Adventure Archives - Page 3 of 5

Things I learned in Washington DC

Posted on September 4, 2014September 28, 2023 by Tressie

Better late than never – here are the things I learned in Washington DC when my family and I visited in July!

1. If you leave your Facebook locations on and post a photo of your kid making a face at Applebee’s, a friend in the area might message you and say “hey, I wanna come see you!!” Excuse the crappy phone photos – I loved catching up with Sarah 🙂

2. If the White House is going to have an event that dictates tourists can’t get anywhere near it, it will be on the only day we are there to visit it.

3. Secret Service men are not allowed to pose. They will however, pretend like they don’t see you while you take their picture.

4. If a friend recommends a museum that you have never heard of, you should go – it may end up being the highlight of the trip! At the National Museum of Crime and Punishment you will see the history of crime, current crime, how to commit crime, famous criminals, how to investigate and solve crimes, and the history of punishing crime. You can look for clues in a “crime scene”, sit in on the “autopsy”, and crack a safe…as well as sit in a driving simulation, and hold a gun in a shoot out simulation. I probably shouldn’t tell you that I shot at one of the victims….oops.

Also, heat seeking cameras may expose you. We’ll just make this picture real small.

5. Don’t ever visit landmarks without taking at least one forced perspective shot. I found these gems on the camera that Riley was using.

6. The Lincoln Memorial is a great place for a photo of daddy and Robby.

7. The water is a lot dirtier than I expected it to be, but if you change the color in photoshop you can still get a pretty reflection.

8. The National Museum of Natural History is pretty awesome.

9. No matter how much history or how many monuments, your kids may just want to take pictures of ducks. Or in the case of Alex, rocks.

Which one of these rocks captures your attention? Just curious.

10. I like to take pictures.

11. Regardless of where you are, it’s a great place to make memories, and no matter how much time you think you have, it will go much, much too quickly!!!

Things I learned in Virginia

Posted on August 19, 2014September 28, 2023 by Tressie

At the end of July, my family and I made a trip to Williamsburg, Virginia to watch my older daughter play in the 2014 NSA B East World Series. In addition to LOTS of softball fun and World Series activities, we made time to hang out and visit some of the tourist attractions in the area.

As I always do, I learned some things while we were in Virginia. Below are some of them…

1. There is something pretty special about going on vacation with a whole BUNCH of your favorite friends. This is our third year traveling for a Softball World Series, and yes, we are ALL making memories.

2. People from Ohio are confused (those are Michigan colors)

3. Robby likes Roller Coasters. Alex, not so much. Busch Gardens was a super fun day!

4. The plantation house at the Powhatan Resort in Williamsburg is haunted….the kids went on a ghost hunting excursion inside.

5. At the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum in Williamsburg, I learned that the tallest man in the world was a LOT taller than my husband, you really CAN build a gorilla out of nails, and if I don’t pay attention Robby might get eaten by some random teeth. The 12 foot transformer and shrunken heads were pretty awesome, but by far the best part was the Impossible LaseRace where you had to navigate through a web of green lasers without breaking the beams of light. The kids had a blast!

Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum, Williamsburg, VA

6. At the Nauticus museum in Norfolk we saw a log book from May of 1951 with Riley’s name in it, other artifacts, and super cool models. Riley stuck her head in a cannon. I learned more than I ever wanted to know about boats. And stuff.

Also there was this. (Battleship Wisconsin)

7. From the museum to the boat tour of the Norfolk Naval Base, I learned how much my dear husband likes boats and military stuff. Me…not so much. But here are some of them, cause it was cool for the first 15 minutes or so.

8. If I get tired of taking pictures of ships, I turn the camera on my family.

Well that’s it. 8 things. Profound, huh? After Virginia we made a trip to Washington DC for a couple of days. I learned stuff there too, stay tuned.

The Windy City – Chicago Rocks

Posted on November 12, 2013September 28, 2023 by Tressie

The view from my hotel room

The last weekend in October, I left my family for a short trip to Chicago. The “official” purpose of the trip was the Zenfolio Zoom Tour, where I would learn about all kinds of ways to make my website better. Hopefully in the next few months I will be implementing what I learned.

“Unofficially”, I wanted to take pictures in Chicago and visit with my dear friend Vicki.

