Washington, DC: Day 4

A fuzzy last-day picture of the DC group!

Michael Buble's Christmas album came out while we were there! SO good! Check it out if you haven't already.

First stop: Union Station

We saw the post office museum. It was pretty cool and a lot more interesting than I expected.

Traveling by stage coach. Close quarters- it would have driven me crazy!

The dome of the Capitol.

The old post office.
They had a bunch of restaurants to choose from here, and then we took a tour of the old bell tower.

Eating our last DC meal!

As always, the last day of vacation is usually kind of a bummer. Not because it isn't fun, but at least for me there's that dreaded anticipation of going back to reality. Little did I know all that reality entailed, but all has turned out better than before.

This day I had one of my usual clumsy moments. (You don't live to be almost 6 feet tall and not spend half your life tripping over your feet and other various objects close to the ground) As we were walking up to the Capitol, I was videotaping. As we were walking, I turned to look at something and next thing I know my knee is crashing into a barrier that keeps cars from driving up the sidewalk. We had already gone past about four others, so I don't know why this one surprised me. That was one of the most painful experiences of my life (now I know what a 10 out of 10 really means!). I honestly thought I had shattered my kneecap or something for about the first ten minutes after it happened. Those barriers must be made of iron or titanium! Anyway, I spent the rest of the next few days limping and feeling sorry for myself but in the end I just bruised the patellar tendon, which is why it hurt so much to bend it.

That is the end of that story. And on the sick front, well I'm still kind of sick. Yesterday I thought I was completely over it, but last night was coughing up my lung and then some. I woke up this morning doing the same, which isn't so surprising, but I don't like that this nasty cough is hanging on. I don't get sick often at all and when I do, I'm kind of a big baby. I'll have some flatter abs when all this is over though.

I can't believe it is November!! I'm so excited about the Holidays coming up. I'm already listening to Christmas music. Haters back off! I love Christmas, and if I want to listen to Christmas music in March or July or November, I will. Thank you. Also. The red cups are here. That reason alone makes me want to go to Starbucks twelve times a day. All the Scrooges and Grinch's of the world can just grin it and bear it for the next two months.

Washington, DC: Day 3

John, me, and the Washingtons.

John and me with a tree. We took a picture with it because it has probably been around since Washington's days at Mt. Vernon. He may have planted it! Also, we don't have trees like this in Florida.

I wish this was my backyard!

Me, Allison, and John.
Again, I wish this was my backyard!

My mom and me on a ferry boat ride on the Potomac.

The Potomac

We spent all day at Mt. Vernon. It was as good as last year! That place is beautiful, and if you are ever in the region you must go there. You could spend a full day there, because there is so much to see. We ended the evening eating at Outback Steakhouse (because the Mt. Vernon Inn was closed). When we got back, Allison and I fell asleep by 8:00pm and slept through Sister Wives. Oh wait... I didn't mean to admit to that, oh well.

The weather down here is cool and blustery today. It makes me happy! And I'm wearing my scarf, something I rarely get to do in Florida!

Washington, DC: Day 2

We started out the day eating breakfast at Market Lunch at Eastern Market. Delicious! Allison and I went here last year as well, and it was well worth going back!

Allison and her blue/bucks

Me and my buttermilk pancakes. Mmm!

On Saturdays there is a large open air market at Eastern Market. We walked around for about an hour, and I bought the scarf pictured here.

Then we went to Arlington Cemetery.

The changing of the guard is always impressive.

After we went over to the Crystal City stop and ate at a really delicious sandwich shop. I wish I could remember the name of it.

We finished the night by walking around the monuments at sunset. Unfortunately the reflection pool is all dug up, and does not look pretty at all right now.

Washington, DC: Day 1

Allison at the hotel, eagerly anticipating the days' events.

We started out at the Air and Space Museum.

National Archives, seriously one of my favorite places ever!

This is the Starbucks that Allison and I went to a lot last year. So when we were tired, we decided to go sit at it for about an hour.

Sitting in Starbucks. We saw many wonderful people.

Which one of these is not like the other?

I don't know who that is, but he had some great stories to tell.

Me and Wash. Mon.

We rode the metro a lot!

The trip was awesome, obviously. The first day we hit up the Air and Space Museum, National Archives, and American History Museum. Lots of fun! I LOVE DC and could honestly spend every vacation there. There is just so much to see and do.

