July - part 1

 July was a pretty busy month activity and travel wise, so I'm going to break it up into two parts.

The month kicked off with Laura obtaining her learners permit. She was eligible to apply as of 17 June (15y 6m) but we had a couple of false starts with the paperwork the Department of Motor Vehicles required. The first time we didn't have sufficient evidence of our residence. The second time we didn't have sufficient evidence that Laura could apply for the learners permit given the type of visa we're travelling on (they probably could have told us that the first visit, but anyway...!). By the third visit Laura was resigned to us never being able to satisfy their requirements, so she was surprised when the clerk told her to smile for her permit photo before she had even taken the test! Laura had studied hard and passed, so she is now going for drives around the streets with Russ and will also participate in driver education at school. I have to say, learning to drive here in Arlington is vastly different from learning in Woomera as I did, where we didn't even have a roundabout or traffic light in the town! Laura is doing really well.

Proud of you Laura!

Fun fact: when Laura received her learners permit in the mail (rather than the temporary one she's pictured with above) it was printed in portrait/vertical layout. Licences aren't printed in the typical landscape/horizontal layout like we have in Australia until the holder is over 21 (legal drinking age here). Clever! 

We celebrated the 4th of July at a concert on the lawns of The Capitol. When we first arrived it was unclear if the concert would proceed as it was raining so we decided to have an early dinner and found a pizza restaurant in downtown DC, called 90 Second Pizza. The name may have been misleading, but the pizza was great!

A bit wet! Deserted streets

Even more deserted streets

90 Second Pizza - delicious

Once we finished dinner we walked back to The Capitol and discovered that yes, the concert was going ahead, and also that there was a huge line of people ahead waiting to get into the concert area. It took about an hour to get through security, which included metal detectors and bag inspections. 

The concert was fun, filled with B-grade celebrities including Smokey Robinson (who even knew he was still alive!), Sheila E, Fantasia, Sister Sledge and Loren Alfred. Apparently it is televised nation-wide.

The Capitol behind us

Ben watching the concert

Fireworks at the end

We took the Metro home after the concert and it was packed. Standing room only and getting out was challenging, there were no niceties, it was purely push, push, push.

I haven't mentioned the Metro trail system yet, but it is fantastic. We use it all the time. It is very efficient and super cheap (usually between $2.50 - $3.00 per trip).

We live about 700 metres from the Clarendon or Court House stops (highlighted), depending on which direction we want to travel. The trains are clean and very well air conditioned, which has been an absolute blessing during this hot weather. You do from time to time see some interesting characters, but none yet that have caused us any issues or concerns. Recently there was a young fella blasting music very loudly from a speaker. Choice of music was inoffensive, just doof-doof and loud. We did find it funny though that every couple of songs the Spotify ads would play!

We weekend following 4th of July we decided to take a road trip to the beach (proper beach this time, not a bay). The closest to us is a place called Ocean City, which is kind of like the Gold Coast, but without the high rises.

We went over the most insane bridge at Annapolis, called Chesapeake Bay Bridge. The below image doesn't do it justice, but it was incredibly high and busy and is approximately 4.3 miles long. 

The trip was about 150 miles (240 km) but took almost four hours to get to Ocean City as there is a terrible bottleneck on approach. The picture of the city above shows the only bridge over to the peninsula.

 

We had accommodation right on the beach and enjoyed the ocean views.

Our home for the night

View from our room

Hello Atlantic Ocean! Looking south.

Looking north.

Advertising barge that cruised along the beach.

We had a lovely dinner at a bar/restaurant called Ocean 13 and then saw the biggest "truck" on our way back to the hotel!

Pre dinner drinks.

Bonnet is almost as tall as me!

Fog rolling in after dark. Beach antics with Laura.

The return trip took even longer than the day before - over five hours due to a massive delay caused by the aforementioned Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Fortunately we discovered one of those designer brand outlet centres along the way so managed to break up the trip with some retail therapy.

The reason we posted to the US was because Russ was selected to attend the National War College, which is in Washington DC. War College focuses on National Security, and developing strategies that use all elements of National Power  to solve contemporary problems that affect a nation's security and prosperity. In addition to this he also attends an American Studies program which is aimed at providing an understanding of what and who America is, and why they might think and act in a particularly way in a given circumstance. The American studies program involves a number of field study trips across America throughout the year to gain a first hand experience of the wider US. 

The first trip of the program was to Mount Vernon, Virginia - the home of George Washington - on July 9. It was a very hot day, with temps in the low 40's and proving to be a bit uncomfortable for an outdoor excursion!! Mountt Vernon is set on the banks of the Potomac River, and is absolutely beautiful. It was an incredible experience to be able to walk through General Washington's house, and see all this history.

George Washington's home

George Washington's bedroom

We celebrated Russ' birthday on the 11th of July with dinner at a bar and grill nearby (walking distance from our house) and cake at home before heading to bed early as Russ had to be at college at 4am the next morning ahead of his trip to Montana.

The American Studies field trip was to Montana was over the period 12-18 Jul. The purpose of that study was to examine the issues and impacts associated with opening up the far west of the US post independence, as well as understanding the people and the issues they face in a sparsely populated state in the west. Russ got to visit some of the iconic  regions such as Glacier Mountain and Flathead Lake. They also went to the Blackfeet Indian reservation at Browning to observe a Pow Wow. A highlight of their time in Kalispell was a homestay with some locals.

Glacier National Park

Observing the Pow Wow

Our home stay

Following their stay in Kalispell they moved down to Missoula, a university town, where they got to speak with some local business and farmers to get a perspective on issues they face.  After Missoula Russ' group moved down to Helena where they meet with local and state government representatives to discuss issues affecting the governance of Montana, and how local/regional governance interacts with state/national governance.

Looking out over Missoula 

Missoula

Lunch with community leaders, and members of the National guard in Helena.

Smoke Jumpers (google them)

While Russ was away the kids and I visited a couple more Smithsonian Institution museums: the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum https://www.ushmm.org/ and the National Museum of African American History and Culture https://nmaahc.si.edu/ . Both were incredibly interesting in their own way.

We also got the kids enrolled for school, which involved a mountain of paperwork and also required a medical checkup signed off by a paediatrician. 

After picking Russ up following his trip to Montana from the airport at late o'clock on the Thursday, we were excited to be heading to New York the next day - stay tuned for the next instalment.

What we've learned:

Apparently you can teach an old dog new tricks! Whilst I was nervous at first, I am now very comfortable driving around and am slowly finding my way to various places without the assistance of Apple Maps.