We started Wednesday with something very important:  doughnuts.  The girls had a bit of a rough start, and while our plan was for Laura to run in to grab something for everyone, we all ended up in Num Num Donuts so they could pick out their own, after deciding that one donut per person wasn’t going to be enough.  After finally making some decisions, we got back in the car, and made our way towards the park visitor center, where we planned to pop in for a few and then try Hurricane Ridge again.  While I don’t recall seeing it during our last trip, we found a room at the back of the building that had a huge amount of activities for kids.  While talking to a ranger while the kids were enjoying it, he handed me a key that would open up any of about two dozen drawers that contained even more activities, books, puzzle, stuffed animals, and the like.  We easily spent an hour and a half in the room, which included a very cute puppet show

presented by the girls.

 

After talking to the rangers a few minutes and getting passport stamps once again, we made the drive up Hurricane Ridge again.  This time, it was much more pleasant at the top, but still cold and somewhat windy.  Regardless, we walked around a bit and got the obligatory family pictures in front of the picturesque Olympic Range.  The girls were again not in the best moods, and were already hungry again, so we made our way back down to Port Angeles, and hit up a favorite joint that we’ve visited on each of our trips:  Next Door Gastropub.  While there were plenty of options on the menu I wanted to try, I have trouble passing up their burgers, especially when the Mrs. Newton has bacon, brie, fig jam, and stout mustard.  As expected, it was delicious, as was the Elysian pumpkin ale and Tricerahops double IPA that accompanied.  We loved that the restaurant stocks full coloring books and crayons for the girls to enjoy.  They split fish ‘n chips and a grilled cheese, and Laura went the healthy route with a salad.

While we’d visited many of the places we’d visited on previous trips, we had plenty of time in the afternoon to check out another new spot.  Dungeness County Park, which is the jumping off point for the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge, was a quick 20 minute drive a bit east and north of Port Angeles.  After a quick pit stop, we found an empty parking lot at the trailhead for the one trail in the park, about a half mile walk through the forest, which takes you to a viewing point, and then down a steep hill to the Dungeness Spit.  A five mile walk on the spit takes you to a lighthouse on the very end.  While there’s a variety of wildlife that frequent the area, such as harbor seals orca whales, and a huge variety of birds, we didn’t see anything on our walk down to the spit.  We spent a few minutes at the bottom of the hill, but ultimately, everyone had had enough for the day, so we made our way back to the car.  Unfortunately they were so over it that we ended up having to do a lot of carrying.

On the way back, I ran into a small shop that sold Pacific Northwest related shirts and gear, and then into a small Chinese bakery that sold BBQ pork, curry beef, and other varieties of buns, where I got a few for my own dinner.  We were back at the hotel fairly early in the evening, so we hung out and watched TV, and I enjoyed my dinner, a beer, and booked our hotel for the next night in Seattle and double checked our flight home.

We didn’t have any big plans for the day, but unfortunately we’d have to check out from Lake Crescent Lodge and move on to a more economically friendly hotel for the next couple of nights.  We started packing up the room so we were mostly ready to check out, and made our way from our cottage to the Marymere Falls trail, which we took on our visit with family in 2012.  It starts out right by the lodge, goes under Highway 101, and goes through old growth forest, past the Storm King trail (which is a strenuous hike up a small mountain with awesome views of the lake, which we’ll tackle when the girls are older), and alongside Barnes Creek.  The trail is flat until near the end.  After crossing a footbridge, there are man-made wooden stairs that ascent along cliff walls, and up to a couple of viewing points for the waterfall.  That portion is a bit strenuous, but short.  Unfortunately none of the girls were in great moods, and were still getting over colds of their own, so there was a lot of fussing and carrying involved on the 2 mile roundtrip trail.

Once back at the lodge, we packed up the van and headed over to the lobby to check out.  We also got the National Park Passport stamped with a Lake Crescent stamp, and got some pictures in front of the huge fireplace that we love, and in the sunroom off the lobby.  While this was our fourth stay, we’d never ascended the steps in the lobby to check out the small amount of guest rooms on the 2^nd floor.  We explored a few, and found about a dozen guest rooms, along with separate men’s and women’s bathrooms and showers.  We figured we may end up using these on our trips when we retire.  Lastly, we headed back out to the dock to say “goodbye” to the lake, which is always difficult, because we love it so much.  We also got in one last visit with our duck friends before heading out.

