So every year when my first college roommate, Elizabeth, comes home from DC for the holidays we always meet up and eat dinner. We usually go to one of our favorite places that we would go to when we lived together and our conversation usually always ends with "You need to come to DC to see me!" I visited her when she first moved there back in 2008. After dinner I came home and talked to Ryan and told him that we should make a little mini vacation out of it and go visit her in DC this spring. So we got online, found a hotel and plane ticket and booked our trip to see her. Boy was she surprised when she got that text saying we were coming!!!
We left the morning of April 13, 2016. By the time we got to Murfreesboro, Ryan decides to ask me if I had my driver's license. Thank goodness he asked me and too bad he didn't ask sooner because my license was sitting in another purse in the car at home. So we turned around and made our way back home to get my drivers license. Oops! When we made it to Nashville we parked the truck at Park N Fly and shuttled our way to the airport. While waiting to board our plane the attendant announces that there is some unexpected maintenance on the plane.
Come to find out once we got on the plane that it was the coffee maker!
We flew on a very small plane. Two seats on each side of the plane. We flew into Ronald Regan airport and for the first time ever in my plane riding, we deplaned on the tarmac and was transported by shuttle to the airport. Ryan set up an Uber to take us to our hotel. He chose Uber Black and it cost us $40 to get from the airport to our hotel!
We stayed at the Marriott at Wardman Park. Beautiful part of town located close to the Washington D.C. Zoo. The week before we arrived was the Cherry Blossom Festival. Unfortunately, they only bloom for roughly 10 days so we missed all the trees that bloomed at the same time but there were a few around the city that were still blooming. This tree was in front of one of the hotel entrances. The tulips there were amazing too. They looked like something out of a painting. Every color of tulip you could imagine and they smelled amazing! As we walked in to check into our room we noticed the place was busy with men and women all dressed up in suit and tie. It was a Lawyer convention - insert rolling eyes here - Our room was nice with a view of the roof from another part of the hotel. We didn't care though because we spent all our time walking around the city!
Once we checked into our room we decided to explore before we had to meet up with Elizabeth for dinner. I spent weeks before planning what we had to incorporate each day so that nothing would be left out of our trip. We hopped on the Metro and traveled to Metro Center which is where you can find the majority of the monuments and museums there. This is also where all rail lines meet and is the busiest part of the Metro. It was also close to where we were going to eat so on our way to finding the restaurant we came across the White House. This side of the White House that you see in most pictures is actually the back of the House.
There they have the Kitchen Garden where they grow their own veggies and herbs.
Directly across from the back of the White House is the Washington Monument. We didn't get close to it because I don't think there is much to see there. I think you can travel to the top but need tickets?! I wasn't sure and didn't check any further into it. We had a lot to do and see already.
We also had enough time to squeeze in a museum so since I have already been and seen most of all the museums I let Ryan decided. He chose the American History Museum first.
One of Andrew Jackson's Uniforms
Part of the Twin Towers post 9/11
After the museum we were thirsty from all the walking and decided to stop and find a drink. This happened often on this trip! Lots of walking equals lots of drinks! Ryan found this place called Shelly's Backroom that just so happened to be right around the corner from our dinner reservations. The wall of boxes in this picture are humidors. My guess is that those people rent or buy them and keep their personal cigar stash in there. There were groups of men dressed to the nines sitting around each other smoking their cigars and drinking their scotches making big world decisions. Ryan had a Crown XO on the rocks and I had a bloody mary and we shared a spinach dip appetizer and just took in the atmosphere.
Elizabeth made dinner reservations for us at Old Ebbitt Grill. Old Ebbitt Grill is Washington D.C.'s oldest known saloon. Founded in 1856 as a boarding house, its guest list read the Who's Who of American History with presidents such as McKinley, Grant, Johnson and Roosevelt spending time there. Although this location is not the original one it is still packed with priceless antiques and memorabilia that make this place what it is, a historical landmark.
Waiting outside for Elizabeth to get off of work.
Ryan had fish and chips, Elizabeth had some kind of cannelloni and I had this amazing pimento cheese grit cake with shrimp and Andouille sausage. It was amazing!
Next, she took us back "home" to a country bar call Hill Country, where business men and women in their business attire come to sing karaoke in the basement of this bar after a long days work. It was definitely entertaining to say the least!
Thursday morning started out with breakfast at Lincoln's Waffle House. It was located across from Ford's Theatre and the house where Lincoln died. The place is run by a bunch of Chinese men, one of which showed us some pictures of a film crew filming a TV show where the actors sat at the same spot we were eating that morning! Pretty cool!
