Reflections

Last night in DC

The 50 Shades of DC adventure has come to a close. After almost 3 years to the day, this is our last night in DC……and WARNING this is a long read so best you grab a cuppa, a beer or wine or whatever stimulant floats your boat, as you will need one if you intend to finish my final blog post.

****  The next chapter....And for those of you who always need more, be sure to read to the end, as there is a special surprise for you :o   *****

The Capitol, Wash DC

Statue of Liberty, New York

Dupont Circle Metro

We will soon be seeing familiar faces again, enjoying many missed favourite foods, not the least being sausage rolls, bread, bacon, weetbix and coffee. Oh and a Bunnings sausage sandwich with onion now on the bottom apparently?  There will be lots of catchups that I’m sure will feel like we were never gone. And of course, there will be the questions about our adventure and how many states, what was the best of this, that or the other. Some time ago, I created a page on the blog called 'The Best Of' to capture the highlights of our adventure as the months went by. However, for this final blog post, I wanted to reflect more personally on our adventure. It’s easy to whinge about the negative things but when I lay in bed at night (waiting for the bat signal) and think about life, the universe and everything……I remember so many of the fantastic things that we’ve enjoyed. So that’s what I’ll do, try and skim some of the very best memories that we take away from our 50 Shades adventure. 

Home visit in 2017

Homesick. Now I have always been a person who could live pretty much anywhere, and even better if it’s warm. When we go on holidays I never want to come home, I could travel for weeks on end. So it felt like that in Washington DC, at least for the first 2 years. I just got on with adjusting to life in the US and settled into all the weird things they do here. However, I went home after 2 years for a quick visit to see family and I was shocked that it made me homesick. I did NOT expect that at all and it made for a very long third and final year. So for me, I have been looking forward to coming home for over a year and the past 3 months have been so slow for me. After having to stop flying in November I had a lot of time on my hands so the urge to come home just grew more.  It’s been a huge chore to packup and get organised and the dogs have been a massive project on their own. Their process started 6 months ago. But like we did coming over, we both worked our way through the many jobs to get done both here and at home in order to move out of DC and back into our home in Australia. While I have managed the majority of the packup and moving, Deb was trying to keep her head above water at work as there was no slowing down for her.

People. So, ‘are you looking forward to going home?’, people asked me time and time again. Yes, totally, I’m ready to go is what I would say. I am excited to start my new life, be back in our own home, buy a sausage roll when I go shopping, not have to tip, enjoy people using their car blinkers and return to the familiar Aussie slang. But then I tell people that it’s also bittersweet to leave. People are always the important things in our life and we have met a LOT of wonderful people. We (and our dogs) have been welcomed into several families and made lifelong friends that we look forward to seeing in Australia in the coming years. Family Team W adopted us early and began our American education, showed us several local attractions, welcomed us to many family parties and gatherings and showed great kindness and friendship to us. Their extended family, Team H, also welcomed us with friendship and kindness and to both families, we extend our warmest thanks and appreciation. We will miss you dearly. And to P&S and kids who were our beloved dog sitters while we travelled the country, it was a sad farewell. We were so thankful to you for caring for our dogs and also for your friendship and of course, that special tour of the Capitol building. We miss you already. To D&DP, we met through running, we were so glad we met, we totally enjoyed your company and conversation. We wished we had more time together and love the momento you gave us - we definitely hope to see you Down Under one day and I will show you what real bacon looks like.

We also met some other fabulous ladies from a running group (MRTT) in our first year and we will maintain friendships with them after we leave. About 6 months ago, I also met by complete random luck, a mother and teenage son from Tennessee who were visiting the Embassy while on holiday. A half hour conversation started a friendship that I know will endure the years. I visited them in October and met the rest of their family who made me and my niece incredibly welcome and we feel part of their family. The young boy, now 17, is a brilliant young man with dreams to come to Australia. I look forward to seeing him and his family one day. Through all these people, we met kind, warm, caring and friendly Americans. It is these people that make leaving hard and sad. 

White House Visit

New York

  

Making a friend at Ben's Chilli Bowl, DC

I am a social bean and Deb says that there are no strangers in my life, only people I haven’t met. She’s right. I’ve met lots and lots of people from all walks of life. The neighbours in the street, the people at the gym, the folks at the flying school, the people walking their dogs, everyone at the homeless shelter where I volunteered briefly in the kitchen and the many people I worked with during my different jobs here. Again, these people opened my eyes, taught me about their lives, home countries and culture and have made me a better person in every way. During a time when American politics is at an unprecedented level of madness, I’m reassured that there are many good, decent and kind people in this country.