We drove east back toward Port Angeles, and Laura spotted a large eagle flying overhead, which at second glance, we determined to be of the bald variety.  It was her first time seeing one in person, so that was really cool.  Unfortunately the girls didn’t get a good look from the back seat of the car.    Everyone was hungry for lunch, and because it’s often easiest just to get the girls food quickly, we stopped at McD’s for them, before parking in downtown PA and having barbecue at a place appropriately called “Barbecue.”  She had a pulled pork sandwich while I had a sausage sandwich with baked beans.  It was all good, but I’d take the beans over the sandwich, as they were delicious!

From there, we decided to check out the Salt Creek Recreation Area, which contains Tongue Point Marine Life Sanctuary, about a 25 minute drive from Port Angeles. Once arriving, we drove through the park, though didn’t see the tide pools that we’d heard about.  The girls saw a playground on the way in, so while disappointed in not finding the tide pools, we took them there to play on the equipment and swing.  The playground was adjacent to a campground, and the campground was on a slope going down toward the Strait of Juan de Fuca, so that all campsites had a nice view.  While the girls played, I walked down toward the water, and found some steps down to an area where we could climb around on some rocks by the ocean.  I went back up to get the girls, had them check it out, and decided to play a few more minutes before searching again for the tide pools.  We found we’d missed the turn to the area of the campground where there was access to several areas of tide pools.  Once finding them, we had a blast climbing around on the rocks, and searching the tide pools for signs of life, of which there were just a few.  We all decided that it was one of our favorite parts of the trip, and that we’d return for sure.

Everyone was a bit sleepy, so we made the drive back into Port Angeles, and checked into our hotel, the Red Lion.  We’d stayed there for several nights on our last trip and enjoyed it.  It’s right by the water and the ferry terminal, which houses US Customs and a port of entry from Canada for ferries that cross over to Victoria, British Columbia.  I’d splurged a few extra dollars to stay on the ground floor of the side of the building that faced the water, as last trip we were in a room that faced the parking lot.   It was nice to have the view, and a place to sit and enjoy the weather and the sights and sounds of the water and the boats passing through.

After lying around for about an hour, we decided to try to get one last adventure in for the day, and much like our last trip, raced up into the mountains to Hurricane Ridge to try to catch the sunset.  It’s about 20 miles, though about a 40 minute drive, as the second half contains a continuous series of tight curves and switchbacks.  Unfortunately, by the time we got up, half the kids were asleep, it was overcast, foggy, and windy, and fairly close to being dark.  Linley was awake and wanted to get out of the car for a few, so I took her up a path a little ways to see what we could see, though went back to the car quickly as it was bitterly windy and chilly.  We were disappointed by our attempt, and made the long, slow drive back down to the hotel.

The girls were all requesting hot dogs for dinner, and I remembered that there was a craft beer bar a couple blocks away that sold basic bar food.  The girls stayed in the room while I made the trek over to the bar.  There was one bartender working, who also served as the cook for the small “kitchen” at the end of the bar, so I had time to sneak in a couple IPAs and conversation with a guy at the bar while I waited, a favorite past time of mine.  With hot dogs for the girls, a quesadilla for me, and nachos for Laura in tow, I trekked back to the room to have dinner.  After a couple beers in the room, and finishing off everyone’s food they didn’t want, I was ready for bed.

We awoke to another beautiful, sunny day, with just a few low hanging clouds, but lots of sunshine.  We took our time getting ready, ate muffins in the room, and went back and forth between the room, the lodge, and the lake, with no real rush to get anywhere, which was nice.  The morning sun was at a perfect angle to get some good pictures from the dock, so we took that opportunity before hitting the road.

After everyone was ready, at about 10am, we headed west along picturesque Highway 101, that goes along the bank of Lake Crescent for several miles.  After about an hour, we made it to the town of Forks, where we stocked up on more food and snacks at the grocery store, and had lunch at Taqueria Santa Ana, a small family run Mexican restaurant.  While I remember being more impressed on the last trip, it certainly helps that they have a salsa bar with many varieties to choose from, which made this salsa fiend happy.  The younger two girls were a bit cranky, so after walking around outside a bit, they cheered up some, came in, and we all ate our food.  From there, we headed back over to the grocery store, which has an attached outfitters store, where we bought a new pair of shoes for the youngest, as the only pair we could find in time to leave for the airport the first day were dressy, and not good for hiking.  Luckily we found a cheap pair, and headed west toward the coast.

