Obama's Pad

Hi All

Sorry about the pause in communications, but 3,000 miles of driving and almost two weeks of very hot weather finally took it's toll.

We travelled on Thurdsday from Raleigh to Maryland arriving late afternoon to stay a few nights with the Polks in Crofton Maryland which is close to Washington DC. I had already emailed Barrack & Michelle to let them know we were in the area and would like to have a chat and check out their pad while in the area.

So Friday ended up a veg out day as sat around waiting for a time to visit the Obama's, as there was no call on Saturday we decided we would surprise them and visit Washingtonm DC! We drove to a railway station and caught the train to Union Station, as it was too early for lunch at the White House we bought some tickets for the Old Trolley Hop On-Hop Off Tour Bus and made our first stop the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. It was so good we could have spent all day there, I had forgotten some of the early space events like the Sputnics, then a monkey orbiting the earth well before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon in July 1969.

By the time we visited the Abraham Lincoln Memorial  and other museums the afternoon was all but over, so we sent our apologies to the Obama's and headed back to the Polks at Crofton.

So finally Sunday was the last leg of the driving tour to the "Big Apple", we checked into our hotel in "Downdown Brooklyn" making New York the 13th US state we stayed in or drove through in 15 days. After we unloaded the car we then drove to Hertz at JFK Airport to return the car. Then we rode the subway back to our Brooklyn hotel. I have to admit we were both a little nervous but all was well, although Tessa swears she will not ride the subway after dark!. Tomorrow it's the start of 4 days of exploring New York, so that will be the test of whether my choice of hotel location was okay or I screwed up, so stay tuned for tommorrows exiting eposide.
Cheers David & Tessa