Toddler Fun in Washington, D.C.

Kaitlyn and I joined her daddy on a trip to the Washington, D.C. area and tried to explore it from a toddler's perspective. This blog will share more photos than stories, but it was a fun adventure for us to take. D.C. is a great city for people of all ages!

A few quick notes on traveling in the DC metro area...

• The Smithsonian museums and monuments are amazing for people of all ages and they are FREE. Check it out: http://www.si.edu/.
• All the monuments in the national mall are amazing. They are beautiful at night too.
• Since 2001, rules have changed regarding access to the White House and the Capitol Building for security purposes, so check on these prior to your visit: http://www.whitehouse.gov/ or http://www.aoc.gov/cvc/index.cfm.
• The National Cathedral (gorgeous architecture) and National Zoo are great places to visit and located close to each other - http://nationalzoo.si.edu/ and http://www.nationalcathedral.org/visit/.
• The Kennedy Center -http://www.kennedy-center.org/, is on the river and offers a variety of theatre productions - probably better for families with older children.
• Old town Alexandria is fun to walk around. If you like art - check out the torpedo factory, otherwise you can shop and find plenty of fun places to eat. Georgetown is also a great place to walk around - very upscale though.
• The metro is safe, clean, easy to use and highly recommended for getting around town instead of dealing with traffic - http://www.wmata.com/. Cabs are also available.
• Enjoy the culinary adventures - you can find any and all types of food in the DC metro area. If you are downtown, the Longworth Building and the Ronald Regan Building have food courts for a quick affordable lunch. These are just two that come to mind right now, but there are plenty more.
• Despite my familiarity with DC, this was my first visit with a toddler, so I used this web site to assist in identifying kid friendly activities: http://family.go.com/travel/vacations/district-of-columbia/washington/best-washington-dc-vacation-for-preschoolers-282112/?non-default=true
• Here is the list of places that I started with for Kaitlyn and I to visit - we didn't have time to visit them all, but it may help someone else start planning - National Zoo, Air & Space Museum (downtown and Dulles airport area), Museum of Natural History, National Aquarium, U.S. Botanic Garden, International Spy Museum, Woodmont Park (Arlington, VA), Discovery Creek Children's Museum, National Children's Museum (under construction until 2012), D.C. Duck Tours.

Since daddy had only one day to tour DC with us, we headed out towards Dulles airport to the National Air & Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center - http://www.nasm.si.edu/UdvarHazy/, which is well worth the trip. It houses an amazing number of planes, the shuttle Enterprise, etc. In the past, we've been told that you can take a shuttle from the downtown Air & Space museum location to this Dulles location.

This is an interactive computer that allows individuals to see inside the cockpit of the plane. Kaitlyn enjoyed this feature with daddy's help.
The shuttle Enterprise - amazing to view a shuttle in person.
The historic Enola Gay is here, but unfortunately, it is to high to see inside of it.
Kaitlyn having a good time at the Air & Space. After visiting the museum, we met friends for lunch in Leesburg, VA and went to a great little pizza place and ate outdoors. While we didn't get to walk around, Leesburg appears to have a charming downtown area.
Kaitlyn's first metro ride with mommy. This photo doesn't capture her enthusiasm - most of the ride, she was glued to the window looking outside or giving shy smiles to people on the train. It was a fascinating experience for her as we used the metro every day we were in DC.
A fountain in the park close to the National Archives building and part of the Sculpture garden, which Kaitlyn enjoyed because she could walk around and see the interesting sculptures.

Waiting for the metro to go on another adventure...
A visit to the National Aquarium - http://www.nationalaquarium.com/.
As we walked into the aquarium, Kaitlyn was welcomed by this little alligator. She didn't know what to think about it. The aquarium is small and will probably take less than an hour to visit, but it has some fun fish, sea horses and other sea animals for kids to see.

Do not expect the Shedd aquarium on this visit as it is in the basement of the Commerce Building.

The aquarium is across the street from the Ronald Regan building, so Kaitlyn and I stopped for ice cream afterwards.
After ice cream, we walked to the White House and could see some of the monuments in the distance.
"Let me in!"
Our trip to the National Zoo started a new day and was lots of fun. If you are traveling with kids, we highly recommend visiting the zoo. It is metro accessible too.
Kaitlyn looking at the animals.

It's time to meet the pandas...We got lucky when we visited the pandas as they were wrestling and playing with each other. It was great to hear all the chatter, screams and giggles from the kids watching the pandas.