After breakfast we decided that we were going to get in as many museums as we could. Ryan chose the Holocaust museum which was probably my favorite one when I visited in 2008. I have two words that describe the Holocaust museum, heart wrenching. A for sure must see for everyone!
Next we went to the American Indian museum. Very hard to follow. Lots of information. We didn't spend too much time in there. My brain started hurting from all the reading.
Next museum was the one Ryan wanted to see the most, the Air and Space Museum. Its the biggest of them all but it houses lots of different planes and spacecraft so those took up a lot of space (no pun intended). We took our time on this one. We did a simulation where Ryan was the pilot and I was the gunman and we had to fly the plane together. Needless to say we were upside down quite a bit. We stopped in the store afterwards and bought the boys some space ice cream.
My feet were killing me after walking out the door. As we started down the steps I hear this bike bell. I look up and there is a guy there in the street just waiting for us. It was like the heavens above opened up and there he was! Like a horse and chariot. We hopped in his little buggy and off we rode. First stop was Walgreens to get a lighter that Ryan had lost during a break we took between museums when he laid on the ground in one of the parks. After that he rode us through Chinatown to our next stop which was an Irish pub. Yes, in Chinatown, I know right? Like I said earlier, walking equals drinking. This bar was called Fado's Irish Pub. We shared some fish and chips and talked about how we knew nothing about Soccer. There was a game on there and soccer fans are something else! I just don't get it!
Next stop, American Art & Portrait Gallery. It was pretty neat to see all the different paintings there, contemporary and not. I liked this museum more than I thought I would have. There were a lot of people I didn't know but the fact that those paintings are original and had a story behind them was very intriguing to me. One thing I took into account during each museum was to imagine how life was during that time. I told Ryan, on more than one occasion, that I wish I had paid more attention during History class in school. It's a lot of information but all so interesting! My favorite was the gallery with all the Presidents. Here are just a few ...
Ben Franklin
JFK
Four museums in one day call for some good comfort food and more drinks :) I chose Pi Pizzeria. It had a cornmeal crust and sauce on top. It was so good!
You can't go wrong with pizza and you can't go wrong with Baskin Robbins Cookie's & Cream ice cream. Just so happened to be right beside our hotel :)
Friday morning we got up and took the Metro to tour the Library of Congress. We didn't stop and eat breakfast before we left because we figured we could get there and find somewhere quick to eat before the tour starts. There are NO coffee shops or restaurants around the Library of Congress. After we waited for like 15 minutes or so I realized that the line we were standing in wasn't for tour appointments. I got my phone out and read the email - duh! Once we found where we were supposed to be we walked right in. We were the first ones there and a nice volunteer told us about an underground Dunkin Donuts. So we hurried down there and ate breakfast before the tour.
Our tour guide was very informative. I suggest if you ever visit D.C. to get a tour guide at every place you can. If you don't, you miss out on all the detail and interesting facts that you wouldn't find out without one. Literally, every detail has a meaning or underlying fact as to why it was put there. It's sad that architecture like this in now a lost art. So much time, blood, sweat and tears went into these buildings.
Each one of the children represented on the stairs has a meaning. All carved by hand. Just. Amazing.
It's hard to tell but this is made out of mosaic tile. So much attention to detail. It looks more like a painting.
After we learned all about the building we had like 5 minutes to walk in to actually see the Library part.
Here is where you sit to look at whatever you are there to look at. You cannot take out any book or any article of literature out of the building. Not anyone off the street can visit or use the Library of Congress. It has a collection of more than 158 million items including more than 36 million cataloged books and other print materials in 460 languages; more than 69 million manuscripts; the largest rare book collection in North America; and the world's largest collection of legal materials, films, maps, sheet music and sound recordings.
One thing I didn't take a picture of that I wish I did was the Jefferson Library. I stole this one off the internet. The original library was housed in the new Capitol Building until August 1814, when invading British troops set fire to the Capitol Building, burning the contents of the small library.
Within a month, retired President Thomas Jefferson offered his personal library of 6,487 books as a replacement. Jefferson had spent 50 years accumulating books, "putting by everything which related to America, and indeed whatever was rare and valuable in every science"; his library was considered to be one of the finest in the United States
This was one of the stops that we knew for sure we wanted to eat at. Ben's Chili Bowl. There are 3 different sites in town. We ate at the one on H street. It isn't the original but it was the closest one to us and was just as good I'm sure!
