Washington, D.C.- Day 4 Going Home August 25, 2016

We were up before 7:30. When we got to breakfast at 8:15, there was no fruit at all. Very disappointing. While eating, we were surprised by a commercial on TV that flashed our last name in big letters on the screen. It was for a local Toyota dealership. My husband's parents say we are not related to them, even though the name is not a common one. It was just really weird to see our names like that. My older daughter says it is even freakier, when it is shouted on TV.
We were out of the room at 9:05. The bill had been under the door in the morning, so there was nothing left to do, but drop off the keys at the front desk. We were at Gallery Place at 9:14 and on the Yellow Line 2 minutes later. It was not too crowded with commuters.  At 9:31, we arrived at the Ronald Reagan International Airport station. We got a little turned around exiting, but were soon going the right way, and paid the fare of $2.55. I put the passes away for our next visit to D.C.
We'd checked in last night, but still had to do all the kiosk stuff to pay for the bags. At 9:44, we dropped our bags at the bag check. We had planned to pick up lunch at a restaurant nearby, but they were still doing breakfast.
So, we went to our TSA Pre line. We were in line at 9:51 and it was slowed a bit by a large spill on the conveyor belt. For whatever reason, the TSA agent decided my shoes needed to be swabbed. We were done at 9:56. We passed food places and decided Lebanese was something we couldn't get at home. So, at Lebanese Taverna, I picked Chicken Shawarma Bowl with salad for my daughter to pick up once we had a place to wait for our flight. We made our way to the gate and managed to find seats, after learning our flight was delayed a bit.
At 11:45, we were seated for American Flight 1872 to Orlando. The plane pushed back at 12:02 and took off at 12:18, over 30 minutes late. We thoroughly enjoyed our unusual meal that we'd picked up. The pickled cauliflower was really unusual-and pink!

We landed at 2:01 at OIA. In the process of taxiing to the gate, the pilot pretty well circled the airport, even passing the terminal. We were finally at the gate at 2:11. After we got our checked luggage, I called my husband, who was waiting in the cell lot. He picked us up at 2:49.
Once we were home, I had to say good-bye to my younger daughter, who had to get home to get ready for an early day at work. It had been a really nice trip and I can't wait for the next one with one or both of my girls!

Washington, D.C. - Day 3 August 24, 2016

Today was planned to be a busy day. My older daughter took the day off work to spend with us, which was really great of her considering just how busy she is at work in August.
My younger daughter and I were up and down to breakfast by 9:05. When we finished breakfast at 9:30, we went down the street to the Corner Bakery that we'd been passing every day. I wanted to find something to take home to my husband. We found that they had a lot of breakfast food, but not as many pastries as we'd thought. We chose a package of rather large pecan biscotti, that he really enjoyed.
We went back to the hotel to get washed up and ready for the day. I'd looked online and found out we couldn't take a backpack to the ballgame, nor could we take the water bottles we'd been using. We found that my travel shopping bags seemed to be the right size, so they'd have to do. My older daughter arrived at 10:17 and we headed out at 10:35.
Although we could have walked, there was no sense wearing me out and setting off the fibromyalgia this early in the day. So, at 10:45, we were at Gallery Place waiting for the Red Line.  We were on board 3 minutes later and the trip to Metro Center took only a minute. Within 2 minutes, we boarded the Blue Line at that station. Another 2 minutes later, we were off at Federal Triangle, paying $1.75 on our passes.
The Federal Triangle station puts you out at the Ronald Reagan Center and you go out by the William Jefferson Clinton EPA building on your way to the Mall. It was bright and sunny and we walked through the curving arcade in the shade. We were soon standing in front of my favorite museum in the entire world: Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. I first visited the museum, when I was in sixth grade and I still love it.

