.

It took everything in us to not come back a second time later in the day. We all agreed it was the best place we had eaten thus far on our trip.

Dangerously Delicious Pies

Washington, D.C. + Other Locations

The pies were indeed dangerously delicious.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

United States Capitol Building

After lunch, we waddled our way back to the Metro, changed lines once or twice, and took the silver line to Capitol South. We hopped off, walked a couple blocks to the Capitol Visitor Center, and waited in line to get into the Capitol. Along the way, the security guard barked orders at everyone, but insisted that we call her a ‘line cheerleader’ instead of a security guard. She was quite perky and adamant.

We finally got inside and met our tour guide, Jack, who loved history but hated people, making him a semi-petulant tour guide. However, he thought we were cool, so he was nice to us. It also probably didn’t hurt that we were constituents of his boss.

Thanks to Virginia Foxx for hooking us up with a tour!

We toured the old house chamber, various halls, the rotunda, and got to sit in the current House chamber, although the House was currently in recess.

Rose Parks Statue

Meeting the Vice President

The old Senate chamber and the old Supreme Court chamber were unfortunately closed for the day, so we were disappointed that we didn’t get to see either of those. However, when we were in the rotunda, we heard a bustling commotion through one of the doors, and saw Secret Service agents cleaning a path across the center of the room. As it turns out, Vice President Mike Pence happened to be passing through, so we got to shake his hand!

Library of Congress

We finished up our tour with Jack and Mike, and walked through the underground tunnel across the street to the Library of Congress. This time, our tour guide was named Ed, and he was awesome. He was a highly skilled orator with deep and profound knowledge of all things related to the Library of Congress.

Ted's Bulletin

After the Library closed, we took the Metro down to U-Street, and walked to a place called Ted’s Bulletin Family Restaurant for dinner. It turned out to be the second great food decision of the day. The restaurant was a deco-style diner that showed old TV shows and movies on a screen in the back, while maintaining a class atmosphere akin to the 1920’s-1950’s.

Ted's Bulletin

For an appetizer, we split fried chicken biscuits coated in honey, served with a slightly spicy and tangy sauce. For the main meal, we all got a ‘Super Deluxe Grilled Cheese’ with tomato soup. The sandwich had braised pork short ribs and mac & cheese on it. It was an outstanding meal.

Ted's Bulletin

Ted’s specialized in desserts, but we decided to get some to-go for breakfast in the morning, because their specialty was homemade ‘tarts’, which were filled breakfast pastries. I will document those in the morning when we eat them. We finished dinner and took the Metro back home to grab our car and head back out again in search of dessert and to do some more sightseeing.

Cody’s insert: Our waiter told us that carrot cake was their specialty. Isaac promptly replied, “I like to keep my vegetables and my dessert separate.”

Arlington Bake Shop

Ted's Bulletin

Washington, D.C. + Other Locations

A modern twist on an old-school diner with great comfort food.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Arlington Bake Shop

We headed towards Arlington and stopped at a place simply called ‘Bake Shop’. This was our third excellent food choice of the day. We got a variety of macaroons, ‘cookies in a blanket’ — and Oreo inside a chocolate chip cookie, blueberry oatmeal cookies, a brookie brownie/cookie, a ginger cookie cream pie, and a few other treat. On the way out, I took one bite of my blueberry oatmeal cookie, and immediately went back inside and bought three more.

Coconut macaroon

Arlington Bake Shop

Arlington, VA

Honestly, the oatmeal blueberry cookies alone are earning this place two stars. Everything else was great too!

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

USMC Memorial

After our sugar rush, we headed to the United States Marine Corps Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, and the FDR memorial. With those three stops, we completed our tour of the monuments and memorials in DC (earlier today we saw the African American Civil War Memorial). We avoided freezing to death, snapped some great pictures, and headed back home for the evening.

Washington Monument

FDR Memorial

Conclusion

Tomorrow morning, we are planning to head to Arlington National Cemetery, the National Archives, and then we will head back to Boone.

Signing off,

Isaac, Cody, and Alex

Jefferson Memorial

P.S.:

I realize that our lunch got more photos than the Vice President. I didn’t have many good photos of the VP, and our lunch was really good. That’s all I have to say.
Quote — Cody: “I bet the VP gets really tired of shaking hands all the time.” // Isaac: “I bet his Vitamin C intake is ridiculous.”