While it was sunny in Forks, it got cloudier as we headed west, and by the end of the 30 minute drive to La Push, there were low clouds and lots of fog.  A far cry from the sunny days we had at the coast on our first and third trips there, but much like the weather on our second trip.  Regardless, the girls had a great time playing around on the beach with the sand, rocks, and driftwood.  We spent an hour there, before heading back into Forks, where it was still sunny.  We made one last stop at the grocery store for snacks, and made our way back to Lake Crescent, arriving at about 4pm.

As the sun set around 6pm, which was around 9pm at home, we were fine just hanging out and enjoying the sunshine and the lake, mostly snacking on leftovers form lunch.  We walked to the opposite side of the lodge along the lake, which we’d never done before, and had fun following some ducks around as they swam.  After some time back in the room to goof around and sing silly songs, we headed back over to the lodge for more puzzles, along with beer, cider, and hot chocolate for me, Laura, and the girls respectively.  We headed back out to watch the sunset over the lake, and spent more time by the fire before taking the girls to the room to go to sleep.

I headed back over to the lodge for a few minutes to enjoy the fire, then a little ways down the shore, I spied someone having a fire at the fire pit right by the lake.  Those who know me know that I’m a huge fan of fires, indoors and out, and especially in beautiful places, with the company of both friends, family, and strangers.  I cozied up on a bench and started talking to the other guest who were there, a woman in her early 60s, and her daughter along with her wife who were around my age.  It turns out that the older woman lives in Indianapolis also, and was visiting her daughter who now lives in Portland.  After talking a bit, I returned to the room to find Nala still up, and wanting to go outside.  I took her out to see the stars again, then back over to the fire, where the women who were there loved talking to her and singing Girl Scout songs.

 

With the time change, we were all up fairly early, got ourselves ready for the day, and headed out by 745am.  As we weren’t in a big rush to get over to the peninsula, and we weren’t sure what our timeframe would be at the end of the week, we decided to show the girls a bit of Seattle.  Nala had been in the city once before in 2012, but was only 1 at the time.  We took I-5 up into the city, but unfortunately it was overcast and cloudy, so we couldn’t take in the scenery we love on the way up, and couldn’t see the planes at Boeing Field, which I always enjoy.  We found a parking spot just a couple blocks from Pike Place Market, one of my favorite places in Seattle.  We showed them the vendors that sell various handmade wears, beautiful bouquets of flowers, and my favorite, the many seafood vendors, including Pike Place Fish Market, known for their fish throwing and entertaining banter between the employees.  That early in the morning, the vendors were just setting up, so there wasn’t yet much going on.  We of course had to get pictures at the iconic 550 pound bronze pig at the market entrance.

We were all hungry at this point, and as usual the girls were craving pancakes.  Laura and I wanted to stop at The Crumpet Shop that we enjoyed on our first visit in 2010, but the girls weren’t interested, and it was too crowded for our group anyway.  A quick Yelp search found us a well rated breakfast spot a couple blocks away.  When we walked into Ludi’s, it appeared to be pretty divey, though was pretty full and had good reviews, so good enough for me!  Once being seated, I was very pleasantly surprised to find that along with traditional American breakfast fare, they also served Filipino breakfast food.  My favorite restaurants are those that have something traditional for the girls, but also something outside the box to satisfy my unique cravings.  While Laura had a traditional American breakfast of eggs, hash browns, and toast, and the kids split a full stack of pancakes, I went with the Combo-silog, which included three lumpias (Filipino spring rolls), two longanizas (sweet sausages), and a pork chop, served with garlic fried rice and poached eggs, all topped with a delicious house made hot sauce.

As it was now a bit later in the morning, we headed back over to Pike Place, which was much busier at this point.  The fishmongers were in full swing by now, so we spent some time watching.  The girls were amused by it, and impressed by the giant halibut and large monkfish that appeared to be alive and talk when the employees pulled the tail from under the ice and made it move around.  We walked down the block and made a stop at Beecher’s, famous for their mac and cheese, which we got an 8oz cup of.  The girls were fascinated by the windowed off area of the shop where the cheesemongers made the cheese.  We took our snack over to Waterfront Park, though unfortunately had to listen to a homeless man and woman argue the entire time.  The girls weren’t impressed with the mac and cheese, which is beyond me, but fine, as Laura and I ate almost all of it.