Things are different there than when I was in sixth grade. It is not a stagnant museum, but it does maintain some exhibits that I love.
You have to go through a bag check and metal detector, when you visit there now, which is rather depressing. We were through that at 11:05 and could head for the exhibits we were interested in, since we did not plan to see everything there on this visit.
The first thing you pass on the ground floor is an exhibit of posters from the upcoming presidential election. There was even one for our feckless junior Senator, who'd run a losing race, while hardly showing up at his real job.

Our first destination was Julia Child's kitchen, because my younger daughter has been a fan of hers since seeing the film Julie and Julia. I even bought her Julia Child's cookbook as a Christmas gift several years ago. The kitchen is included in the exhibit Food, which looks at American eating habits over the years 1950- 2000 and the items we use to prepare food and wine.

 I notice something new every time I see this kitchen. This time, I saw that even with all the fancy pots and such, she still had a toaster oven. I like that they give you several spots all around the kitchen to be able to peer in and enjoy this kitchen. This was my younger daughter's first time seeing it and she really liked it. We enjoyed the rest of the exhibit, too.
Then, we were off to see my favorite exhibit, but we had to search for it, ask where it was and search some more. This item has been in the museum since my first visit, but they keep moving it. Now, it is near a children's exploration center. I suppose that makes some sense, as this is a dollhouse. It was made by Faith Bradford and presented to the museum in 1951. It is behind glass and there is a riser for little ones-and shorter adults like me- to be able to peer into the upper floors. This was the dollhouse that made me fall in love with miniatures, which is now witnessed by all the roomboxes in my house and my presidency in the local miniatures club. Even today, I love looking in this dollhouse. I had to post a picture of the dollhouse on Facebook, of course.

It was after 12, but we had to visit the shop, of course. I was very happy to see a display of items saluting the National Park Service's 100th birthday.

You would think that after all the times we've been to this museum, that we wouldn't buy anything in the shop, but that would mean you don't know us very well. We all found things we wanted, many of which will wind up being gifts to the girls. I am a contributing member of the Smithsonian, so I get a nice discount in the shop, which makes me even more willing to pick up items, like the Orioles shirt for my younger daughter, who already owns several.
The history museum and the National Museum of the American Indian are as far apart on the Mall as you can get with Smithsonian Museums, especially considering where the Indian museum's entrance it. So at 12:55, we headed back to the Federal Triangle station and were waiting for a train 9 minutes later. On the way, we passed a band playing in the plaza area outside of the station and folks enjoying lunch. At 1:06, we boarded the Orange Line and got out at L'Enfant 4 minutes later, paying $1.75 again.
On our way to the museum, we passed quite an array of food trucks just outside the station. My older daughter sometimes gets lunch from these, but not today. We were headed for our favorite lunch destination- the Mitsitam Cafe in the museum. We went through security again, and were on our way to lunch at 1:24. What we really like here is the ability to pick different foods from different regions. What we love here is the Indian fry bread. I chose the turkey meal and my daughters chose spicier meals, the chicken taco, which is like no taco you get elsewhere. They both picked up a fry bread with honey for the three of us to split and I got a fantastic chocolate tart for us to split. Once again, my Smithsonian membership came in handy, saving us -or, rather, me- 10% on all this food, which is good, since my meal alone was $19.50.

My younger daughter and I split our main courses again. We took our time and enjoyed the food and good conversation.
We left at 2:45 and went back to the L'Enfant station, where we arrived at 2:58, walking in 84 degree weather that felt hotter. At 3:01, we were on a brand new Orange Line train. We got out at Capitol South at 3:04, paying $1.75 for the privilege. It was an uphill walk to the Capitol and then pretty flat. We arrived at the Folger Shakespeare Library at 3:20 and took pictures of the building.