Best. Sweet. Tea. Ever. Period.
Ryan and I shared a half smoke with mustard and onions and shared some chili cheese fries.
They really do have something special. Their chili had just the right amount of spice. Enough to make your nose run but not burn your mouth!
Next, we had our Capitol tour. Something that I didn't realize was that not every state representative's office is in the Capitol building. The Dunkin Donuts that we went to before the Library of Congress tour was underground. It led you different routes to different buildings where you could walk to and from those office buildings across the street from the Capitol and never go outside.
This is the Statue of Freedom. She sits on top of the Capitol. They have this replica statue inside to show what she looks like.
They have been working on the rotunda repairing the marble that has been chipping off over time. Slowly but surely they are repairing it. Repairing buildings like this one is a lost art that cannot be hurried.
They are working on the inside of the Rotunda as well. We were able to see a small part of the inside.
Beside the Capitol is the Supreme Court Building.
This was the Law Enforcement Memorial. Anyone who has died while on duty has their name etched here. Ryan found Jerry Crabtree's name and we shaded it onto a piece of paper.
This man had an interesting story. He lives in D.C. and was a anti-terrorism consultant with the Secret Service when his partner was shot on duty. He comes by often he to visit the memorial and have a drink with him. That wasn't Vitamin Water like it said in that bottle.
I forgot to take a picture of my cupcake but we stopped at a bakery called Red Velvet and I had a cupcake. Ryan wanted to try the gelato shop down from the bakery. He had vanilla and chocolate chip chocolate.
We then stopped by the National Archives where the Bill of Rights, Constitution and Declaration of Independence are located. We were unable to take photos of them due to the natural deterioration of the paper. They were placed in a dark lit room with special lighting to keep them from degenerating even more. It is hard to even read the writing on them now.
Our last museum stop of the day was the Natural History Museum. We had to take pictures of the dinosaurs to show Liam!
The Hope Diamond
Ridiculously large Sapphires
Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!
After we were finished with the museum we decided to make our way to Elizabeth's house and wait on her to get home from work so we could go eat. As we were walking to dinner we see a young man being chased by a police officer on foot. Ryan moved Elizabeth and I over to the far side of the sidewalk out of the way and I hear a big thud. I look back and Ryan had stood in front of the boy as he was running and stopped him, putting him in physical restraints until the police had caught up with him. They called him in for robbery and we made our way to dinner at Nooshi, a sushi restaurant.
Ryan's sushi plate minus one roll which was Elizabeth's.
After sushi we travelled a couple restaurants down to a place called Pacifico Cantina and stopped at their rooftop bar for a drink or two. I tried this jalapeño margarita which was DISGUSTING. I chugged it down and my mouth was on fire. Before we ordered it Elizabeth said it wasn't over powering. Either she was lying or someone didn't muddle her jalapeno last time she had one. Never again!
We then travelled across the street to Maggie Malone's for a night cap. I taught the bartender how to make milk drinks and they fell in love with them as well. After a couple hours there watching Nashville Hockey play we made our way back to the hotel to rest up for our busy day Saturday.
Saturday morning we woke up and got ready for our bus tour of the city. We stopped at Jamba Juice and got a smoothie and Ryan got some oatmeal and then we loaded onto the bus. It was a double decker 7 hour bus tour. There was roughly 15 or so people on the bus. I say roughly because some people got left on a couple stops and then we acquired some on other stops.
Our first stop was The Capitol. We had already toured the Capitol so we took advantage of the scenery and took some pictures.
Next, was The White House stop. It was "Emancipation Day" that day so there was a parade and a lot of stuff going on in the city. We had to make a few different turns and actually missed getting to see the WWII memorial because there were roads shut down. We had to walk a couple blocks to get to the White House (which we had already seen.) But again we took advantage of the picture opportunity.
People were protesting once again. Must be a daily thing!
White House
Washington Monument Selfie
Lincoln Memorial
Vietnam Memorial
Korean War Memorial
When the bus pulled up I saw a group of Korean men in suits surrounding a highly decorated Korean man in uniform. When we finally got to the memorial we saw this wreath. The ribbon states "The Republic of Korea will never forget your noble sacrifice" - Yoo Li Ho - Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance.
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
Jefferson Memorial on the other side of the Tidal Basin.
Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial
On our way to the Jefferson Memorial each branch had their silent drill teams practicing.
Inside the Jefferson Memorial. Ryan skipped out on this because he was so fascinated watching the drill practice.