Freeway Airport, learning to fly

Batman @ High Wheel Race, Frederick, Maryland

Aussie Pavlova always on the table

Aussies. We have also made close friendships with Australians who we would otherwise never have met had we not left Australia. We made friendships through work, through the dogs, through common interests or by simply being an Aussie living overseas a long way from home. We bonded with A&PH who after much debate one night over dinner, decided they want be remembered as only humble and frank. Well, yes that's true but to me they are two of the kindest, generous, helpful and nicest people I have ever met. Saying goodbye to you two has been very hard as I have become quite attached to you both. Thank you, for simply everything - support, friendship, dog sitting, dinners and laughs and introducing me to Shake Shack Concrete drinks!! The camaraderie between Aussies is precious and we have been welcomed to many parties and groups because that’s how Aussies look after each other. I think the annual Jones' Aussie BBQs are by far the most memorable. Some of these friends have since returned to Australia and I look forward to seeing them again. But other friends will remain here or move around the world. We have made friends who have been sincere, supportive and genuine, who we will miss dearly and we only take comfort knowing that Facetime and email will keep us in touch until we see each other again. 

Arlington Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Guards

Riding around the Cherry Blossoms

Visitors. We were grateful to host a swag of family and friends as they stopped in DC to visit us, George Washington, Mr Lincoln and all the wonders of the national capital. We also ventured away with some of you and explored various parts of the US and Canada. We enjoyed each and every one of you because you made us feel closer to home with your company. Thank you, we really appreciated you coming. And of special significance to me, I loved having my big sister and niece visit and travel with. It was really nice to spend quality time with them and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute spent with them. Some of the memories include zip lining Niagara Falls, The Grand Ole Opry Nashville, pumpkin chucking for Halloween, road tripping Canada and Tennessee, eating our way through New York and living the life at the baseball and hockey. I look forward to being close to them again; well closer than half way across the world.

Halloween pumpkins picking

Way of Life. I found Americans to be kind, friendly, caring and helpful. I often said they were more so than Australians which is a big call I know. But if you come here around Thanksgiving, or go to the supermarket, you will see that friendly and helpful spirit coming out in spades. Mind you, we used to joke that they lost that personality when they got behind the wheel of the car because Mr. Jeckell appeared. We enjoyed the Halloween frolicking with costumes and trick or treating and of course, Thanksgiving is sacred here. It’s so special and treasured and there is a warm lovely feeling around that time of year. We were fortunate to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with our US friends (Family Team W) and experienced everything from turkey to mashed potato to apple pie. And Christmas is so lovely here. It’s cold like the Christmas Carols say and everyone puts up lights on their houses, fences, trees. And they all buy a real tree, put it on the car roof and take it home. This whole atmosphere is just lovely and totally opposite to the hot Aussie Xmas. But they don’t say Happy Xmas, rather it’s Happy Holidays as there are many religions and not all celebrate Xmas. So they wish each other a happy holiday instead. We’ve seen some fantastic Xmas lights including the White House Xmas tree and the Mormon Temple which is the biggest and most extensive light display I’ve ever seen. We also enjoyed the beautiful cherry blossoms and took the dogs to wander around the Tidal Basin as those beautiful pink flowers were in bloom. 

Mormon Temple Maryland, Christmas Lights

Rockefeller Xmas Tree, New York

Cherry Blossoms, DC

Chip and Joanna Gaines @ Waco, Texas

Places We Saw. We visited 30.1 states and while short of our goal to touch all 50 states, this is an enormous achievement. Some of you are asking...what's the 0.1? We visited the Four Corners - Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico border corner and we put a foot in New Mexico so I called it our .1 And I could have done the same with New Jersey as I crossed over from Philadelphia to visit the Battleship New Jersey...but didn't think that was fair. I was disappointed to not see the mid-west states and would like to return one day and see those flat spaces and corn fields and follow the long Mississippi river.

