Let's Go Red Sox!

Today I went to Fenway Park with my dad for some good old baseball. This year is the park's 100th anniversary. Happy Birthday, Fenway!

The weather was beautiful. I got to spend time with my dad. His company has really good season tickets. But, best of all, the Sox won.

Watch out for the Green Monster!

Look at those Red Sox. Such fancy duds.

P.S. Some of you may be wondering if Loony was actually there for all these pictures I've been posting this summer or if he has been photo-shopped in. He has been there for every single one of these experiences.

Blueberries, Lobsters, and Loons, Oh My!

My lovely mother's birthday is in August. That means every August we get to have a delicious Maine lobstah (this is the correct pronunciation) and clam feed. Blueberry pie also makes a very delicious birthday cake. Happily for me this was last night while I'm in Maine. Loony wanted in on the action.

Happy Birthday, LTS!
Love, Loony.
P.S. Can I have some, please?

Spoiler: Loony won this face-off.

Loony Does Maine Things

Reading in the hammock

A turtle friend

Anybody in there?

The boathouse

An old picnic table rests in peace

Our outdoor shower

Sunning on the dock

Birch trees, my favorite

I used to be small enough for this swing set.

Helpful Washington Websites

I used a whole bunch of different websites this summer. Here they are to assist you in planning your DC vacation (which, of course, you want to go on now that you've spent all this summer reading about what I've been up to there).

Transportation
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (This site is your best friend)

DC Adventures
Visiting DC Resources from Sen. Scott Brown
Smithsonian Museums
Library of Congress (Capitol Hill)
Monuments
DC Outdoor Films
Jack's Boathouse (Georgetown)
Kennedy Center (NW)
National Arboretum (NE)
International Spy Museum (NW)
Jazz in the Garden (NW)
Old Post Office Building (NW)
DC Birding

Virginia/Maryland Adventures
Shenandoah River State Park (VA)
Downriver Canoe Company (VA)
Sandy Point State Park (MD)
Great Falls Park (MD/VA)
Mount Vernon (VA)

Food
(Here are all the places I went)
Good Stuff Eatery (Capitol Hill)
Thunder Burger and Bar (M St, Georgetown)
Mandu (NW)
The Dubliner (By Union Station)
Nando's Peri-Peri (By Dupont Circle)
Toki Underground (H St, NE)
Crumbs (Union Station)
Sidamo's (H St, NE)
Clyde's (Georgetown)
Crystal Thai (Arlington)

(If I had more time and money, I would also have gone here)
We, the Pizza (Capitol Hill)
Founding Farmers (NW)

Living in Arlington
Trader Joe's (Clarendon)
Arlington Public Library (Central Branch)

Churches
Capitol Hill Baptist Church (Capitol Hill)
National Community Church (Barracks Row)
National Cathedral (NW)
Columbia Baptist Church (East Falls Church)
Restoration Anglican Church (Arlington)

DC Family Finale

After 10 lovely weeks in Washington, D.C. interning with World Vision and exploring my nation's capitol, it was time to test my new-found knowledge and spend 3.5 days guiding my family around the city. I have to say, and I believe that they would agree with me, I was quite a successful tour guide. If you are looking for a 3.5 day DC itinerary, here is a tried and tested Stobbe adventure.

Day 0.5 (Sunday afternoon)
We checked in to their hotel in Rosslyn, and then walked down along the Custis Trail to Roosevelt Island. Although I had gone birding around the edge of the island earlier this summer, I had never actually seen the statue of Teddy himself, which is in the center.

Then we walked across Key Bridge to Georgetown and decided, after much discussion, on dinner at Clyde's. It was a deliciously good choice.

Day 1 (Monday)
I had saved Mount Vernon for when my family was here, so we ventured off down south to visit George Washington's plantation on Monday morning. We had a beautiful day to wander all over the grounds. Overall the weather finally decided to cool down a bit while my family was here, so we were able to actually enjoy our long walks around the DC area without dying from the heat and humidity.

After a picnic lunch, we drove into DC and did a blitz of several museums around the Mall. We visited the National Archives, Lillian guided us through the highlights of the National Gallery of Art (West Gallery) in 30 minutes, and then we all trooped over to the National Air and Space Museum. At this final destination, we were all so tired we couldn't stay awake while sitting in one of the many mini movie theaters in the museum.

We tried to go to dinner at the Melting Pot in Arlington, but it was way too ridiculously expensive so we switched to Five Guys. :-) Talk about one end of the spectrum to the other.

Day 2 (Tuesday)
I arranged a tour of the Capitol Building for us through one of our Massachusetts senators, Scott Brown. Two of his interns gave us a great tour, and then we were able to go sit in the House chamber (just to see the room - every thing is in recess right now).

After lunch at Union Station, we went back down to the Senate office buildings and visited one of my dad's coworker's sons who is working for Sen. Brown right now. By this point my family was ready to be done with the touring, but they still hadn't seen the Library of Congress Jefferson Building. I had been in it at the very beginning of the summer, but I hadn't done the tour. The tour is definitely worth it - otherwise you just end up looking at all the decorations in the building and thinking "oh that looks nice" with no idea of why it's actually all there.