According to Nat: Washington, DC: The Seventh Day

Inside the Library of Congress.

Security was really high around the Capitol.
That night when we watched the news, we found out why.

We were too tired to do much touring anymore,
So we spent awhile at Starbucks.

We finished the evening back in Fairfax at Five Guys.

We were so tired on the last day. I didn't post pictures of it, but we decided to start out earlier than usual and eat our last breakfast at the Market Lunch in Eastern Market. It was delicious! I hadn't gotten a chance to try their pancakes when we went on Saturday, and they were definitely the best I'd ever had. When we got into DC, we didn't really do much besides walk around. We walked around the Library of Congress for awhile, which was one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen. Then we went to the National Archives again, since the first day we'd gone and only had 30 minutes before closing. We got to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Wish we could have taken pictures, but oh well. All I could think of the whole time was National Treasure. Way to cherish those historical documents!

We were so tired, and finally hopped out early back to Fairfax. I was sad to say good bye to DC, although I was also kind of glad the trip was over. It was certainly one of the most wonderful weeks, but so tiring. We never got a chance to rest while we were there. My feet hurt, I was tired, and needed sleep. We ate at Five Guys, went back to the hotel, and woke up at 5 am so we could make it to Baltimore for our 10 am flight.

And now you know what we did in DC. I finally finished documenting it, even if it took me almost a month! I still at times find myself thinking about our trip, some of my favorite parts of it such as our time at Arlington Cemetery, or just traipsing around the District not knowing where we were going, and it makes me happy. They were good times. With all the stress in life, it is nice to know that at some point you can get a break from it all, away from home and responsibilities. Travel, see new places.

Thanksgiving break is about over for me, and it's back to work in the morning! I got five days off, so I can't complain. It was lazy and tiring, so I'm ready for a little routine back in life again. Now it's time to look forward to Christmas. Some things I'm looking to do: see the Rockettes, go to ICE! at Gaylord Palms in Orlando, maybe a trip to Disney, and see the Jacksonville Symphony. Just need to find someone to go with.

Happy Christmas Season!

Washington, DC: The Sixth Day

At the art museum.
This is the room where Abraham Lincoln had his 2nd inaugural ball.

We got to see Elvis at 21

Went to Fro Yo

You can't tell, but that is me in front of the Navy Memorial

Picture with the National Archives in the background.
Because it was one of our favorite places!

Washington, DC: The Fifth Day

It's a new day!

We love my phone's little GPS system!
It got us lost more than once. Such as:
taking us to a random neighborhood in Alexandria
Just because its street name happened to be Mt. Vernon.

Me: 6'0''
George Washington: 6'2''
He might have been the only eligible man for me back then.

Me and the Prez.
Please don't laugh at how stupid I look.

Imagine if this was your backyard?

Me in front of G. Wash's house, Mt. Vernon.
What I never knew, is that the original house was
half that size, and he expanded on it after he moved in.

Picture with the common "necessary."
Was it really necessary to have 3 toilets
all out in the open in that little outhouse?

Can you imagine having an open field like this?

We ate at the Mt. Vernon Inn.
I look really thrilled to be there, don't I?
The food was really good.

When we were walking in, I told Allison I wanted to take
a picture with this sign. She would not let me.
But when we left, she changed her mind.

The Washington Monument is a lot bigger than you'd think!

The view of the Capitol from the Washington Monument.
So pretty against the night sky, with the flags.

We ended the evening at the WWII Memorial.
It was FREEZING cold! But we had fun.

This day was, hands down, the best day of our week in DC. We spent most of it at Mt. Vernon, as you can see. If you ever go to DC or Virginia or anywhere in the near vicinity, you need to make Mt. Vernon a priority. I really wanted to go, but honestly I didn't really think it was going to be that great. I thought ok, we can tour Washington's house, but what else is there really? There is a lot to see. There are about 40 more pictures I could have posted. Wouldn't you have loved that?!

We probably didn't get into DC until about 4 o'clock that day. I don't really remember what we did. I think we just went to our little Starbucks, then walked around the monuments in the dark. In the freezing cold. It was at least in the high 30s, and neither one of us were really dressed quite warm enough for it. But still, we had fun.

If there was one day I wish I could go back to during that week, it is this day. Although I was starting to think about how close to the end of our trip we were getting, (which is really stupid) so I was starting to get a little sad this day. But a fun day was had, to be sure.