Thankful Thursday - Travel

I have a bad case of wanderlust.

          wanderlust: (n) a strong, innate desire to travel

I love traveling.  I hate flying.
It's a terrible juxtaposition.

My husband loves traveling.  He used to love flying before he met me and had to deal with my anxiety attacks on planes.

But we continue to travel.  Why?  Because it's the only way to see the world.

And there is so much to see.

We're doing our best to have our wanderlust rub off on our son.  We keep busy during our free time by planning trips and taking them with him, even short ones.

Today's "Thankful Thursday" is about travel.  I'm thankful we have all of these opportunities to travel.  Our jobs afford us the luxury of having pretty much the same time off as our son, and so we try to capitalize on that as much as possible!

Our latest trip was to Williamsburg, VA, and Annapolis, MD (so we were able to drive -- thank goodness!).  We stayed in Williamsburg a few days to go to Busch Gardens, and then we stopped in Annapolis on the way back for a night.

We made it a family trip and went with my in-laws and my mom.  I can tell you one thing for sure -- there was a lot of this:

Coffee = a necessity for us all... except for our 5-year-old, of course.  (I'm a crazy momma, but I'm not that crazy!)

For some reason, the only picture I took in Williamsburg was a picture of the cat that lives outside of the place we rented.  Go figure.

His name is Hemingway and I wanted to bring him home with us.  He was so cuddly and friendly!  I want to go back next year just to visit him.  He would strut out of the garage each morning when we were up having our coffee and would lie down on his back with all four paws in the air for his morning belly rub.  He'd greet us when we returned at the end of each day as well.

I did take some pictures in Annapolis, though.  Annapolis is one of our all-time favorite places to visit.  We've been there so many times and always love going back.

This is the back entrance to one of our favorite bars.  It's right on the main road and has great food.  My husband absolutely LOVES their crab soup.  I love their cranberry and vodkas.  Ha.  It's a permanent stop for us each time we go to Annapolis.

We also love visiting Pusser's Caribbean Grille, a restaurant right on the waterfront.  Here's my son's dessert from there:

And here's a view from our dinner table:

You literally are sitting right on the edge of the dock.  One too many drinks and you could be overboard!

We spent most of the day eating and drinking... really!  But I made time for a little shopping.  I basically just picked up a few pieces of costume jewelry, but Annapolis is full of so many great shops.  However, when you have an impatient 5-year-old and an even more impatient husband, you don't always get to shop 'til you drop.

(source)

The next morning, we had a yummy breakfast at Chick and Ruth's, one of the most well-known restaurants in Annapolis.

Our son D. had his usual -- pancakes:

I had two eggs with home fries and toast.  Their home fries are DA BOMB.

After breakfast, we headed over to the Naval Academy to do a little sight-seeing.  We walked down the street that has a row of houses for the Navy "higher ups."  It's like their own little town.  Very Pleasantville.

Then we walked over to the chapel.  It's beautiful, even from afar.

The entrance to the chapel:

Standing on the chapel steps and looking out:

(Sorry to the random guy with the backpack for including you in the shot!)

And inside the chapel:

The chapel is gorgeous.  There is this overwhelming feeling you get being in there, too.  I can't imagine what it must be like to get married in there!

I had to take this next picture.  It was outside one of the chapel doors and my son thought it was made out of Legos... haha.

Below the chapel is the grave of John Paul Jones, the United States' first well-known naval fighter in the Revolutionary War.

The space they have dedicated to him is beautiful and regal.

On our way out, my son was obsessed with me taking his picture with the cannons.  He was checking for a cannonball in this one.

Anyway, as I mentioned, we are so thankful for any chance we have to travel.  It's one of our favorite things to do and we are so grateful to share our love of it with our son.

(source)

(source)

(source)

(source)

What are you thankful for today?