Vacation to Maryland and Washington DC

Brian and I are just home from a wonderful trip to visit his brother, Bruce, in southern Maryland. We not only spent some wonderful time at Bruce's home, we also stayed two nights, including our anniversary, in Washington. We were at a wonderful B & B, the Swann House, near Dupont Circle:

We spent one day on the Mall, admiring the capital and visiting several Smithsonian museums, and spent the evening at a Nationals' game.

The Mary Livingston Ripley Garden (part of the Smithsonian) was a beautifully cool oasis on a terribly hot and humid day:

Brian ran into President Jefferson on the concourse of the Nationals' stadium:

On our anniversary we visited the Phillips Collection, which happened to be having a mixer. We enjoyed a pre-dinner cocktail while admiring the paintings by Kadinsky, Stella, Kley and Rothko (among many others). And followed it with dinner at a Japanese restaurant. It was a heavenly evening!

We drove through Virginia, visiting Spottsylvania Courthouse, The Wilderness and Fredricksburg battlefields, on our way back to Bruce's house. Brian and I of course had to have our picture taken by a cannon at Spottsylvania:

The visit to Spottsylvania brought back memories for Brian and I, who had visited the battlefield during a geology field trip in college. Thirty-four years ago or so.

Back home, Bruce, who loves Japanese food and culture, made onigiri (rice balls). Yum!

While in Maryland, we visited Annamarie Garden (near Solomons Island):

And Sotterley Plantation in Hollywood:

It was a shock to come back to the unrelenting heat of North Texas. Our garden is getting a little brown, and my potato plants died while we were gone. But it's still good to be home!