We made our way up the hill at Union Street to 2nd Ave, only a couple blocks away, where our van was parked.  We’d debated taking the ferry across the Puget Sound, but it takes about the same amount of time, and we enjoy the scenery, so we decided to drive.  Laura drove us down I-5 and back up north on the other side of the sound.  In just about an hour and a half, we made it to the picturesque town of Poulsbo, where my friend Jonathan who I know from a beer group on social media owns a store that has a fantastic craft beer selection.  He and I chatted for a bit, sharing a beer, and I picked up some West Coast IPA 4 packs to enjoy during the week, along with a small treat for the girls…Disney princess Pez dispensers.  Linley was a bit stir crazy, so I took her on a quick walk through town, which calmed her down a bit, and we continued the drive with Laura at the helm.

The closer to Port Angeles we got, the more the weather cleared, and was sunny by the time we reached town.  We made a quick stop at Saar’s Super Saver Foods (which was Albertson’s our first trips) for muffins for breakfast the next day and a few snacks, and ordered carryout pizza from Westside Pizza, and made the 25 minute drive to our home (hopefully) for at least one night, Lake Crescent Lodge.  As always, the first glimpse of the lake for the first time on the trip was awesome as always.  While there are usually fall specials at the lodge, and while I checked repeatedly for weeks ahead of our trip, I couldn’t find any room rates around what we usually pay this time of year.  So once we all got out of the car, I headed to the front desk to see if I would have any luck, while the girls stretched their legs and walked around a few minutes. There weren’t any deals to be had, but I decided to splurge on two nights in a Singer Tavern Cottage, just steps from the entrance to the main lodge, and therefore much closer than we’d ever been to the lake and lodge previously.  It was much more than I was wanting to spend, but for two nights in our “happy place,” it was definitely worth it.

It was a perfect, mild, sunny fall day, and the leaves were changing around the lodge.  We spent the afternoon hanging out by the lake, eating our pizza in our room, and walking the Moments in Time trail that’s very nearby and only about a mile long.  We got the obligatory pictures on the dock and inside the large hollowed out tree on the trail.  It was cooling off and getting dark by this point, so we headed inside and cozied up by the fire, one of our favorite things to do there.  The girls worked on a puzzle while I talked to other guests on the couches by the fire.  Everyone was tuckered out pretty early, so after taking Nala out to try to see the stars with some success (though not as much as previous trips), we headed in for bed.

We first went to Olympic National Park in 2010, before having kids, and fell in love.  We returned in 2012 with my mom, Laura’s parents, and her sister, with Nala, who was just over a year old at the time. We returned again in 2014 with Nala and Linley, and had a goal to return in 2016, but flights and weather kept us away.  We’d been craving another trip, so decided that we had to make it happen in 2018.  A week or so out, the weather looked marginal, but still looked worth going.  We wanted to take the new nonstop on Delta, but it left too early on Friday night for Laura to make it from work to the airport in time, and arrived well past the girl’s bedtime in our time zone, and that always made it difficult to get to the rental car and into the hotel. So, we opted to fly out mid-morning on Saturday the 20^th, connecting through Detroit, and getting us into Seattle around mid-evening our time, so very doable for the girls.

There were plenty of seats on the Delta Connection flight to Detroit, so we got a row of four across to ourselves, along with a window seat one row up, with no one in the aisle.  I sat solo with Laura and Linley behind me, with Nala and Lilah across the aisle.  The flight was uneventful, and we had just enough time in Detroit before boarding to get the girls Happy Meals at McDonald’s.  Laura and I debated food, but didn’t see anything that would be fast enough near our gate before boarding, so opted to grab food onboard.

It was a fairly full Boeing 767 to Seattle.  It was the girl’s first time on a wide-body plane, and I told them that this was the same type of plane that flies from Indy to Paris that I took in the spring. We had three middle seats in the first row behind the bulkhead behind Economy Comfort, plus two seats in the middle row behind that.  So with three kids, it was nice to have aisle access on both sides.  I sat with the two older girls, with Laura and Lilah one row back.  The flight was again uneventful, with the girls mostly playing games and watching movies on the in-flight entertainment system.  Unfortunately I was on the tail end of a bad sinus infection and had been on an antibiotic for a couple days, so had really bad earaches on the descent, and my hearing was reduced from it for a couple days.

