DC Tour - Part 2

Hullo!! Here's the last part of the DC tour. Or course, we went and saw the Lincoln Memorial (along with a few hundred people).

But Ajdin did manage to find us a patch of unoccupied stairs. You'd think we were the only ones there. For sure, we were the only stuffies!

Oooohhhh... Lincoln!!!!

Ajdin did a good job of keeping us from climbing up the monument... he's a beary responsible tour guide you know!

It takes a lot for a tour guide to keep track of his group... especially in a crowded place like this.

That's the Washington Monument over in the distance.

And the Reflecting Pool... did you know it's only about 18 inches deep (30 inches in the centre)? That's plenty deep enough to drown most stuffies!

Ahhh... it's so nice and sunny out!

Aren't we a handsome bunch??

Alright... now for the piece de resistance (that's French for... well... for... the most important stop). Wait for it...

The Cherry Blossoms!!! Oooohhh...

I must say... Ajdin does strike a beary good pose. I think he could be a Playbear... minus the t-shirt of course...

The blossoms are sooo beautiful.

Such a delicate shade of pink...

I like them!

After a bit of a hike, a rather tired Ajdin led us to the Washington Monument!

The monument is an obelisk... It was built to commemorate George Washington (duh... that's why it's called the Washington Monument!). It's built of marble, granite, and bluestone gneiss (nice!). Apparently it's the world's tallest stone structure and the world's tallest obelisk - 554 feet 7 11⁄32 inches tall. Wow... down to the 1/32 of an inch. I wonder if any other stone structure comes that close? You can actually go inside and climb up to the top (or take an elevator)... but we didn't do that. I always thought the monument was from Egypt... like the Cleopatra's Needles that are in London, Paris and New York... but no. The Washington Monument was built on site... over many years! cool!

Wow... after all that walking and hiking and sight seeing we were a ravenous bunch. Luckily Ajdin knew that stuffies get beary hungry, so we stopped here...

And had some hot dogs!! Beary creative decorating. I have to say... I'm pretty sure the hot dogs were not made from dog (just to reassure Droopy, Spunky and Patches) nor from pork (just to reassure Sullivan McPig)! Good thing we don't know any chicken or cow stuffies otherwise we'd be stuck eating veggie burgers!

Heh-heh... we had a great lunch break!

And to wrap it all up... we saw the President of the United States! Well... at least the White House... from a distance. If you zoom in... and look beary closely, I'm pretty sure you can see the President peering out of one of those windows and waving at our Stuffie Tour!

Heh-heh... well a stuffie can dream, you know! Thanks Ajdin - this was an awesome tour!!

D.C. Monuments Tour - Part 1

Hullo!! Sandy Bear here...

Ajdin posted a quick blog on our Cherry Blossom tour but I wanted to do my own post as well - share my thoughts and impressions, you know!

So... we started off by heading for the Metro station... Ajdin did a beary good job of keeping Ozzie, Scooter and myself in a group. Herding stuffies is a bit like herding cats you know!

We didn't have long to wait before a Metro train arrived.

Being an independently minded little bear... I was trying to figure out where we were and if the train that had pulled in was going where we wanted to go but...

I have to admit... I got a bit confused! So many colours... so many stops!! It almost looks like the London Tube map!

Luckily, Ajdin knows the Metro like the back of his paw. "This is where we are... this is where we're going and this is how we're getting there. Get on the train!"

Whew... it's a good thing Ajdin is so beary organized!

Ajdin then gave us a bit of a tour guide talk while we were on the Metro. We were going to Washington, D.C. To a big park near the White House, on the Potomac River. There are a lot of monuments there... a lot and while we couldn't see all of them... he hoped that we would enjoy our tour, particularly of the cherry blossoms. (good talk Ajdin!) He was beary professionally dressed too in his official Stuffie Tours shirt!

After a fairly long Metro ride (at least in little bear terms)... we arrived! Ajdin got us some info at the Information booth and we were off.

I got a bit side-tracked thinking we were taking a BigBus tour but Ajdin said we were doing a walking tour... Good thing I wore my hiking boots. I must say... Ajdin with his long legs managed to set a comfortable pace for all of us stuffies.

Let's see... we visited the World War II monument.

It is beary pretty with a pool and a fountain and is fairly new - only opened in 2004! Each of those granite pillars in the background has the name of one of the US states on it... and the territories (like Puerto Rico).

Next up... we visited the Korean War Memorial. It too is fairly new, only being opened in 1995. There is a group of statues that represent a squad on patrol in full combat gear. It must have been rainy in Korea cause they all look like they are wearing rain gear.

There was a low wall at the memorial which commemorated the 22 United Nations countries that fought in the war. That's my country!! Canada!

Next... Ajdin took us to the Vietnam Memorial. There were a lot of people there.

But we were the only stuffies...

This memorial has plaques and plaques of the names of the fallen and missing American soldiers from the Vietnam War. There are over 58,000 names on these plaques.

That is a beary lot of names.

On my plaque, I noticed a John A. Welsford Jr. He was a Marine, Private First Class, born in Spokane, WA (which is close to us on the West Coast). He started his tour of duty on January 16, 1969 at the age of 19. He died on July 5, 1969, in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam, a few weeks shy of his 20th birthday. He was a casualty of friendly fire. Sad.

Finally, Ajdin took us to see the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial. I'm glad Ajdin didn't act like some human tour guides... you know... the ones who carry a little flag or hold a closed umbrella up in the air. He was a beary confident tour guide... and I think we were good clients too!

It is beary impressive and I'm glad we got to see it!

Stay-tuned for the next installment of our tour...

I'm in DeeeeeCeeeeee!!!

Hullo!! Sandy Bear here bringing you a life report (well, more or less) from DC! That's not BC (where I'm from) but DC!! Down in the States... on the East Coast you know.

Anyhow, Ajdin the Great (a.k.a. Ajdin the Bosnian Bear) took us on an amazing Stuffie Tour of the DC Cherry Blossoms... What can I say... it was amazing! Here are a few sneak peek photos while Ajdin gets a blog together. More coming!

Here's Ozzie Quirkybear, myself, Ajdin and Scooter Wojak (from North Carolina) on the metro heading to DC.

Me!! And a gazillion people.

And of course... the cherry blossoms. Ooooh... Ahh!!

More later!

A Narnian-Like Adventure

Breaking News Flash
Ajdin reports that the Cherry Blossoms are soon bursting sooo... these pre-recorded episodes from February will be interrupted soon. In the meantime... another adventure for Sandy Bear!

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Bored bears are never a good thing... and old photo albums only go so far... So I thought I'd do some exploring. I found this wardrobe and took a look inside. It was beary dark but... I sensed adventure lurked within.

Oooff... all these coats and sweaters... Maybe I should hide on Mama... I burrowed deeper into the wardrobe... deeper and deeper... until....

Eh??? What?? I'm in a snowy wonderland with a lamp post in the middle of nowhere! This reminds me of... Narnia!

See the similarities?? It's eerie....

I walked and I walked and I walked... through the snowy wilderness.

Finally, I found a bit of wire fence to lean against. I wonder where we are?

Ooohhh... there's a big old stone castle here. I'm not up on my Narnian story-lines but maybe the Wicked Witch of Eternal Winter lives here? I wonder why she's called Wicked?? I kind of like winter and the idea of having snow!!! Maybe not all year of course but... snow is fun! More later!