At this point, everyone was ready for a nap back at the hotel before heading to dinner at a the home of a homeschool friend from Massachusetts. My family got to meet several of my DC friends and have a real dinner at a house for a change.

Day 3 (Wednesday)
At the beginning of my family's visit to DC, I told them there are four things to see as tourists: Museums, Monuments, Memorials, and Government Buildings. In our first two days we had done several trips to the first and last of these, but Wednesday was dedicated to the monuments and memorials in DC. We did a very long walk to see all of the following:

• Iwo Jima US Marine Corps Memorial
• Arlington Cemetery (Kennedy gravesite and then the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers for the changing of the guard)
• Memorial Bridge
• Lincoln Memorial 
• Vietnam War Memorial
• Korean War Memorial 
• Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial
• World War II Memorial
• Washington Monument

On the Vietnam War Memorial, we found the name of one of my grandparent's neighbors from Maine: Lloyd B Haskell, Jr.

Of course, Charlotte needed a moment to converse with Lincoln himself.

After the Washington Monument, we kept walking back to the Air and Space Museum. Such a huge museum! Before we all collapsed, we walked over to the Old Post Office Tower, which is now owned by Donald Trump, to get the view out over DC (the Washington Monument is still closed from the earthquake in August 2011). Finally we stopped by the White House to wave to all the security guards (and Obama).

And that was the end! We survived and all agreed that it had been just fine to wait until we were all grown up to do a family vacation in DC.

Now that I have completed this epically long blog post, I am going to enjoy my time in Maine by canoeing on Little Ossipee Pond.

My Summer on the Metro

Here's the list of the books I read this summer while traveling around the city on the metro (a * before the title means it was a suggested read from my blog post at the beginning of the summer):

• *My Name is Asher Lev (Chaim Potok) - I love this book.
• Everything That Rises Must Converge (Flannery O'Connor) - I'm sorry, Flannery, but I just find your short stories depressing.
• N or M? (Agatha Christie) - Why did it take me until I was 21 to start reading Agatha Christie mysteries?
• Hope's Boy (Andrew Bridge) - This is a powerful autobiography from a man who grew up in the Los Angeles foster care system.
• *The Unlikely Disciple (Kevin Roose) - Ever wanted to know how a secular American views conservative Christians?
• *The Gift of Asher Lev (Chaim Potok) - Once again, Potok for the win.
• *Farenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury) - 
• *Moloka'i (Alan Brennert) - A part of history most of us know nothing about.
• *In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex (Nathaniel Philbrick) - Want to be depressed? Read this book. You'll have to finish it to find out who survives.
• Following Jesus through the Eye of the Needle: Living Fully, Loving Dangerously (Kent Annan) - The thoughts and experiences of a man who goes to live in Haiti to help. 

I also spent a day reading each of these books:

• *The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins) - The Bottom Line: It's a romance with lots of teenagers killing each other and defying the government.
• *Catching Fire (Suzanne Collins) - If you have ever watched the Bachelor Pad (if you haven't, don't...but if you have...), then think about the Bachelor Pad as our version of the Hunger Games. Right?

For my internship this summer I read:

• When Helping Hurts: Alleviating Poverty Without Hurting the Poor...And Yourself (Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett) - A really good book for those who want to work in international development or just have an interest in helping people in general.
• Managing Up (Harvard Business School Press) - This is about how to have a good relationship with your manager by being a proactive employee.

Loony Hikes to Great Falls

Last week Loony and I went with a group of WV interns to Great Falls Park. We hiked on the Maryland side of the Potomac River along the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Canal. I love water and I love woods.

In the afternoon we went kayaking further down the Potomac (not so much white water) with kayaks from Jack's Boathouse in Georgetown. In our hour on the river, we went all the way around Roosevelt Island. This feat included dodging gigantic motorboats. In a battle between a kayak and a "party boat," the kayak would lose. And the kayaker would go down with the energetic noise of "Party Rock Anthem" dancing in her brain.

You can't really see him, but there's a kayaker in this picture.
I definitely thought of all my adventurous paddle sports
 friends while standing here.

Loony Climbs the Old Post Office Pavilion Tower

A couple weeks ago, before the Tuesday night intern Bible study I've been attending at Capitol Hill Baptist Church, a friend and I took the elevator up to the top of the Old Post Office Pavilion on Pennsylvania Avenue. The view from the top is one of the best in DC, especially since the Washington Monument is still closed from earthquake damage.

The National Cathedral

The Lincoln Memorial

The Washington Monument

Pennsylvania Avenue and the Capital Building

Loony Visits the National Archives

A trip to DC is not complete without a visit to the National Archives. Here you can view the revered documents of American history: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Having just watched National Treasure the weekend before I visited, I couldn't help but contemplate the wildly unrealistic treasure-hunting antics of Benjamin Franklin Gates and his partner in crime, Riley Poole.

Patrick Gates: What is that? Animal skin? How old is it?
Ben Gates: About 200 years.
Patrick: Sure?
Ben: Pretty darn.

It just looks like a faded old document on animal skin.