The White House and Washington Memorial looking out from Jefferson Memorial.
Our next stop was lunch. We went to the Fashion Center Mall and on our way we passed the Pentagon.
After lunch we spent the rest of the afternoon at Arlington Cemetery. I didn't realize how big it really was. It was beautiful and quiet, a perfect time to reflect on those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom.
The Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, that was once the home of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. It overlooks the Potomac River and the National Mall in Washington, D.C. During the American Civil War, the grounds of the mansion were selected as the site of Arlington National Cemetery, in part to ensure that Lee would never again be able to return to his home. However, the United States has since designated the mansion as a National Memorial to Lee, a mark of widespread respect for him in both the North and South. Arlington Woods, located behind Arlington House, contains the oldest and largest tract of climax eastern hardwood forest that still exists in Arlington County. - Compliments of Wikipedia
John F. Kennedy's Gravesite. Here he was buried along with his wife, stillborn daughter and son who died 2 days after his premature birth. Above their headstones is the eternal flame that was lit the day JFK was buried.
We sure do travel well together! I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else!
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Changing of the Guard
For dinner we wanted to try something we had never had before. We took the Metro back to our area of town around the hotel to find something close to there. We choose Lebanese Taverna. Neither of us had ever tried Lebanese food before. Our waiter was great and he recommended trying the tour of Lebannon. These two dishes had a little bit of everything. I cant remember what half of them were but there were only a couple that I didn't care for. My favorites were the baba ghanoush, shawarma and the hummus.
- Baba ghanoush is a Levantine dish of cooked eggplant mixed with onions, tomatoes, olive oil and various seasonings.
- Shawarma or Shawurma is a Levantine Arab meat preparation, where lamb, chicken, turkey, beef, veal, carabeef, or mixed meats are placed on a spit, and may be grilled for as long as a day. Shavings are cut off the block of meat for serving,
-Hummus is a Levantine and Egyptian food dip or spread made from cooked, mashed chickpeas or other beans, blended with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic.
Oh and the pita bread! Amazing! We ate 2 baskets full!
Sunday started out down the never ending escalator down to the Metro.
Waiting on the Metro to head to Eastern Market area where we met up with Elizabeth.
Eastern Market was like a community flea market type thing. Outside had clothes and prints and things of that nature. Inside there were meat markets, cheese stands, homemade pasta and fresh veggies vendors. There was also an area for vendor food. Ryan stood in line what seemed like forever for a banana and nutella crepe at the Crepes at the Market stand.
After Eastern Market we walked around Navy Yard. Here is a picture of an old battleship docked there. I'm pretty sure it is no longer in use.
We stopped and ate ice cream at Jublie's then made our way to Blue Jacket Bar for a cocktail and snack. The Blue Jacket Bar building was built in 1919, know as The Boilermaker Shops, part of the Navy yards ship and munitions manufacturing complex, and it is one of the few true industrial buildings remaining in Washington, DC. Now it houses their craft beer brewery. All beers on tap there are their own hand crafted beer. Ryan had a flight of many different ones. This was right up his alley! I had some of the best tater tots in my life covered in cheese, bacon and ham gravy!
We couldn't decide what to do next so finally Ryan just called an Uber and had them take us to Old Town Alexandria to a bar called South Side 815 Bar.
We had a couple drinks there then moved down the street to Daniel O'Connell's bar and had a couple more. We wandered around the streets of Old Town trying to find a place that caught our eye for dinner. We made it all the way down to the end of the street to the Potomac River and made our way back up.
We chose The Warf and I am so glad we did! I had mussels for the first time and boy have I been missing out! They were soooo good! The filet and crab cake was amazing too!
It has been 11 years since I first moved into that apartment for my freshmen year of college. Who knew that I would find a life long friend that even though we only see each other once or twice a year we still pick up where we left off before! So thankful for her friendship!
Monday morning we had a late check out but we decided to pack all of our stuff anyways and make the best of the morning. We took our last Metro to town and ate at a little hole in the wall place. Then we made our way to the White House to buy souvenirs. Our flight was to leave at 1pm so once we were done there we Ubered to the airport to catch our flight. We once again were transported by bus to the plane and walked straight up the steps to our seats.
Here is an aerial view of the Pentagon as we were flying out.
Our DC trip was fun. It was a nice getaway for a couple days. I missed the boys but they had fun with their grandparents. It wasn't a very relaxing trip because of all the walking but it was stress free which is what I needed!
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