Kaitlyn wanted to take this panda home. We found a little stuffed one instead.

The elephants in the distance.

A fun, red colored monkey. It was feeding time, so he turned his back to us to eat.
We saw gorillas hanging out.
Kaitlyn was exhausted after seeing all the animals and walking around the zoo.
Still tired from a long, fun day!

These photos are from our visit to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History- http://www.amnh.org/. They had a live display of soil insects, which Kaitlyn enjoyed because they squirmed, but mommy - not so much.

Kaitlyn is trying to decide which exhibits to visit at the Natural History Museum.
We had a great time in DC and were exhausted at the end of the trip. There are so many things for families, kids and adults to do that you won't have time to do it all.

Hope you enjoyed the photos and the few tips that I offered about our adventure.

Quick Wine Novice Tip...

Learning to Read a Label for U.S.A. Wines

These were great tips we learned in a wine class we took in Boston in 2002

When I purchase a bottle of wine, I look at a few things - name, appellation/region, grape varietal and vintage date (year) if I plan to buy a bottle from a U.S.A. winery/vineyard. While I do not always recognize the winery name, knowing the major appellations and varietals helps me determine if it is a wine I want to try. For example, I tend to prefer Napa Valley Cabernets, Napa Valley and Sonoma County Chardonnays, Russian River and Oregon state Pinot Noirs, and Dry Creek Valley Zinfandels.

Here's what I learned over the years, mainly through a wine class in Boston. This is not the sophisticated description that a wine educator or expert might provide, but hopefully it helps you when you're shopping in the local grocery store or wine market.

• Vineyard/Winery Name - tells you who makes the wine. As you purchase wine and chat with others who enjoy wine, you'll start to learn names of wineries/vineyards, which may help you make selections in the future.


• Grape Varietal (Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, etc.) - in order to have the grape varietal name on the label, the wine must be made from at least 75% of that varietal grape. So, if your wine label reads - Merlot, a minimum of 75% of the grapes used to make the wine were merlot. Many red varietals use other red grapes (cabernet franc for example) to blend with the primary grape and enhance the flavor of the wine. However, it is possible that the wine is 100% of the varietal listed - see if the label on the back of the bottle shares any information on the wine.


• Appellation (growing regions) - in order to indicate that a wine is 'Napa Valley,' 'Russian River Valley, 'Mendicino County,' etc., 85% of the grapes must come from the designated appellation area. If the bottle does not list a county, the grapes were probably sourced from multiple growing regions. If the bottle reads California, Oregon, or any state, it just means the 100% of the grapes came from that state - anywhere in that state.


• Estate - in order to call a wine an 'estate' wine, 95% of the grapes must be from the estate vineyards, not grapes sourced from multiple appellations like Carneros, Oakville, etc.


• Vintage Date - when you see the year on the wine bottle, this tells the consumer the year the grapes were harvested. If you do not see a year on the bottle, the producer probably used grapes from more than one vintage.


• In the U.S., reserve is not a regulated term, so when you see a U.S.A. wine labeled reserve, the winery made the distinction and it does not always mean that the 'reserve' wine will be better than a non-reserve wine from a different winery.

If you plan on purchasing a very nice bottle of wine, but do not know as much as you would like to know about wine, I strongly encourage you to ask the wine buyer at the store for some suggestions and to tell you of recommended wineries and strong vintages as some years are better than others in all wine regions throughout the world.

Never be afraid to ask questions or for recommendations, I still do and learn something new almost every time. If anyone would like to correct or add information, please feel free make a comment.

California Wine Country - Day 4

More Fun in Napa Valley...

On Sunday, we spent our last day of wine tasting and touring off of the Silverado Trail and visited six wineries/vineyards. We started out the day expecting to visit three or four, but after receiving a couple of recommendations, we could not resist making two extra stops as we were in search of the perfect Napa Cabernet for Dave. While we had several Chardonnays on Saturday for me, Sunday was the day for big, bold Napa Cabernets for Dave.

Our first stop bright and early was at Chimney Rock, a red house - http://www.chimneyrock.com/.

Chimney Rock's wine tasting facility is quite nice as you can see by the photographs. Since this was our first stop of the day, we split the regular tasting, which included the Cabernet, Elevage, Rose of Cabernet Franc and Fume Blanc. The wines were very nice, but in hindsight, we wish we would have done the vertical/reserve tasting to taste more of their Cabs. We heard some folks next to us speaking highly about the reserve tasting.

