Adventures in Baltimore

Sam and I have been in Baltimore, MD for the last couple of days.  It is an older city and it has been something new to see.  We have walked down to the harbor a couple of times and will probably go back down this evening for dinner.  Sam has had classes for his PE license and so while he has been in class, I have been doing homework for my Pathways program.  So I haven't been out shopping too much, but that is not why we are here either.

On Tuesday we went down to Washington DC and were able to see several of the monuments there.  We rode bikes around them and enjoyed them.  My favorite was the Lincoln Memorial.  I got chills while there.  He was such an incredible man and did so much good for our country.  He was truly a man that was inspired by God.  It was hard to get pictures without people in them.  This was a very popular monument.

This was a picture we got of the White House.  It was much smaller than I thought it would be.  I had only ever seen it in movies and pictures, so I wasn't ready for the size of it.  But it is still a pretty building.

We got bikes before we went to the Washington Memorial and it made the day so much better.  It was a few miles in between monuments, so the walk was long.  It was also much hotter than I had expected and I was sweating like a dog, so the bikes were wonderful.

This was the Capital Building.  It was undergoing renovation but is was really beautiful.  The architecture in the city was so cool to see.  Such talented men did this work and it was so fun to see.

At the capital we walked around it to the other side to head towards the other monuments when I saw a Capital Police Officer.  I wanted to ask him about the Palm trees that were on the outside in pots.  I didn't know if it stayed warm enough for them to keep them out.  He told us no that they would be moving them sometime this month.  As we were chatting, he asked if we were from Minnesota.  I told him, No that we were from Utah.  He then asked the million dollar question, "are you mormons?"  I told him "absolutely".  He smiled and said he liked hanging with mormons that they were great people.  He then told us how his family had pretty much disowned him because he was now hanging with mormons.  He had been raised Jehovah's Witness.  So he changed his name from Keith Atkinson to Big Dqqky (pronounced Dookie).  He was such a happy man.  He told us he hadn't joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints yet because he was having a hard time giving up his Dunkin' Donuts coffee.  I believe that at some point he will become a member.  He was a good man and we were happy that we had stopped and met him.  I took a picture of him and Sam together.

We have had a wonderful trip so far.  I can't wait to see what new things we see in the next few days as we go other places now that Sam is out of classes.