We were here, because my older daughter knew we were all fans of both Shakespeare and Jane Austen. Plus, there was The Shirt. More on that in a bit.
The museum was blessedly cooler than the out-of-doors. Admission was free, which is very nice.
We were told we could take pictures, but to use no flash. No problem, except that they decided they did not like the red light my camera used to focus on items. I assured the guard that I was not using the flash, but he was told to not let me use the camera. So, I had to switch to the phone.
The exhibit was interesting, making many comparisons between how the two authors and their works were handled by the public. Evidently, when Jane was alive, there was quite an interest in Shakespeare. They showed various products that have been produced in more modern times to make money off of one or both of them.

One or the other of us actually owns several of these items!
The main reason we were there was to make our pilgrimage to see The Shirt. Seriously, it is referred to that way. Of course, any woman who has seen the Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice immediately knows what it is. Besides my younger daughter, several women made sure they posed with it. I was just happy to take a photo of Mr. Firth in The Shirt from the video playing on a loop and The Shirt itself. (The identification tag on the case really says, The Shirt.) It was a lot longer than I'd expected.

After the exhibit, I painfully went down the stairs to the restroom. Seriously, no elevator was in sight. Very frustrating.
When I came back up, the girls weren't interested in peeking in on the rehearsal in progress, but we did take advantage of the chance to go see the First Folio. Since a docent was back there with visitors, they sent us back. It is in a large case in a room that appears to be a library with  a huge wooden table and chairs in the center. It is impressive to see something that old and that important.
The shop was not large, but that didn't mean we did not find things to buy, including items the daughters will receive as gifts in the future. That is our thing.
When we left at 4:38, we were a bit at loose ends, as it was too early to go to the game. Since it was right there, we thought we'd pop in the Library of Congress. Unfortunately, it was closing at 5 and they were sending people out, rather than letting them in. So, at 4:45, we found a seat in a bit of shade at the lower entrance and ate the chocolate I'd bought at the history museum. It was so pleasant, with a nice breeze and little hoppy birds, as we call them, enjoying themselves. It was a relaxing interlude.

At 5:11, we decided to head to the park for the Orioles vs Nationals game, which was our main reason for coming to town. Plus, The Shirt, of course. In just over 10 minutes, we were back in the Capitol South station and immediately got on a train. We got off at L'Enfant at 5:25. There were way too many people there waiting for the Green Line to Navy Yard/Ballpark. We got on finally at 5:33 and were off with everyone else at 5:35, paying $2.15.
At the top of the crowded escalator, we immediately in game-related activity. There seemed to be some entertainment setting up. As we headed down the street, we passed vendors selling hats, t-shirts and water. The water sellers kept saying they were cheaper than inside the park. That may be true, but I knew from the website, that you could take in only empty, clear bottles. So, these were a no-go.

There was not a huge crowd at security and the guards did not seem concerned by our bags of museum souvenirs. Just inside the gate on the left is a huge fan store. I particularly liked a shirt in the window, although I did not purchase it. I texted it to my husband and he liked it, too.

The store was a destination, not just because it is a souvenir shop, but because my younger daughter collects miniature bats from every ballpark she visits. While she decided which of several to choose, I found pins of the Racing Presidents, which are a fixture of Nationals Park. I already knew about these guys having seen them at AwesomeCon a couple of years ago in D.C. I managed to find a pin for each of them. The line at the registers was quite long, but moved well.
It was actually a bit quieter, when we left the store. We walked to the concourse nearest us and started scoping out the food. I knew what I was looking for, but was afraid to say, lest it would jinx it. We headed up the ramp to the level above and soon found a place selling crab cakes. Hurrah! My younger daughter and I wanted these, while my older daughter wanted something else. They paid for my dinner to make up for some of the meals I'd been buying. We all opted for the soda in a souvenir cup, because refills were free.
My younger daughter and I had chosen our seats using the map online, when we made our plane reservations. It is always iffy doing that, when you are not familiar with a place. However, this time it worked. I knew that climbing to seats would not be good for me. It turned out that we'd been right- our seats were just a step or two down from this concourse. We were all the way at the end of the row and I took the seat next to the glass. We'd chosen the third base side to be closer to the Orioles dugout. The seats also turned out to be in the shade looking onto the sunny field. Perfect.