I signed up for a workshop with John Batdorff, to walk the streets of Chicago and to see it from the perspective of a resident. I was not disappointed – no only did John show me lots of cool places to shoot, I learned a lot about shooting subjects that do not have eyes. This is a struggle for me you know.

With John, I practiced seeing in black and white – spotting patterns within a scene or subject, and thinking about black and white conversions while I shoot. I am by no means a landscape or architectural photographer, but I love how learning an unfamiliar type of photography can bring so many ideas and inspiration to the type of photography that I DO shoot. And it was FUN. Between shooting locations John and I chit chatted about our families, our photography, and very interesting things like the difference between a Booty Call and a Butt Dial. But that’s a story for a different day.

Don’t forget to look up!!

A bonus Chicago tip from John: The Ghirardelli store gives out a free chocolate to each person that walks in. Dessert on John! (don’t worry, I won’t tell everyone you’re a cheap date)

Lunch with Vicki, shopping on the Miracle Mile, and some street performances rounded out the trip. (Vicki I won’t tell the story about how you mailed post cards to my girls 4 years after they were written…love you xo)

I think I need to do this more often…

Even the pigeons were cold

Yay for beautiful friendships…

Flat Stanley Adventures Continue

Posted on May 15, 2013September 28, 2023 by Tressie

Remember Flat Stanley? You can read about his last adventure here, when Alex sent him to Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. Most recently, our family was requested to host him right here in Chelsea, Michigan, so the Flat Stanley adventures continue!

A big thank you to sweet Dayton for sending Flat Stanley here – we had a great time with him, and hope he enjoyed his visit.

Flat Stanley returned to Dayton with the following letter:

Dear Dayton,

Thank you for sending me to Chelsea, Michigan!! I arrived on Wednesday, May 1, and it was 84 degrees and sunny. Surprising, since just a week or so before that it had been snowing. I sure am glad I had nicer weather for my visit.

I spent my time in Chelsea with the Davis family – Tressie and Rob, and their kids Riley (10), Alex (7) and Robby (5). Dominic is away at college so I didn’t get to see him (though I had a great visit with him earlier this year when Alex sent me to visit him at Wittenberg University in Ohio).

The Davis family kept me busy. The first thing we did was choose an outfit for me so I would fit in here in Chelsea. Do you like my University of Michigan t-shirt? There are a lot of UofM fans in Chelsea. There are fans of other Michigan schools too, but… those people don’t really count. (haha)

Chelsea is a really great city, with so much to do. A vibrant downtown boasts great food, art and entertainment. This is even more apparent during the warm months when Chelsea hosts Sounds and Sights every Thursday evening – sculpture walks, food, local brew, outdoor movies, and literally music on almost every street corner with diverse line up of musical artists performing at staged areas. It isn’t quite summer yet though, so spring sports and site seeing is what we did.

On Saturday Riley had a softball tournament that was an hour and a half away (first tournament for a long summer of softball!). I decided to stay with Alex and Robby and go to their hockey and soccer games since those were in Chelsea.

The first stop was Robby’s hockey game at the ArcticColiseum. Brrrr…it’s cold in there! But it sure was fun watching the super cute mini hockey players.

After the ice rink we had a little extra time before Alex and Robby’s soccer games, so we stopped at Pierce park, where the Chelsea ROCK is. The ROCK is a giant boulder that people in Chelsea paint to send messages of all kinds – from congrats, to happy birthday, or other fun things. The day we visited it matched my shirt – how cool is that?

I have sent you pictures of some of the cool sites in Chelsea. The clock tower is a favorite of many residents, isn’t it beautiful? It used to be a water tower for the Glazier Stove Company in the early 1900s.

Directly across the railroad tracks is the Chelsea Depot – a gorgeous historic train station built in 1880. Service at the station closed in 1981, but through the efforts of the Chelsea Depot Association, restoration efforts began in 1986. In 1987 Chelsea Depot was listed on the National Register of Historic places.

Just to the west of the clock tower is something very yummy. Did you know that Chelsea is the home of Jiffy Mix? Their cornbread muffin mix is my favorite.

There are lots of places that I wanted to visit, but didn’t get a chance to on this trip – like the Purple Rose Theater, The Chelsea Teddy Bear Factory and Timber Town.

Maybe next time I visit you can come with me?

Love,

Flat Stanley

xo

ps – want to see a cool video made about Chelsea by Jeff Daniels? You can check it out HERE