Espionage and Starbucks

Future daughter-in-law :) Courtney, treated the family to a pre-arranged 'espionage' experience at the Spy Museum - one of the newest must-see attractions of the Smithsonian.

For a fee, you receive an 'assignment' from Intelligence Headquarters and with a remote device/earbuds in place you venture outdoors for a mission that ultimately acquaints you with some of the famous spots in the downtown core.

Again, under a canopy of clear crisp and the bluest of skies, we had a remarkably unique, fun but frosty hour tour introducing us to places of note such as the Ford Museum - and the theatre box where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in April of 1865.

For those who really couldn't handle the cold, a Starbucks on every corner became the covert rendezvous for ongoing reconnaissance.

Those of us who finished the secret agent mission were 'graded'; I was advised rather plainly NOT to quit my day job. LOL.

A lovely touristy spot in "uptown" Georgetown.

Catherine and her beau, Aaron pictured below.

Above: The man of the hour (the one of my life) who also managed to stick it out till the very end...dependable, reliable and much too guileless for the makings of a solid spy. I am glad. :)

Joel and Courtney above and siblings Joel and Sarah below.

The Unspectacular Whitehouse

The remarkable, affable and way more than capable chauffeur/tour guide, David Hinton is a native of Washington D.C. He knows his way around and then some. Were it not for David, we would have never 'stumbled' upon the National Cathedral on our own - tucked away as it is, in the higher elevations of the city outskirt. He was most surely a key ingredient to the success of our Family Fest and would be our number one recommendation to anyone wanting to tour the city.

Despite the fact that there were twelve of us in the van bantering back and forth about where to go and what to see - David patiently assessed the most sensible route and then somehow managed to accommodate every wish as well.

He also wisely offered his own recommendations, saving us much time and energy.

What more can I say? He made it all FUN minus frustration. Glorious.

It was a frosty day as you can tell with the backdrop of a clear, crisp blue sky.

I think we were all a little surprised to see the Whitehouse in such a public, treeless zone.

How'd you like to look out your front window only to observe an endless cycle of political activists setting up their particular shrine of disgruntlement?

I will never complain about the lack of privacy in our yard ever again.

Cops on foot and bike patrol. Security was otherwise discreet and unnoticeable.

So sayeth one who is admittedly unobservant.

Compared to the National Library of Congress and the National Cathedral, the Whitehouse just paled and seemed only austere and imposing.