500- here and gone!

Vacation usually means over eating, taking a break from the every day lifestyle and just kicking back. However, this Summer "Vacation" has taken on a new meaning and a new purpose for me this year. We (meaning the Hubby and I) have tried to add

in as much physical activity as possible in these short 2 and

1/2 months I have off from work. We began our vacation with our nation's Capital; Washington DC or Bust! Our only plan was to head to a baseball game, so we can keep crossing Major League Baseball Stadiums off our list.

However, we met up with the twin and my niece, Deshon. We visited inside the Pentagon (thanks to Martez), participated in a cheesy under cover case at the Spy Museum, saw lots of planes at the Udvar Hazy Air/Space museum, and made it to Arlington Cemetery for a cool history lesson and

the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Something I highly recommend- if you ever get the chance.

We also added on to the semi-physical activity of walking around each day. Jeff and I participated in some of my greatest runs ever!

Run #1: Most historically Scenic

We began running at the Capitol Building and continued down the entire National Mall. We passed the Jefferson Memorial, Washington Monument, The White House, The Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, The Reflecting Pond and even climbed the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Grabbed a breather atAbe Lincoln's feet and then headed back: All before 7:30 am. Watching the sun come up in the reflecting pond was neat! History Run was amazing!

Run #2: Naturally Breath-taking

The Hubby and I happened upon run #2 after getting lost on the way home from dropping the twin and niece off at the airport. We knew we were going to go for a run, but didn't have a clue where to do it. Virginia is a beautiful state, with quite a few rivers. We looked on the GPS, found some national parks, and meandered our way through one and found a gravel parking lot. In the parking lot, there were a few other avid

Virginia runners had the same idea. So we stealthy followed them to a foot beaten trail along one of these rivers. WOW!! We found rock trails, water falls, babbling brookes, hills, horse trails. It was amazing! Prior to the run, I have never run through anything so naturally breath-taking and I'm not talking about being out of breath from running. It was amazing to run for almost an hour under tree-covered trails and ever changing terrain. It was completely NATURE. I loved it.

In 4 days we racked up over 35 miles! I also hit MILE 500!!! This wasn't the only vacation we took this summer, but that post is still to come. For now, I still have miles to go before I sleep!