We settled in to eat our meals and watch the pregame activity. The crab cakes were fine, not restaurant quality, but more Maryland-style than anything that claims to be Maryland-style where we live.

My younger daughter asked, if I'd brought my needlework with me. Of course! I don't go to a ballgame without doing counted cross stitch, if I can help it. There is a lot of down time in a baseball game or a football game and I can't just sit there and expect to stay awake.  So, as the game began at 7:05, after Katie Ledecky, local girl and Olympic phenom threw out the first pitch, I settled in to work on my Irish Santa on perforated paper.
The Orioles scored early and often. It was terrific! If you fly all that way for a game, you want your team to do well. The Presidents raced and it was fun to watch.

As the evening went on, however, time became a concern. I could tell my older daughter was beginning to stress, because the Metro shuts down at midnight, plus she had to work the next day. After 10 pm, the park started putting up signs about watching one's time for the Metro. People started leaving around the 7th inning, with the O's well in the lead. We did not, of course.
When it seemed obvious that the Orioles' lead was insurmountable, I packed up the needlework to be ready to leave when the game was over. My younger daughter and I felt that if they won, we could never again attribute their loss to our presence. If they lost, we were definitely a problem. And, suddenly, it seemed we were! The Nationals were scoring! The score was tightening. We were dying.

Finally, after 3 hours and 28 minutes of play, the Orioles made the final out. Relief! Although, maybe I should not pack up the needlework before a game is totally over. People started rushing to make the Metro connections.
There were a lot of Orioles' fans and the signs had been directed at them to make sure they knew when they had to leave to make the connections out of the city. We stuck together in the crowd, moving as fast as it would allow. At 10:50, we reached the incredibly crowded station. You could hardly get down the escalator. My older daughter led us around the back of the escalator to have some place to stand to wait. I was amazed that in this mix of fans from both teams, there was no animosity, no taunting, just folks trying to make a train. A train that was a long time in coming.
We got incredibly lucky and got on that next train  at 10:56. It was very crowded, but I got a seat. Folks got off at each station and we got off at Gallery Place at 11:05 and paid $1.75. We all walked to the hotel, arriving at 11:11. My older daughter said good-bye to us for the last time and took an Uber home. It was tough to say good-bye to her, knowing we won't see her again until Christmas, but this was a great visit.

Washington, D.C.- Day 2 August 23, 2016

I love National Parks. I am willing to go out of my way to visit these national treasures. Just look at the next to last day of my Kansas trip to see how far I am willing to travel to these. Our National Mall is pretty much a national park, but I've been to the attractions there. I was reading something or other about the National Park Service celebrating its 100th birthday the day we were leaving D.C. and I saw the name of a national park in D.C. that I'd never heard of before. It didn't take much to convince my younger daughter that we should venture out there, since we could use the Metro. My older daughter had done volunteer work there with her university, when she first went to college in D.C., and wasn't interested in taking the time to go out there. So, we decided that would be our first destination for this day, while she worked.
I was up before 8 to do all my stretches and my daughter slept through it. She got up about 8:30 and we got ourselves together to go down to breakfast. I was picking up one of the last not great looking bananas, when the kitchen lady came out and offered me my choice of some beautiful new ones. I had scrambled eggs, while my daughter made herself a waffle. We headed back upstairs to get packed up for the day. It was going to be another very warm day, so water was a must, as well as sunscreen and hats.
We finally left the hotel at 10:10, which meant we missed rush hour and the higher Metro fares. We were on the Red Line train to L'Enfant at 10:20 and arrived there just 2 minutes later. At 10:25, we got on the Orange Line. This ride would take us out to the edge of the city and a lot of the ride was above ground. There were not many people on the train, which was not surprising. We got off at the Deanwood station at 10:42, with a cost of $2.35.
I'd copied down directions from the park's website, which we'd confirmed on my iPad before leaving the hotel. We went down into the station, as the tracks were above ground, and exited through a tunnel. Our path led us through a neighborhood, many of whose houses had bars on the windows, especially those near the main road, which I found disconcerting. The very busy, multi-lane Kenilworth Avenue crossed our path, but there was a pedestrian bridge over it. Luckily, there was a ramp to the bridge. Even at that time of day, much traffic raced beneath our feet.
On the other side of the bridge, we walked through a neighborhood with quite a mixture of architectural styles. There was an obvious old, low-income apartment complex, as well as older single-family homes. We had quite the conversation about these homes, especially since they were unlike those we find in Florida developments. We even walked by a very large brick church. It's been a long time since I walked through a city area, especially a neighborhood, and I found myself feeling rather wary. My daughter, on the other hand, seemed quite relaxed and comfortable, and I did not tell her of my feelings.
At the end of the street, there was a cross street and on the other side of that our destination-Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens, the only aquatic park in the National Park system. We turned right and at 11 am, we walked through the parking lot to the entrance. There is no fee for this park and it even has a playground and athletic fields.