It's a lovely facility and worth a stop if you are on the Silverado Trail. We recommend partaking in the reserve tasting to really get a taste of Chimney Rocks red selection.
Our second stop was at Robert Sinskey - http://www.robertsinskey.com/.

We enjoyed the tasting at Robert Sinskey because they offered a great red tasting of Pinot Noir (x2), Cabernet Sauvignon and Marcien (proprietary blend) along with small hors 'de oeuvres to accompany each wine. Towards the rear of the tasting room, visitors can see the chef preparing food of which some comes right from the garden on the property.

The Food Pairings included:

• Gougeres with the Los Carneros, Napa Valley 2006 Pinot Noir
• RSV Tomato & Goat Cheese Tartlet with Four Vineyards, Los Carneros, Napa Valley 2005 Pinot Noir
• Gouda with Quince Jam with the Vandal Vineyard, Los Carneros, Napa Valley 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon
• Veal Meatballs with the proprietary red, Los Carneros, Napa Valley 2005 Marcien
• Olives & Almonds roasted in olive oil, rosemary and sage

The owners also provide recipes to pair with the Sinskey wines, which is fun for those of us who enjoy food and wine. I recommend the Pinot Noir from Sinskey - thought it was some of the best we tasted on the trip.

Our third stop (a recommendation from the Sinskey staff for a bold Cab) involved us taking a quick jaunt off of the Silverado Trail to Goosecross Cellars - http://www.goosecross.com/. While I do not have any photos, we definitely recommend making a stop here. Goosecross makes approximately 10,000 cases of wine per year and only sells them to wine club members or to winery visitors. They offered a nice array of wines - viognier, chardonnay, shiraz, merlot, and cabernet (x2). The amazing thing to Dave and I was that we enjoyed each wine and didn't find that we preferred 'just the whites' or 'just the reds.' The overall taste of the Goosecross portfolio in the tasting room impressed us enough that we joined their wine club. We can't wait for our first shipment!

Also, if you visit the Goosecross web site, they offer recipe ideas and share information about tours, tastings and classes held at the facility. Again, we RECOMMEND stopping here if you are in Napa. This was Dave's favorite winery/vineyard and Cab of the trip.

We took a lunch break and visited the bar at Auberge du Soleil - http://www.aubergedusoleil.com/html/bar.shtml. During our first trip to Napa, a local told us to eat at the bar because of the great view it offers and the food is much more affordable than the restaurant. We concur!

This was our second time visiting Auberge and we could not pass up the fresh cookie plate as a dessert. For lunch, we enjoyed a pizza (again), but it tasted so good! The photo below is a few of the vineyards in the Rutherford appellation in Napa Valley. It is a gorgeous and relaxing place where you can sit back, relax, enjoy good company, good food and great views. Again, another recommendation by us.
Our fourth destination found us at Pine Ridge vineyards - http://www.pineridgewinery.com/. Pine Ridge specializes in Bordeaux blends and Chardonnays.


We took advantage of the tour and private tasting here and enjoyed it. During the tasting, we received a variety of cheeses to compliment the wines. I enjoyed the Chardonnay very much, of course, and found the reds likable as well. While Dave didn't find a big, bold Napa Cabernet here, we both agreed they the blends were very good. Pine Ridge offers barrel to bottle tastings in their caves, food and wine tastings and other fun programs for visitors. It is something a visitor may want to check out.

Our fifth stop took us away from Silverado Trail to the corner of Highway 29 where we stopped at the Elizabeth Spencer tasting room - http://www.elizabethspencerwines.com/. Unfortunately, given the location, it was a small tasting room that attracted big groups who had indulged a little too much that day making it almost hard to hear the employees explaining the wines. We did not find that the wines met our liking as well and quickly headed back to the Silverado Trail for one final stop.



Our sixth and final stop in Napa was to the Miner Family Winery. We were so glad that we made the stop as we had a great time and tasted some great wines - http://www.minerwines.com/. We ended up purchasing a Howell Mountain Cabernet (our second from this appellation) and a wild yeast Chardonnay. We can't wait to try them at home!

While it is a simple facility, it has a nice tasting room and some fun photos and letters from the White House where they served Miner Family wines. We stopped here based on a recommendation and would pass the recommendation on to others.

This concluded our wine tasting for the trip, but we still had dinner at the restaurant, Redd - http://www.reddnapavalley.com/ with some friends, Jon and Amy. We stayed for three plus hours and enjoyed the appetizers, dinners and desserts. It was a great dining experience.

Thank you for allowing us to share our wine country experience with you!