Once getting off the plane, we didn’t have to wait at all for our bags, and easily took the shuttle to the rental car facility, and while we had a wait for a little bit, got great service with obtaining our mini-van from Enterprise.  Everyone was a bit tired, and we debated wanting to go to a restaurant with the mood a couple girls were in, so opted to grab Qdoba as it’d be quick and easy (yes, I know, not my first choice to eat at a chain when out of town, but sometimes it just makes sense).  Before that we made a quick stop at a Safeway grocery store for medicine for us and for peanut butter, jelly, and bread for the girls to have for dinner.  While Laura grabbed herself and I food at Qdoba, I booked a reasonably price room via Hotwire at the Courtyard by Marriott Sea-Tac Area a few minutes away in Tukwila.  After some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the younger girls, tortilla soup and chips and guac for me, and a burrito for Laura and Nala, we were all ready for a good night’s sleep.

With Labor Day weekend looming and nothing major going on at home, I started getting the itch to take a short trip.  While there weren’t a lot of options as far as open flights, I found that getting to Philadelphia, where Laura and I lived for a time after college, was wide open.  We went back and forth between a day trip and spending the night, though after getting up at 530am on Sunday with not quite enough sleep, we decided we’d book a hotel once we landed.

We had no problem getting seats on a direct flight, and had a full row of 4 seats to ourselves, along with two seats in front of that row.  The middle girl wanted to sit next to me, so we hung out and looked out the window, and colored the whole way there.  It was a flight operated by the airline I work for, and we had some awesome flight attendants who hooked the girls up with some extra snacks, which they were very appreciative of.

The flight was uneventful and landed in PHL half an hour early.  We made our way to the Regional Rail stop on Terminal A, and only waited a few minutes for the train to Center City.  On the train, I booked a hotel on Hotwire for under $80 for the night, which is always nice.  Upon reaching Suburban Station and exchanging our train ticket for a Family Independence Pass (good for all buses and subways for a day), we went up the elevator to street level right by City Hall, and walked along Benjamin Franklin Parkway to our hotel, the Philadelphia 201, formerly a Sheraton, and owned by Starwood.  It was a typical large, 4 star city hotel, and we had no complaints.  While they weren’t able to check us in yet as it was just past 10am, we dropped off a couple of bags, got some lengthy bathroom breaks in, I changed into shorts, and we set of around 11 to find some lunch.

We had trouble figuring out a place that everyone would be happy with, and everyone was getting hangry, so we decided to walk a few blocks to Reading Terminal Market, one of the country’s largest and oldest public markets.  It contains dozens of shops and stalls, many of them restaurants, but also produce stands, cheesemongers, fishmongers, and more.  It was very crowded, and difficult to move around, so we found a quiet table to sit down and check out Yelp for a food stall where everyone could find something they liked.  I found a place called Molly Malloy’s, a sit-down gastropub with both breakfast and lunch.  Luckily, there was no wait, and we were seated immediately.  The girls split a plate of three large pancakes, Laura got a BBQ pork sandwich, and I had a cheddar and jalapeno omelet, served with potatoes and scrapple, a Pennsylvania specialty.  The girls all did great eating their food, and were slightly less cranky after this.

Just a block away at Market Street and 11^th was the CVS Pharmacy where Laura worked during our time there, so we stopped by to show the girls.  We then headed out to Market Street and took a bus a few blocks away to the Liberty Bell.  There was a bit of a line, it was pretty hot and sunny, and not everyone was in a great mood, so we decided to forgo waiting in line.  However, we did see the bell through a window on the side of the building.  We crossed the street to Independence Hall, though tickets had sold out for the day.  We did wait in a short line to go through security so we could hang out for a few minutes in the shaded area on the south side of the building.  We told the girls a bit about the building, the Declaration of Independence, the Founding Fathers, and the Constitution.  They’re a bit young to care too much as this point, but I’m sure we’ll be back.