 As we walked through the park on the other side of the parking lot on our way to the visitor's center, I saw these red flowers, which my father had grown at our house back in the day.

 This is one of the garden buildings that we walked past and it was built in 1913 and is still used to propagate water lilies.

I was happy to find fairly decent restroom facilities and a water fountain next to the visitor's center. We took some time to walk through the exhibits in this smaller-than-normal visitor's center, saving its tiny shop for after walking the grounds. The exhibits consisted mostly of signs of explanations and history of the park, but also had pictures of the original owners of the land and some items associated with them.

According to the map my daughter picked up, there were ponds right by the visitor's center. We went around the side and couldn't find them there, but, she saw that they were behind the building. There were even some fish and minnows in them. She tried to no avail to get a picture of the fish that was interested in the hose pouring water into the pond. Some of the flowers had labels, some did not. It was nice to be able to get so close to them and to get some nice pictures.

 We never did figure out what was up with these giant pads.

 What a color!

Behind the ponds were some picnic benches under the trees. Nice spot for that.
We then went back around the front and to the left to follow the map through the park. My daughter decided we'd stay on the outside trail, rather than going down all the cut-throughs. I was never totally sure where we were on the map, because the trails didn't seem to exactly match it and there were no signs, except to the marsh. However, this was not a problem, because the place is not big enough to get lost in.
We first went along the edge of a large clearing under whose trees were placed picnic tables, which seemed terribly practical. You could have quite a large group out there.
Based on what we learned from the signs above, the first pond we came to was full of lotus flowers. So many plants! They were huge! I had my daughter stand next to them for reference-they were almost as tall as her.

 The leaves were bigger than an adult head, and the seed pods did indeed look like shower heads.

 This one that is about to bloom has such intense color.

When we came to the path to the marsh, we decided to at least go out and look at it. There was a very pleasant boardwalk through the trees with some of the wonderful, typical national park signage. We did not follow the entire path, but walked far enough to get the sense of it. It was just too hot to go all that way.

We went back to the main park and took pictures of flowers and each other. So many lovely flowers on a lovely day, with not a cloud in the sky! It was really hard to limit how many I put in this blog. The colors of the water lilies were stunning and surprising. I never knew they came in more than white.