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Washington, D.C. Day 2

Isaac Church — Mon, 13 Mar 2017 22:54:03 +0000

Day two of our DC adventures got off to a slow start. As it turns out, there are no windows in our sleeping quarters that let in even an inkling of light, so we all overslept and didn’t head into the city until close to 10:00am. We took the Metro green line into the city, transferred over to red line, and headed to Union Station for breakfast. Cody and I got crêpes, while Payne ventured down a few storefronts to get some Bojangle’s.

Union Station

national Postal Museum

After breakfast, we headed up to the ground level, exited Union Station, and headed across the street to the National Postal Museum, another branch of the Smithsonian. While this is definitely a lesser know museum, it was surprisingly fascinating. The museum covers the history of stamps, postal delivery, postal technology, air and sea mail, taxes and revenues related to stamps, and many other interesting things related to mail and postal delivery. We all got make our own stamps using a touch screen computer, pose in a stagecoach, and see many letters that survived various disasters or that had been sent in notable circumstances.

Postal Museum

District Tacos

We finished at the Postal Museum and hopped back on the red line Metro to head back towards the city center. We got off, and headed to District Tacos to grab a quick bite for lunch. Between the three of us, we got tacos al pastor, and with carnitas, barbacoa, carne asada, and some very spicy shrimp. They were all excellent, and it proved to be a great and quick lunch.

District Tacos

The White House

After lunch, we walked down Constitution Avenue and then Pennsylvania Avenue, and walked around the White House. We discovered that Constitution Avenue follows the path of an old canal, which we didn’t know and found fascinating. We stopped at the Boy Scouts of America Memorial, and then headed back towards the National Mall to head to the American History Museum.

National Museum of American History

We spent the rest of the afternoon in the American History museum, which was absolutely fascinating. We could’ve easily spent weeks in there.

Au Bon Pain

I could’ve easily taken thousands of pictures to share, but these are just a few from the time we had there. About halfway through our time at the museum, Charlie rejoined us. We left around 4:30pm, and started walking back towards our next destination, the International Spy museum. Along the way, we stopped at an Au Bon Pain bakery and got a variety of pastries, including pound cake, cookies, macaroons, croissants, danishes, and a cinnamon roll. I also got a miniature salad with chicken, mozzarella, and tomatoes so I would feel better about eating two pastries for a pre-dinner snack.

Coconut macaroon

International Spy Museum

We scarfed down our pastries and headed down the street to the Spy Museum. We spent the next two hours touring the museum, which was about half interesting and half cheesy stuff.

Enigma

Spy Museum

Shake Shack

We finished up at the Spy Museum and headed next door to Shake Shack for dinner. We got a variety of burgers, fries, and milkshakes, and then took the Metro back to our place to settle down for the evening.

Shake Shack

Conclusion

Some other things of note that we saw but don’t have pictures of:

A ton of Presidential artifacts
A ton of cheesy spy stuff – shoe phones, umbrella guns, etc.
A ton of interesting spy stuff – code machines, secret compartments, etc.
The history of food and cooking gadgets
The history of transportation
Many, many firearms
Statues of various important people

Tomorrow, we are touring the US Capital building and the Library of Congress, plus whatever other things we have time for.

Until next time,

Isaac, Cody, and Alex

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Washington, D.C. Day 1

Isaac Church — Sun, 12 Mar 2017 19:11:43 +0000

World War II Memorial

At 5:30am EST, the adventure began. Cody, Payne, and I loaded up the car and hit the road, bound for Washington, D.C. We stopped quickly in Durham to get Krispy Kreme, coffee, and gas. After many hours of driving, several depleted playlists, and a three hour power nap for Cody, we made it to DC.

Lunch - Potbelly Sandwich Shop

We checked into our Airbnb, and then headed downtown to find some lunch. We stopped at Potbelly Sandwich Shop, a local chain restaurant, and grabbed some meat-laden sandwiches and chips for lunch.

Potbelly Sandwich Shop

Museum of Natural History

After lunch, we walked over to the Museum of Natural History, and proceeded to explore the exhibits for several hours. Along the way, we walked inside one of the art museums just to say we had been there, but that was about the maximum interest we had in that sort of thing.