We have seen and done a lot of incredible things that I’m sure we would never have done had we not taken on this adventure. The Alaskan wild, the beauty of Yellowstone, the majestic Grand Canyon and red rock canyons throughout Utah have given us memories of a lifetime. Alaska, Colorado, Memphis, Nashville, Detroit, New Orleans and Texas showed us very different lifestyles and history and we could never have imagined feeling familiar with the subway and streets of Manhattan, New York. We loved Philadelphia in Pennsylvania and Boston, Massachusetts. We went to Ben and Jerry’s ice cream factory in Vermont and I did a night landing at Baltimore airport as part of my night flying. The western states of Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota were gorgeous and of course we felt like Maryland was home as we lived a stone throw from the DC and Maryland border. We also travelled to Canada and saw several beautiful cities and spent a week in Cancun, Mexico. To see all the locations, scroll through the blog archive on the right of the page.

Four Corners, standing in New Mexico...the .1

Off roading in Moab, Utah

Seattle Needle Tower, Washington

Miami Beach, Florida

Zipline Niagara Falls

Detroit, Michigan

Kennedy Space Centre, Florida

Liberty Bell, Philadelphia

History and Attractions. Washington DC itself is full of the Smithsonian museums and some of the best history in the US. The monuments and memorials are iconic and seeing them never lost that breathtaking appeal. Gettysburg was a clear favourite for me as I loved learning about the civil war. I also loved Philadelphia and Boston with all its revolutionary war and American Independence history. I have learnt a great deal about US history, war and civil rights, its constitution and its politics. Fascinating, interesting and captivating are words that come to mind. On a different front, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, the air space museum in DC, several space shuttles and a real Concorde aircraft on the USS Intrepid in New York. We both loved seeing the JFK museum in Dallas and being on the ground where history was made on the fateful day in November 1963.  I’ve seen the original declaration of independence and the constitution, visited Motown music history in Detroit, toured the White House, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and seen the four presidents at Mt. Rushmore. And of course, I spent my birthday seeing the Batman exhibition in Hollywood, Los Angeles – an absolute thrill for this Batman fan. And yesterday, I flew to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina with my great friends A&PH to see the birthplace of flight. This was where Wilbur and Orville Wright first flew their Wright flyer in 1903. This was a goal of our learning to fly adventure so we managed to do it 2 days before I left. Thanks AH for taking me on your first flight as a licensed pilot, to see, 'First Flight'. 

Dallas, Texas

Mt Rushmore, South Dakota

Grand Canyon, Arizona

Yellowstone Nat Park, Wyoming

Alaska

Monument Valley, Utah

Alaska, sled dog puppy

Arches Nat Park, Utah

KISS Concert

Music and Sports. These are two of my favourite things and I’m even smiling as I write this section. I saw several of my most favourite artists and bands including Aretha Franklin, The Eagles, KISS and Daryl Hall and John Oates. I could never have imagined seeing these artists live so these are definitely high points of my time here. I also fell in love with baseball and ice hockey and will remain a Nationals and Capitals fan for the rest of my days. Another fantastic memory is watching the Capitals win the Stanley Cup live by standing in the street (with DW) for 4 hours with thousands of fans, watching the big screen as the game was broadcast from Vegas. I also got to see my beloved Richmond Tigers win the AFL (Aussie Rules Football) grand final which saw me getting up at 2am to watch the game live in Australia and eating a 4n20 pie to get the full AFL experience. Deb and I both continued to run while here and completed a traditional 10k Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving and a 10k run over the beautiful Chesapeake Bay Bridge (thanks DP). I was fortunate to finish a number of events including the ultra American Odyssey 200 mile relay race from Gettysburg to DC (go the Aussie Drop Bears), a half marathon and the iconic Marine Corp Marathon. While I did not ride the bikes much at all, I was thrilled to achieve some personal goals on the running agenda.

Baseball, Go Nats !!

Thanksgiving Turkey Trot

Ice Hockey, Go Caps !!

My beloved Richmond Tigers - champions!

Aussie Drop Bears 200 mile relay

Marine Corp Marathon - Finisher 

Beignets, New Orleans 

Food. We have proven that a posting to the US is indeed the '10 pound posting’. The meals are huge, sugar is in everything and the standard menu staple is burgers and mac n cheese. We indulged in the local foods wherever we travelled and the Mexican food has by far been my favourite. I am going to miss this in Australia but we do good Asian food so there is a compromise. Baseball and hockey encouraged my hotdog habit and I reckon Georgetown Cupcakes are the next best thing to sausage rolls. Some of the wonderful foods we’ve eaten are Boston cream pie, fried green tomatoes, BBQ and beans from all over the US, Philly cheesesteaks, southern fried chicken, ribs, chicken wings, Bison burgers, beignet donuts in New Orleans, grits, crab cakes and of course Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. The pizza in New York is the best pizza outside Italy and it’s been a treat to get good bagels anywhere anytime. People used to ask me what’s traditional Australian food and I could only ever tell them pies, lamb and pavlova. I still don’t know how to answer that question.