It was nice to see some other people enjoying the park. We saw someone pushing a wheelchair toward the path around the ponds and couldn't imagine how that would work. Some folks seemed local, others did not. There was an Asian-American mother with her two daughters, but they were the only kids we saw.
It did not take terribly long to walk around the ponds. Back in the Visitor's Center, we found some postcards and pins. The place is so small, that the counter is really a dutch door with the top half open. After one more pit stop, we headed back to the Metro station at 12:24.
We walked on the other side of the street this time, to stay in the shade as long as possible. We arrived back at the station at 12:47. There was an announcement that the trains were running on just one track due to a track problem just outside Minnesota Avenue, which was the next station on our trip back to town. We found a bench to sit and just observe the area.
At 1:03, we were on a train, which really wasn't too long a wait, all things considered. We did pass the track work on our way back to town. We got off at L'Enfant at 1:23 and were on the Red Line at 1:26. In just 3 minutes, we were at Gallery Place. Here we got on the Red Line at 1:31 and got off at Judiciary Square just 2 minutes later and paid $2.35 again.
When we got to the top of the escalator, which we unfortunately had to climb, since it was not working, we found ourselves right across the street from the National Building Museum. I'd seen on Google Maps, that there was a cafe on the left side behind the museum, but we couldn't see it. We decided to see about museum food, since most museums have some. If we'd read this sign better, we'd have known it did.

There was some construction going on inside and a big exhibit in the center of the floor, so you had to hug the margins. We found the cafe, which turned out to be the one I'd seen on Google. The food was rather artsy, which is one of the things we like about museum food and why we try to eat in museums as often as possible. Besides our 2 Coke Zeros, we got a chocolate croissant for $3, a fudge brownie for $2.75, a chicken tarragon croissant for $7.15, and a spinach and feta croissant for $2.75 and split everything to be able to try it all. The only seats we saw were just inside the door at a tall table. If we'd looked outside, we'd have seen more regular tables around the margins of the museum. But, we didn't see them until it was too late. We must have been very hungry, as we didn't realize we hadn't taken a picture of the food until it was too late.
We were there for the dollhouse exhibit, but to pay the admission fee for the museum, you wind up in the Icebergs exhibit. So, we started there at 2:24, after paying $16 each, which seemed a bit high, but there you go. It isn't part of the Smithsonian, which is free.
Icebergs do not seem to go with a building museum, but after we walked through the installation, we decided this museum, where an Presidential Inaugural Ball will take place in January, was the only museum in town with enough floor space for it. The various icebergs had bits of info, like after the Titanic disaster, a monitoring system for icebergs was set up in the Atlantic and no life or property has been lost to an iceberg since. There was a berg for kids only to go in,  although they were running amok in the whole thing as it was. There were big bean bags for lounging and, in one berg, there was a snowball stand. You could go up metal stairs in a very large iceberg. I sent my daughter up and photographed her peering down. She was disappointed, when she did not fit on the slide to exit with her backpack and had to walk down more stairs. When we went upstairs later, you could really see that the netting, which was easily looked through on the first floor, was meant to be the ocean and you got the above water effect, as seen below.

Next up was the reason for our visit, the dollhouses. I was very happy that they let us take pictures, although I wound up buying the exhibition book after all. This 300 years of dollhouses exhibit is from the Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood in London and this is its only stop in the US. I am not interested in owning old dollhouses, but I do like seeing them in museums. I am always amused by their mixtures of scale. But, then again, that's one reason I don't want to own one. This exhibit also had recordings of various "inhabitants" of the houses telling you about their day or what they were doing. There was also an area for children to put on aprons and work in a large play kitchen, reminiscent of those that might be in the old dollhouses.
 In the house below on the right, you can see the mixing of scales.

This modern high rise was meant to let kids put things in whatever order they liked.  I loved the exterior of this relatively modern Tudor, but not the interior.

 This really nifty, modern-looking house with a pool, actually dates to the 1930's.

 This ultra modern one I've seen in online catalogs. I like some of the furniture and the layout of the house.

On the wall behind this house, you can see some rectangles. The museum asked some US artists to design their dream rooms and create them for this space. Some did things that really were rooms and others did weird, artsy things. I preferred the rooms. Here are three I liked: an artist's studio, Harry Potter's room under the stairs complete with Hogwarts letters flying in through the mail slot, and an ultra-modern bath.