The majority of the girls were over pretty much everything at this point, so I looked on Google Maps for a nearby playground, and found that Three Bears Park was a few blocks away in Society Hill.  I really enjoy this area of Philly, as there are so many historic sites, and the row houses are beautiful.  We played on the playground for a bit, and it was all great until another little girl, about 4, came up to the middle girl and pushed her off a swing she was on.  Welcome to the east coast, young one.  We stayed a bit after that to let her swing and calm down a bit.  We were all getting pretty hot, so decided to head back to the hotel, though I decided to take a bus over to Rittenhouse Square first, enticing the girls by telling them that there are usually lots of dogs and street performers there.  On the way, the oldest girl’s nose started bleeding slightly, just enough to get it on her hand and have her holding her head back.  There were only a couple of men on the bus, but I asked them if they may happen to have Kleenex or paper towels.  They both answered in the negative, but a minute later one of them took a new bag of paper towels out of his bag and handed some to me.  A few minutes later, and elderly woman got on the bus, saw that we were trying to clean her up, and gave us a small pouch of wet wipes.  Plenty of helpful people on the bus!

We lucked out when we got to Rittenhouse Square, as there was a group of about 6-8 people swing dancing to old standards in the park, and plenty of dogs as promised.  We let them dip their feet in a nearby fountain to cool off, which they loved.  While we didn’t live in Philly for long, I was really taken by this park and enjoyed visiting it once in a while, and it was nice to show it to the kids.  We remembered that on a trip here in 2009 with a friend, we found a small gelato shop nearby.  We stopped in there, where the girls split some blueberry and chocolate chip gelato, before taking the long, hot walk back to the hotel.

Two out of three girls fell asleep in the stroller on the way back, though one woke up as soon as we got to the hotel.  Laura and I both got showers after plenty of walking in almost 90 degree weather, and most of us got naps in.  We ended up being there resting up for almost 3 hours.  Around 6:30, we decided to set out for dinner.  Just prior to leaving, we determined that the youngest girl had lost a shoe somewhere in the streets while she slept in the stroller, as it was nowhere to be found in the room.  After a quick search online, I found that there were very few stores that sold kids shoes still open, so we high-tailed it to a Gap Kids, and got there 5 minutes before closing.  We lucked out and found a pair that worked, and lucked out even more when they rang up half-price.

With another crisis averted, we headed to the Walnut-Locust stop on the Broad Street subway, took the elevator down, and hopped the train a few stops up to Fairmount, a stop near our old apartment that I used to use frequently.  While the first stop had an elevator, the second didn’t, though the stroller was easy to get up the stairs when empty.  It made us realize how difficult living in a city can be if one is handicapped or relies on a stroller.  Right at the top of the stairs was Jimmy G’s Steaks, where Laura and I each got a cheesesteak (mine with onions, hers without), and hot dogs and fries for the girls.  We sat at their outdoor patio, where the girls loved seeing two little mice who were running around in a raised flowerbed by the picnic tables.

After dinner, we headed east on Fairmount Ave to see our old apartment.  While it was almost dark by then, we were able to get a picture of Laura and the oldest on the steps, much like a picture we got of her when we moved in back in 2006.  We then headed further down to see Eastern State Penitentiary, a very old and abandoned prison, which now serves as a museum, and has a fantastic “haunted house” in October.  Everyone was again over walking around by this point, so we headed back to the hotel, with a quick stop at a small beer store for a couple of cans for me to enjoy.  After another shower for me, and after watching a bit of the movie Frozen, we were all asleep fairly quickly.

While I slept through it, I learned in the morning that the middle girl got sick overnight, though was fine the rest of the day.  I woke up first, along with the oldest, so we snuck out to search for morning treats and ibuprofen for mom and dad.  After a couple of failed attempts to find small containers of Lucky Charms at CVS stores, we decided to head to Dunkin Donuts to pick up a half dozen donuts.  After yet again another shower after walking in the heat again, we got packed up, took the train back to the airport, and were through security and at our gate in minutes.  We again got a full row of four to ourselves plus a seat one row up on another one of my company’s planes, and were on the ground by early afternoon, and home in time to head to the neighborhood pool one last time before it closed for the season.

Between the heat, one getting pushed off a swing, another having a nosebleed, the third losing a shoe, and general crankiness off and on from all the offspring, this wasn’t a shining moment in family trips.  But, they can’t all be perfect, and it was nice to get back to our old stomping grounds.  We look forward to taking them back in a few years when strollers aren’t needed, and they’re a bit more interested in taking in the sights and learning about our nation’s history.