Holidays and Vacation Part 1

The past month has been a whirlwind. It started with a great Thanksgiving week in Sparta with Kelly family and Ben's mother who made the trip from Arkansas.

We were leaving for our vacation the next week, so we talked Kelly's parents into watching Dex and Mo until we returned for Christmas. The apartment was very empty without them, but we knew they were having a great time back in the midwest.

Before heading out on our vacation/belated honeymoon, we had almost two weeks in DC.  Luckily, we were able to pass some of the time by going to watch the Monday Night Football game between the Redskins and Giants.

It was an awesome game that saw the Redskins win and keep their hopes alive to win the division.  After the Monday night game, it was only a few more days of packing and getting ready before it was time to leave.

Our belated honeymoon started off with a 3am Super Shuttle ride to Dulles International Airport and then a flight to Miami.  As we waited to get on the ship, we noticed we were under the median age of our fellow passengers by about 30 years. Nonetheless, we were excited to get going.

Our cabin was very serviceable and a great location on the ship.

We walked around a bit, enjoyed a great first dinner and sat on the deck as we pulled away from south Florida.

Of the 15 days, 7 were "at sea". We spent most of our at sea days sleeping in, laying by the pool and catching up on some reading.

The first port was Cartagena, Columbia. We spent most of the day walking around the Old Walled City
The 400-year-old stone walls encircling the city are surprisingly intact and stretch for more than two miles.

We walked west along the wide plaza on top of the wall; the Caribbean was on our right, and the lovingly restored medieval streets on the left.

We traversed many of the streets and visited the famed San Pedro Church before breaking for a soda to beat the oppressive heat.

We managed to walk almost the entire wall which led us to the Castle of San Felipe de Barajas.

We headed back to the ship on foot. While a little unsure of directions, we headed in the general vicinity of the port. After an hour of walking and viewing areas and neighborhoods of Cartagena that not "recommended" in the guidebook or by local police, we made it back safe and sound.

After two days at sea, we made it to Panama. We took an excursion to Kayak on the Gatun Lake to look at wildlife and learn more about the history of the Panama Canal.

Gatun Lake at one time was the largest man made lake in the world. It was damed up in order to connect the three sets of locks, creating the canal. It is a beautiful lake surrounded by lush rainforest.

We kayaked around a section of the lake and spotted several howler monkeys, a three toed sloth and a Jesus Christ Lizard.

Watch the JC Lizard "walk on water" in the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52oqpQj1kUE

After the kayaks, we went to the Gatun Locks. We saw two ships go through the lock, which gave us a great perspective of what will happen when our ship goes through.

It takes 11 hours to get through the canal, which consists of three sets of locks and 80 miles of the Gatun Lake. It is a first come first serve (unless you pay a $30,000 appointment fee), which creates a long line of ships waiting to go through the canal. Some of the small ships can have a two week wait to go through.

We entered the Gatun Lock at 7:30am. Our ship is classified as a "panamamax" because it is the biggest ship allowed. The ship was so snug in the chamber that Kelly could stick her arm over the rail and touch the wall. There was three chambers that lifted us about 100 feet.

After passing through the first set of locks we passed through Gatun lake for about 80 miles.

We entered the San Pedro Locks around 2:30pm. There were two chambers that lowered us about 100 feet. We traveled only a few miles before entering in the Miraflores lock which lowered us one chamber back to sea level. After leaving the final lock, we were sent out into the Pacific Ocean.

After leaving the canal, we were headed for our next port in Ecuador.

Futbol, Football, The Election, Golf, and a Cheesesteak

In preparation for the election, Kelly's organization sent their employees to several locations throughout the country to do some election protection. Fortunately, Kelly was assigned to St. Louis, MO because of her background in Missouri elections. She flew back a couple days early to spend time in Sparta, leaving Ben to fend for himself. To keep himself busy, he attended the MLS playoffs, which were held about 10 blocks from our house at RFK stadium.

The crowd was surprisingly rowdy and it was a good game.  

Overall, the Major League Soccer game was a fun experience - though the tie was a bit frustrating way to finish.  Ben decided it was probably for the best that Kelly missed the tie game, which would have only added to her distaste for watching soccer.

On Sunday, Ben had to work at a Nationals event.  He then joined some co-workers at the Redskins game as they took on the Carolina Panthers.  

It was a match up of the last two Heisman Trophy winners.  On the day, Cam Newton and the Panthers got the best of Robert Griffin III and the Redskins. 

 

Tuesday was the big election. Ben drove by the Capitol on his way to Virginia where he spent much of the day.

It was a long day for both of us.  We were happy that it was over and that on Wednesday, Kelly flew back to DC.  Much of the rest of the week was spent catching up on sleep and chores.

On Saturday, we decided to play a round of golf at Langston golf course near our apartment. Once the only course open to African-Americans, Langston is full of history. Joe Lewis was one of the more notable members as was Lee Elder.

On Sunday, we decided to take a day trip up to Philadelphia for the Eagles vs Cowboys football game.

After arriving in Philly, we wanted to stop by City Center for their famous soft pretzels.

While a good pretzel, it left something to be desired. Ben thought something was funky in the after taste  - though this could have been something with the water.  The flavor was masked by dipping the pretzel in mustard.

Next we visited Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and Carpenter's hall.

Independence Hall was very interesting and our tour guide gave us a great history of the room and the events that took place there. Most notable was that the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 2nd not the 4th.

The Liberty Bell was somewhat disappointing.  This may have something to do with the fact that it is located in a modern museum with exhibits and TV monitors and at the end of this long hall is the Liberty Bell.

Carpenter's Hall was Kelly's favorite building because of both its history and lack our tourists.

After sightseeing, we took the short walk from Carpenter's Hall to the City Tavern, established 1733. While visiting her parents in Sparta, Kelly watched a 60 minutes documentary on Philadelphia where they featured the City Tavern. Due to its location to Carpenter's and Independence Hall, many of the founding fathers ate and drank there after long days at work.

In fact, George Washington and John Adams first met at the City Tavern. We sat in the tavern and had a sampler of beers brewed from the recipe's of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin and James Madison.

(Washington, Jefferson and Madison were fond of this bicycle built for three.)

Here is the 60 special: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50134481n
The entire segment is good, but they start talking about Philly about 5 minutes into the segment.

We also briefly visited the University of Pennsylvania, which appeared to be quite nice.  On another trip, we hope to explore the campus more.

Finally, we stopped by Tony Luke's for a cheese steak before heading to the Eagles game.

While we didn't have tickets, Ben quickly worked his magic and we were in our seats before kick off.

The Eagles vs Cowboys is one of the great rivalries in football, however the Eagles have been struggling in recent weeks.

The Philly fans were just as rowdy and inappropriate as advertised. We saw one fist fight, several beers thrown (both unintentional and intentional), and an impressive amount of profanity squeezed into one 3 hour period.

The Eagles lost the game after a last minute drive with their back up quarterback failed to produce a touchdown.

With that, we headed back to DC and got ready for another work week.