Me: “Why do elephants looks so happy all the time?

Cody: “It says here they eat 18 hours a day.”

Museum of Natural History

Also of note: while we were walking on the National Mall, some Michigan students spotted Cody’s App Football sweatshirt and gave him the most ominous look I’ve ever seen. We all got a good laugh out of it.

We left the Museum of Natural History and headed through the Smithsonian Castle over to the Air and Space Museum.

Smithsonian Castle // Air & Space Museum

We toured the Air and Space Museum for a couple more hours, and caught up with our friend and former roommate (there have been several, if you were wondering) Charlie Day (not the actor), who recently moved up to DC.

Alex Payne, Cody McKinney, Charlie Day, Isaac Church

Smithsonian Castle

Air & Space Museum

Dinner - District Commons & Tavern

Once the museums closed for the day, we attempted to go to Georgetown to eat dinner together, but our desire to consume food in the immediate future trumped our desire to fight the insane herds of cars for a parking space, so we headed back to Dupont Circle for dinner. We finally found a nearby restaurant, called District Commons & Tavern, that did not have a 1.5+ hour wait, so we quickly grabbed a table and sat down, exhausted, to enjoy our dinner. It proved to be a very good meal.

Blackened grilled swordfish

Payne and Charlie both got meatloaf with a mac & cheese/scalloped potato bake and bacon-braised green beans. Cody and I split two dishes 50/50: sea scallops over a cheese grit cake, collard greens, and some sort of sauce; and blackened grilled swordfish served with a lemony salad. The restaurant served coconut macaroons in lieu of after dinner mints, which very much impressed me.

Red Velvet Cupcakery

After dinner, we drove back to the east side of the city to a place Payne recommended called Red Velvet Cupcakery. We got some red velvet, lemon coconut, and chocolate cupcakes, and enjoyed them for dessert. They were excellent, and had especially good frosting.

Memorials Night Tour

After cupcakes, Charlie left us to head back home, and we decided to go on a nighttime walking tour of most of the major monuments and memorials. We parked near the Washington Monument, and walked around the tidal basin and reflection pool, stopping at the Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Korean Veterans Memorial, MLK Jr. Memorial, and the WWI/II Memorials. It was freezing and late, so we finally headed back to the car, and got back to our Airbnb around midnight.

Lincoln Memorial

Jefferson Memorial

Washington Monument and Reflection Pool

MLK Jr. Memorial

Washington Monument

World War II Memorial

conclusion

Cody and Payne are already asleep and snoring as I write this, so they did not get to contribute anything to this blog. However, when they are awake, I may write an addendum to this post so they can contribute their thought, opinions, and stories from the day.

It is time for me/us to get some rest. Tomorrow we will be going to the International Spy Museum and the Museum of American History, among other things.

Signing off,

Isaac, Cody, and Alex (and Charlie)

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Washington, D.C. Introduction

Isaac Church — Sat, 11 Mar 2017 20:10:15 +0000

Greetings, salutations, and other formalities.

It’s that time of year again–the cold, dreary winter is showing signs of breaking (please indulge me and ignore the heavy snowfall predicted for this weekend), The Master’s is just around the corner, and college students from near and far are flocking to Myrtle Beach for spring break. But not these three college students!

Sorry, wait a second. I should probably back up and explain. First, I’ll show you a picture.

There are a few things you need to notice about this picture. The first may surprise you: notice the girl wearing the graduation cap and happy face on the right side of the picture. You can only see her head. That’s Morgan. As of October, she’s married to the guy with the green sash on the right, Cody.

Pictured from left to right is Alex Payne (a ASU alumnus and history teacher whose camera this photo was taken with), me (Isaac Church, in case any of you don’t know that), and Cody McKinney (football and accounting extraordinaire who suffers through the Masters program with me at ASU). The three of us lived together for several years.

Now, back to the story. For spring break, Morgan decided to abandon her newlywed husband Cody and go on a study abroad to Cuba; although, I can’t say that I blame her. So, Cody and I decided we were going to take a road trip for the week. Our original hopes and dreams of taking an extremely long (but entirely possible – we did the math!) trip to {Boone, NC > Nashville, TN > St. Louis, MO > Kansas City, MO > Denver, CO > Jackson, WY > Yellowstone National Park > Grand Tetons > Mount Rushmore > Badlands > Madison, WI > Milwaukee, WI > Chicago, IL > Indianapolis, IN > Cincinnati, OH > Louisville, KY > Boone, NC} turned out to be too costly, among other things. So, we opted for a safer, shorter, and cheaper trip to Washington D.C. to go museum hopping for several days.

