Travelog for: Plaid Moose

Well, it's been a little lonely here for the past few days with all of our summer visitors moving on to their next hosts. But yesterday a package arrived and Mara said I could open it. I pulled off the string...

...and out popped Fllama!

I had never met a llama before, but Fllama is a very sweet one! He was excited to watch the Olympics with me, and we were all so excited to watch Michael Phelps set a record with his 8th gold medal!

Hello! Tuesday night I went with Mara and my new friend Fllama to the Red Sox game in Baltimore. I have been a couple of times already this summer, but it was Fllama's first time, so I was excited to go with him! After some excitement when we walked in (the Orioles celebrated their 50 millionth visitor to Camden Yards Tuesday...the 50 millionth fan was actually about 15 people back from us in line!), we watched some batting practice and looked at the markers on Eutaw Street. The markers show where players have hit home runs all the way out onto the street! Here we found one for David Ortiz, one of our favorite players on the Boston Red Sox:

And here I am with Fllama watching the game!

Would you believe that Friday night I went to my first ever rock concert? I have been to Wolf Trap before, but never to see a band. And I went with Fllama! It was my second trip to Wolf Trap this summer, but still just as fun! Here we are before we went to our seats:

And here we are watching the band:

We saw two bands - Great Big Sea (that's who is in the picture) and Eddie from Ohio. They were both FANTASTIC!

What a busy week I've had! Not only did I help Mara run some errands, I went with her into Washington DC not once but twice! My first trip was a quick one - Mara went to meet an old friend for lunch, so not too much sightseeing, but we did get to ride on the metro! Here I am with Fllama at the station (you can see one of the trains behind us!):

And here we are on the train checking out the metro map!

After our metro trip, we had a yummy lunch outside at a cafe in Dupont Circle (one of the neighborhoods in DC). Fllama and I shared a sandwich - doesn't it look good?

And on the metro ride home we switched trains in Alexandria, so I got to see the George Washington Masonic Temple!

Today we took the second trip of the week to Washington DC. This time we went in to do some sightseeing. It's a holiday weekend here, and Mara and her husband wanted to see a special exhibit at the Smithsonian about Jim Henson. Since it's the weekend (so there's not as much traffic), we drove in this time. Here we are in the car - it's a sort of blurry picture, but the huge building behind us is the Pentagon!

After we parked, we walked to The Mall. That's the area of Washington DC with the Smithsonian Museums and a lot of the monuments. Here we are on The Mall - that's the Washington Monument behind us!

Further down, we stopped by this cool sculpture outside of the Air and Space Museum:

Then we went to the National Museum of the American Indian. We couldn't take pictures inside, but here we are outside. Mara says it's the newest Smithsonian museum, and she thinks it's the prettiest!


After that, I got to see the Capitol building!

We couldn't take any pictures at the Jim Henson exhibit (but it was AMAZING!), but here we are outside of the Smithsonian Castle...

...and here we are INSIDE the castle!

Well, it has certainly been an exciting few days here! On Friday, a package arrived for Mara. Since it sounded like it was snoring, she let me and Fllama open it!

It was Jimbo Elephant - the snoring was him taking a nap!

Here we all are - it's fun to meet an elephant!


Yesterday we all watched Tropical Storm Hanna from the dining room window. You might have seen Fairfax (where we live!) on the news - Fairfax got hit really hard by the storm, and the lake by Mara's house flooded. So the bottom part of her neighborhood was evacuated and her street was on the news! We're all ok - don't worry! - our house is nice and dry, and it was fun to watch all the rain with my new friends!

After all the excitement of the tropical storm, we have been taking it easy here. But today, a package arrived. Mara let us open it...

...and out popped Ebba!

What fun to have a new visitor!

Hello! Mara had a bunch of errands to run today, so we hopped in her bag and went along! First stop was the post office to say goodbye to Fllama and send him on his next adventure:

Then we went to Target - it's a huge store, and since it's close to where we live, Mara goes a lot!

After a few more stops, we were all hungry, so Mara took us out to lunch at Boston Market:

Here I am eating my lunch - yummy!

Hello! It was a beautiful day here today (it's been raining a LOT lately), so we all headed to Old Town Alexandria for the Festival of the Arts - a big arts fest in the streets of Old Town. Old Town is where George Washington grew up, and is not only a historic area but a really neat place with shops and restaurants. Here I am walking around the arts festival...

There was lots of cool art, but the steel sculptures were our favorites. Of course, I liked the moose sculpture the best!

While we were walking around, we took a break at the fountains in Old Town - look how beautiful it was out today!

Afterwards, we walked down to the waterfront. Alexandria is near Washington DC on the Potomac River. Here I am in front of the Potomac:
And here I am in front of the Torpedo Factory:

It used to be used to make torpedoes (you could probably have figured that out!), but now it is an artist colony! What an amazing day!

I have been busy playing host to my guests and showing them what life is like in Virginia. They have been seeing what our county is like, and I went with them a few times this week.
On Wednesday, we went with Mara to Let's Dish. It's a meal preparation place - you go and you make a bunch of dinners for the month that go in the freezer. Here I am in front:

And here I am helping out by making enchiladas!
Today it was raining really hard, so we sat in the car while Mara's husband ran into the store to get stuff for her rabbits (can you tell how hard it was raining from the picture??)

Thankfully, the rain stopped long enough for us to get some lunch. We went to a popular place called Noodles & Company where Mara and I shared Wisconsin Mac & Cheese (they are famous for it!) Yum-O!

Shana Tovah! That means Happy New Year in Hebrew! This week we celebrated Rosh Hashana - the Jewish New Year - and I helped! Here I am helping to set the table for a family dinner...

And here we all are putting a cover on the round challah that Mara's family ate!

And I celebrated the new year the traditional way - eating apples dipped in honey! Yum!

Hello! Over the weekend a new Toy Voyager arrived! I helped her out of her travel pouch...

...it's Pebbels! I had never met a tiger before! She is very nice - I am excited to show her around!

She had her travel journal with her - it was really neat to get to see all the cool places she has been!

What a beautiful day it was here today! It's nearly the middle of October, but it was sunny and 70 degrees out! So we headed into Fairfax City for the Fall Festival, a big fair with lots of arts & crafts, food, and activities for kids. Mara says that there are lots of fairs like this here in the fall - each town has one! But this is the first time I have gone with her! Here I am on one of the streets looking at the crafts booths:

I also got to see some of the history of Fairfax. Here I am in front of the courthouse:

It was built in 1800 - here is a plaque that explains the history:

And here I am (still in front of the courthouse) on one of the Civil War cannons!

Hello! I have been having lots of fun with my new visitors. It is fall, and the weather is crisp and the leaves are changing. We have been playing outside on the pumpkins (everyone has pumpkins on their steps to decorate for fall and Halloween!) and in the leaves!

Happy Halloween! I helped to celebrate Halloween with our neighbors - look at the cool jack-o-lanterns that the kids next door carved!