First of all, our friends Rob & Haley were there, which made it all the more awesome. Rob & Garrett went to medical school together and we all became pretty close during that time. Then they both did their intern years together in Virginia, actually just a couple of hours from D.C. so we had taken some day trips with them to the city already. But this time we had no kids with us, so we were able to do a lot more.
Rob and Garrett were staying at the same place for the whole month (they rented out two bedrooms in a lady's house), so Haley and I just stayed with them while we were there.
Haley and I landed about half an hour apart, so Garrett and Rob picked us up at the airport on Friday around lunchtime. We got some lunch at a little deli and then headed over to Arlington National Cemetery.
The Fall leaves were gorgeous and the weather was perfect!
We walked around for a bit, then watched the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We also got to see a wreath ceremony there (just changing the decorative wreath at the tomb), and soldier played Taps. It was really neat.
As we were walking out we saw a casket being brought in by horse and carriage.
Then we drove downtown and walked around for a few hours. For some reason the White House was pretty blocked off (all the roads around it were blocked), so this was the closest we got that first day:
Walked around Chinatown later in the evening and had some really good pizza for dinner. My favorite was probably the one with the figs and pepper honey and arugula - I will have to try to recreate that at home sometime!
The Washington Monument was pretty neat to see after dark. There was scaffolding around the whole monument because of some work they were doing, and so there were lights set up around the scaffolding, making it especially bright. We barely got there in time to see it, too -- Sunday night was the last night it was lit up like that.
It's been a long time since I've ridden a bike so I'll admit, it took me a good little bit to feel comfortable with riding, but I eventually got the hang of it.
We biked about 10 miles through the park, and then once we hit the city we traded off between biking and walking around. The bikes we rented were from "Capitol Bikes", a system where there are bike racks all around the city and you can turn them in or take them out from any bike rack. If we wanted to go somewhere that was more than half a mile, we usually grabbed a bike from a bike rack and just rode over to where we were going (there are lots of bike racks in the city). It was sooo fun but I'll admit, I felt a little nervous riding around in the city. The drivers and pedestrians there are crazy!
Besides biking, we visited the Natural History Museum and the American History Museum that day. I loved the American History Museum. Did you know that the original Star Spangled Banner was 30 x 42 feet long? We also saw the dresses and china of the First Ladies, and a history of food production in America. It was so nice to be able to walk around and actually read posters and information about things that I wanted to learn about, rather than push a stroller around or chase kids.
The American History Museum had a "suggestions" board asking people what they thought was missing from American culture (for future displays)... as you can see, apparently it's unanimous:
After the museums we walked around downtown for a bit, finding ourselves in Chinatown again. We had dinner at Shake Shack (soooo good!) and then had cupcakes from a little bakery for dessert:
Waiting for the metro at Union Station to take us back "home" to Silver Spring:
On Sunday morning we went to church (after truly enjoying that extra hour of sleep thanks to the end of DST), then headed back downtown in the afternoon. Garrett just loves driving in big cities! (And he almost escaped unscathed... he unfortunately got into a minor car accident as he was literally driving out of the city to come home. Thankfully the car was drive-able and he still got home on schedule)
On Sunday afternoon we went to the Holocaust Museum. It was very moving and I don't have any pictures, but I highly recommend it!
Sunday was also a chilly day walking around downtown. Garrett and I kept saying how we are going to just die of cold during his fellowship year... it's definitely not in a warm area! ;) (sorry for the tease... will post about that soon!)
On Monday we went to an Indian restaurant for lunch, then to the Library of Congress. What an amazing building! The architecture is stunning. Just look at the mosaics from the ceiling:
In one area of the main floor, they have the "Hall of Professions", where there are about a dozen professions represented on the ceiling. This one was "Medicine":
This is a children's book from the Civil War era. Check out the bottom right.. "T is for Traitor that was hung on a tree":
My cousin Elza, who lives nearby, met up with us at the Library! It was so fun to see her. Elza used to spend several weeks during the summer with us growing up in New Hampshire, so she's almost like a sister.
Also got to see the Gutenberg Bible:
After the Library of Congress, we went to the Portrait Gallery. Saw this original painting of Joseph Smith:
Then we headed over to a fancy chocolate place (a "chocolate lounge") for dessert. This place specializes in chocolate; it's in nearly every dish they serve (including the dinner menu), so it was interesting! We had eaten a late lunch that day so we just ordered desserts. This one came highly recommended and it didn't disappoint! It's called the "Chocolate Onyx" and it's a dark chocolate mousse with vanille creme brulee and salted caramel/crispy chocolate pearls in a brownie, a dark chocolate sorbet, and a cinnamon toffee bonbon. I shared this with Elza, since we both also got dark chocolate hot chocolates. I can only eat so much chocolate in one sitting!
And of course we had to stop in at the bookstore afterwards. It's tradition!
After the temple, we drove over to the Washington National Cathedral. Another amazing building. Unfortunately we were too late for an official tour, but we did have a couple hours to walk around by ourselves.
Look at the details in the woodwork!
We went up to the 7th floor, overlooking the beautiful landscape. Loved the Fall colors... the pictures just don't do them justice.
After Evensong we headed downtown one more time, meeting up with Rob and Haley for dinner. Ended up in Chinatown again. It's not even that big an area, we just always seemed to pick restaurants that were close by or actually in Chinatown.
And of course, all good things must come to an end. Garrett and Rob dropped us off at the airport on Wednesday afternoon. It was a wonderful 5 days and we can't wait to do it again sometime!
HUGE thanks to my mom for coming to Florida to watch the 3 girls while we took our trip. Mom, you are welcome any time!!
2 comments:
I'm guessing...the Mayo Clinic.
Hey, you were up in my neck of the woods! Looks like a fun trip--we rented bikes in D.C. a couple of years ago--I was nervous being on a bike again and biffed it at a crosswalk, but other than that it was good. :-)
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