Payne joined our trip about a day or two after this decision, ergo the second reason I showed you the above picture. We booked an Airbnb shortly thereafter, and have been somewhat meticulously planning our trip ever since. Of course, I had to break out the blog once again to record our travels, high levels of food consumption, and other ridiculous events that may occur. I imagine that all three of us will contribute in some way or another to this blog. Payne just got a new camera, so he’ll throw in some pictures, and Cody can tell a story like no other, so be prepared for some potentially entertaining stuff.

This trip is what history-loving, slightly nerdy people live for. So, I take no shame in posting lots of pictures of monuments, historical artifacts, and whatever interesting things we come across. If you’re looking for a blog filled with warm, sandy beaches, look elsewhere for some college students who went to the beach for spring break. Or to Cuba.

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Day 1: DC, Philadelphia, and Travel

Isaac Church — Sat, 06 Aug 2016 16:58:37 +0000

Today marked the beginning of the “Church Trip”, or whatever you want to call it. I still haven’t even made up my mind. We spent most of the day in the car, so the day was fairly uneventful, and by the end of it we were pretty “road sick”.

Washington, D.C.

We left Granite Falls a little after 5:00am, stopped for breakfast along the way, and managed to make it to Washington, D.C. (through some of the worst traffic I’ve ever seen) around 2:00pm. We stopped at District Taco on F Street for some barbacoa, carnitas, and pollo asado tacos, which were excellent!

Originally, we planned to take a walking/circulator tour of the monuments and National Mall after lunch, but because we were running behind and it was drizzling, we opted to drive around the Mall one time and then head out of the city.

Library of Congress

Philadelphia

We finally arrived in Philadelphia around 7:00pm, which was unfortunately too late to tour any of the historical sites. After we found some parking, we walked around the Independence Hall area, toured the President’s House, and walked around the outside of the Liberty Bell museum (thrilling). After our rather uneventful tour, it was on to better things: cheese steaks!

Independence Hall

The Libery Bell and Independence Hall

Our first endeavor was to find a place called Joe’s Steaks + Soda Shop that supposedly had great steaks. By this time, it was close to their closing time at 8:00pm, and we were headed towards a rough part of town, so we opted for Plan B, which was basically whatever Dad had pulled up on his phone. It turned out to be a good decision. We ate at a place on Broad Street called Jimmy G’s Steaks that was outstanding.

Jimmy G's Steaks

Philadelphia, PA

An authentic Philly steak. Unfortunately, Jimmy G’s is now permanently closed.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Conclusion

After ordering our steaks “prov wit” like semi-authentic Philly natives (the only difference being a bit of a noticeable drawl) and devouring them at the tables outside, we decided it was time to hit the road, so we headed up to NJ (some familiar territory for Dad and me) and finally checked into our hotel just shy of 11:00pm.

Tomorrow, the Church family will take on the Big Apple and hopefully some big waffles. Oh, and something about Connecticut too, but we’ll see if Mom survives the subway before we start to speculate.

Final Thoughts

Like I said, there wasn’t much to report from today, but tomorrow should be pretty interesting because [Churches + NYC = ???].

A few other things of note from today:

Obviously, we didn’t teleport straight to DC and then to Philadelphia, though that would have saved us a significant amount of time and possibly prevented some amount of road rage. Today we saw sights in NC, VA, MD, DE, NJ, PA, and then NJ again.
We realized we still don’t know what’s happening on this trip. I suppose I kinda do because I planned it, but Mom thought we were going to Boston tomorrow instead of New York City, so that created some temporary confusion. Dad remembers the plans by types of food, so I don’t believe he has any concerns as long as the status-quo is being well-fed.
Mom was amazed that it’s illegal to pump your own gas in NJ, and that they offer full service at every gas station. And that service stations are sometimes in the median. Dad and I were too busy discussing the job-creating potential of requiring that in other states.

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