After this exhibit, we decided to go upstairs to check out the view on top of the icebergs, as seen above. There, we happened upon the House and Home exhibit, where, unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures. We strolled through, looking at the small models of famous homes, but more particularly at the objects that would be found in homes. We saw old TVs, dishes, games, and other household items. I doubt that the people who originally used them would have expected them to wind up in a museum.
I also loved the following quote from Paul Fussell that was on the wall in the exhibit: "Since a housewrecker differs significantly from a homewrecker, the inference is clear that house and home mean different things."
Back downstairs, we headed for the exhibit titled "Around the World in 80 Paper Models", which my daughter was particularly anxious to see. Once again, we were not allowed to take pictures. The only good thing about that is that it saved me from about 80 photos! The models were so cool! It made you want to start collecting and building them.
In fact, there were a lot of paper model kits of famous places in the museum shop, another must stop for our family. I found myself picking out quite a few of these, which were on postcards. However, looking around more in the shop, I found cards with houses of various styles. I put back the famous places and picked up one of every house. I found some miniature kits and other items of interest, including postcards of the museum. Unfortunately, they did not have a pin. I wound up with quite a haul and my daughter chose a couple of items for me to give her as gifts in the future.
Finally at 5, closing time, we left the museum. We walked across the street to the plaza where the Metro station was to take pictures of the sculptures of lions there. Then, we went back across the street and headed north for our hotel. We arrived there at 5:17 and dropped all our purchases and the water bottles, before leaving 18 minutes later, texting my older daughter that we were leaving.
We had to go south and west to reach the Hard Rock Cafe at 999 E Street NW. The shady side of the street was definitely more comfortable. We were going to Hard Rock, because they had sent me a birthday coupon for $15 off and it would soon expire.
We arrived at 5:51 and soon saw her coming down the street from the bus stop. The restaurant was undergoing a major renovation and the greeter made sure to tell us the menu was thus limited. There were seats at the bar or outside, but I wanted to be inside at a decent table, even though that meant walking up stairs. So, we waited, meanwhile looking at what currently passed for the Rock Shop. Even though I already have the DC guitar pin, I managed to find a couple of others to add to my collection.
About 6:05, we were told to go upstairs, where the guy would seat us. Well, he disappeared and it took a few minutes for someone to show up to lead us around the balcony, because that is what the second floor really is, and all of its construction to the other side and seat us at 6:10.
While my older daughter got her usual Coke, my younger daughter and I ordered Mango Berry Coolers, which were quite delicious. Unfortunately, they gave you no plate to put the strawberry stem and the rind.

My younger daughter and I did not split our meals tonight. She ordered the Hickory Smoked Pulled Pork and enjoyed it.

My older daughter liked her Hickory Smoked Pulled Chicken, which is an item I've never heard of.

I asked what was on the Local Legendary Burger and decided it was not for me. So, I had to make a quick decision and went for the Original Legendary Burger. It was not as flavorful as one might like. I felt something should have been mixed with the meat to give it more flavor and not just a mass of ground beef. 

 To top it off, a fry with ketchup on it slipped from my hand and onto my white blouse. I had to go to the restroom and take it off and wash it out as best as possible. Luckily, the restroom on this floor was for one person at a time. Unluckily, there were no paper towels.  I told someone as soon as I left it, but when I went back after dinner, there were still no paper towels. Service in general was rather lacking.

We left at 7:15 to walk back to the hotel. Yesterday, my older daughter had been excited to see that there was a Rita's right down the block from the hotel and had decreed that we would not eat dessert at Hard Rock because of it. Rita's sells custard and Italian ices, which you are encouraged to have together. I ordered chocolate custard with mango strawberry ice. It was delicious, but I should have gotten a smaller size.

Being Americans, we ate some of it as we walked on to the hotel, which we reached at 7:42. The three of us finished them in the room and hung out for a while before my older daughter ordered an Uber and went home.
Another busy, good day!