Sunday laziness and Monday hiking

I arrived in Langley, British Columbia late Saturday evening.  It was warm here with nice, sunny weather the next couple of days.  Sunday I was able to see some nephews, nieces, great nephews, great nieces and well my brother and sister-in-law.  There was a lot of sitting around on Sunday, at least for the adults, well except for some of the parents of the young'uns.

Lots of pool fun!

Sitting and chatting

Monday was a day of exercise.  In the late morning, Anne and I went to Derby Reach Regional Park to walk the Houston Trail not far from their house.  It's a 3.3 km walk with some beautiful views, mostly shade. 

See my reflection in the sign?

It was wooded the whole 3.3 km.

Looking up through the trees.

Marshy deadwood area.

 In the evening I met up with Cindy in Abbotsford.  We went out to White Spot and afterwards we decided to walk around Mill Lake which is another 2.3 km walk.  It was a beautiful evening.  We completed the loop and sat down at a bench to chat for a while. 

Facing west.

Another beautiful sunset by Mill Lake.

Who knows what Tuesday and the rest of the week brings?  I know there are some plans set and I am looking forward to visiting and doing some sightseeing.  This is a very beautiful part of the world.  I love the mountains and am in awe every time they come to view.  The weather has been nice and sunny as well, making things look very beautiful. 
Thank you for following this blog.  I hope you are enjoying my summer adventures, even though I'm not in Japan.

Maryland and beyond!

I have been blessed with very good travels this summer.  I have been able to cross North America and visit with many friends.  Here is a little hodge podge of some of what I was doing.  I am very grateful to the Bratt's for letting me stay at their place.  The second week I was in Maryland, they went on vacation and I took care of Smoky and Tigger.  Smoky was a little more, ok, a lot more, camera shy, and Tigger wasn't, so here are two pictures of Tigger.

Let me introduce you to Tigger.

She became quite comfortable with me. 

I drove on the beltway a couple of times.  It wasn't long and I felt quite comfortable driving. 

I know, what am I doing taking a picture and driving on the beltway at the same time!  See how comfortable I got driving.  :) 

I even managed to get to the driving range and do a 1/2 bucket of golf balls with Jean VanDyke. 

Check out the form!

On August 2nd I flew from Baltimore to Vancouver, BC. 

Waiting for my plane in Baltimore.

Taking off from Atlanta

Storm cloud

Flight data as we were ascending

Some pretty views.

Saw a Five Guys as soon as I came off the plane in Atlanta.  Of course I had to have a burger.  :)

The sunset in Portland, Oregon. (Taken through the glass)

I am on the last stint for my summer travels.  I'm grateful for the many prayers raise for safe travels and am grateful that God has blessed me with many opportunities to visit with good people to visit. 

The Mall in Washington, DC

Holly S. was able to meet me on The Mall in Washington, DC.  Since moving to Japan, I have realized that I do miss the ability to hop on the Metro and head down to see a museum or two in DC.  Monday, I took the opportunity to spend some time with Holly as well as visit some of the places I haven't seen for a while.  One of the places I had not been to before was the Freer Gallery of Art. This gallery has Asian art, Chinese, Korean, Middle East, Thailand and Japanese.  It's interesting to see Japanese art, that isn't in Japan. 

After visiting the Freer Gallery of Art, we walked past the Floral Library, which I never knew about!  Pretty interesting.   

Apparently it was a Tulip Library with a variety of tulips planted.  Thought it was interesting to have different flowers planted in this little area. 

Here are the multiple flowers in this library.

We continued along the Tidal Basin.  I could see the Thomas Jefferson memorial across the basin. 

There are cherry trees, or sakura, planted.  Some of these trees were a gift from Japan. 

Looks like Japanese lantern

As we walked along the Tidal Basin, we walked past the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.  I was there before, but it was opening day and very busy. 

"Out of the Mountain of Despair a Stone of Hope"

We continued along our walk to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial.  I enjoy this memorial because it's quite different from the others.  It is very wheelchair friendly, which would make sense since he was in a wheelchair for part of his life.  There are a few waterfalls which I think make it a peaceful place, which is ironic as he was president during World War II. 

This was taken across the basin toward the Martin Luther King Jr. 

See the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial?

Here is Washington, DC across the basin. 

The Washington Monument

We walked to the Korean Memorial.   

 We wandered past the reflecting pool and the Lincoln Memorial. 

Reflecting Pool

Lincoln Memorial

 The Vietnam Memorial tends to be hidden a bit, but it is interesting especially when you think of all the names on those walls. 

Vietnam Memorial

 It was on to the World War II Memorial.

Atlantic Side

Facing the Pacific side.  Love the fountains. 

Pacific side

We went to have some lunch at the Food Court in the Ronald Reagan Building and the International Trade Center.  I had a burrito from California Tortilla, YUM!  After lunch we went to the National Museum of American History.  Last time i was here it was closed for renovations.  I wanted to see what was new. 

The National Museum of American History entrance, The Mall side.

Didn't have a chance to really read what this was all about, but it had a lot of different vehicles.

Julia Child's Kitchen

Julia Child's Kitchen

1964 Ford Mustang

I did not get through the whole American History Museum and time was running short for me, but It looks like there was a lot more there and I barely scratched the surface. 
I am grateful that I was able to spend some tourist time in Washington, DC and spend time with friends!