Baseball Hot Dogs

Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Factory, Vermont

Sunrise Grand Canyon, Arizona

Batman got around. If you know me or have been an avid reader of my blog, you'll have noticed I am big Batman fan and quite enjoyed putting on the mask and cape at various locations as we travelled. Here's a few of my favourite Batman caped crusades. And you may recall that the legendary Adam West died in 2017 however Batman lives on as all superheroes do.

Standing on the Corner in Winslow Arizona, The Eagles

Batman Exhibition, Hollywood Los Angeles

The Rocky Statue, Philadelphia

Niagara Falls, New York

Just arrived to DC

Personal. Before Deb got her posting, I had finished my job and was pursuing my passion by deciding to make a career change and open my own café. But then she got the posting so everything went on hold for me. For those who know me personally, the end of my professional career was very difficult and coming to the US was a good opportunity to make the break in many ways. I spent the first year reflecting on my career and what went wrong, what went right, what the hell happened and why. But, over time I accepted that it was over and I started to focus on ‘what’s next’. More on that later but lets just say that I don’t look back and have no regrets about leaving. So I did everything I could to see and do as much as possible and live life to the fullest. I worked probably half of our time here as the extra money was helpful, but when I wasn’t working, I was planning the next trip, holiday or thing to see. I have enjoyed easy days, sleep-ins and seeing the best that DC has to offer. But after 3 years, I feel ready and happy to move forward to my next chapter, or my encore career as someone once told me. 

While I can only speak for myself, I think it’s fair to say that Deb has been challenged to the max and worked incredibly bloody hard at a high tempo for the entire duration of the posting. An overseas posting is not a jolly as many people think. I have seen her endure some of the best and worst of people and tasks and seeing her get up every day and go back to tackle it again, is a testament to her resilience and professionalism. I am very proud of her and what she has achieved in her posting here. While she is modest and feels she’s not achieved anything, I try to remind her of the many major blocks of work she completed, major contracts she developed, the variety of problems she had to solve and the people she assisted. Many things were needed to be done 'now' and often her (and others) work went thankless. Yes I’m biased but she is highly respected by the people who work with her and hopefully she will feel that she has accomplished a great deal once she has time to think. 

CNN Headquarters, Atlanta, Georgia

Family Christmas, silly sweaters and all

Santa Monica, Los Angeles, California

Chicen Itza, Cancun, Mexico

Kitchen volunteer at homeless shelter

What’s Next? Well, that’s certainly the million dollar question. Firstly, Deb has some very well earned leave to take before starting a new position which should provide interesting work and more flexibility to settle into normal life again. The change of pace will be a welcome relief. 

For me, I will be going to TAFE (like a community trade college for our US friends) to study to be a chef. I was given the opportunity to work with the chef at the Amb residence and because of her influence, I have developed a strong passion to learn more about food and be a chef. So I will be starting TAFE as soon as I’m home. I am super excited to go to ‘school’ and start this new chapter of my life. I should/hope to finish within 18 months and am leaving my options open once I get my chef qualification. And of course, I plan to continue my flying and get my Private Pilot license. It’s more expensive in Australia so I’ll be taking it slowly and also juggling it with chef study. I’m excited to get back in the plane and hopefully it won’t take too long to finish as I’ve done most of the requirements in the US. 

 

Well that's all folks !!  That pretty much wraps up the 50 Shades of DC adventure. I’m glad I kept this blog as it’s been a great place to look back over our experiences and has provided a good resource for friends wanting to travel to similar places. I’m flattered by the many people who read the blog and your kind comments – thank you. I hope you’ve enjoyed following our adventures and I’d be happy to recommend the US as a travel destination. It is a huge country, with so much to see and the National Parks are spectacular. The food, people and culture are diverse and like Australia, you need to spend as much time as you can afford to enjoy the great US of A. 

But Wait, There's More. As the 50 Shades of DC drew to a close, I was often asked whether I would continue the blog or maybe start another when I return home to Australia. Were these people serious or just being nice? After giving it some thought I decided I would at least try. I really don't think my life is 'that' interesting and not sure I'll have the time. But here we go, the new adventures of Batman can be found here on Props and Tongs.     Props and Tongs Blog

 

View from the Capitol Building to Monument and Lincoln