Trip to D.C.

As some of you may know, in March I flew back East and got to visit our Nation's Capital and hang out with my cousins. I had an absolute blast. It was exactly what I needed. Tawny came along and we got to re-live a lot of the memories we created together when we went our Sophomore year of high school with Mr. Miner.

I know I could go into detail about a lot of what we did and I do have a ton of pictures from the trip but mostly, I don't feel like boring you with minor details. Although, I'm not so sure it would be boring, as all my trips are awesome. I'll try and make it as painless as possible for you though. :)

Tawny and I arrived in D.C. at 7:30 am. We then had to take a shuttle to our hotel in Oxon Hill, Maryland. We arrived there safely and found our hotel(which we were only staying in for one night). We were extremely tired and ugly(at least I was -- bangs do NOT travel well) but didn't want to waste any time. We took a quick power nap and headed for the city.

From our hotel, we had to take a bus to the metro station. Neither of us had ever taken the bus before. As in the bus provided for public transportation. We were in for quite the adventure. Little did we realize when we booked our hotel in Oxon Hill that we would be the only white people for like a mile. That's probably a lie, but you get my drift. If you know me at all, you'll know that I didn't mind that one bit! ;) But it did result in a lot of stares when we boarded the bus from well, basically everyone.

That first day was beautiful and we went to all the Smithsonian Museums. Seriously, I loved them. All of them. I know which one was Tawny's favorite and that was the American Indian museum. We tried to figure out what tribe she is from but didn't have much success.

This is a picture of me at the notorious Wok 'N Roll in Chinatown. When we went to DC in high school we ate at this place and decided to try and find it this time when we went back. It was fun to re-live some of the memories we had from our first trip.

Lincoln Memorial

That's the capital behind me.

It felt like we walked for miles and miles. By the end of the trip, my feet were numb. We walked up and down the National Mall, multiple times. We visited all the monuments and memorials. They're all so beautiful. I loved seeing the WWII Memorial (you can see it at the end of the reflection pool behind our heads). It was under construction the first time we went so it was fun to see it all complete.

Typical DC picture, I know. :)

We spent one day in Georgetown and I loved it! It's probably my new favorite place. The building above is on campus at the University. Isn't it so beautiful? Who wouldn't love to go to school in that.

There was a lot of great shopping there and Tawny and I did a lot more walking. But it was worth it. There was a canal that we walked up and down with beautiful houses and buildings lining it.

I fell in love with all the colorful houses in the town. They're so fun!

One thing we really loved when we went in high school was Mt. Vernon. We decided that we wanted to check it out again. We hopped in the car with the trustworthy GPS system (a HUGE thanks to my aunt and uncle for this. It was a life saver!!) and headed off in the direction we thought was Mt. Vernon. We were wrong. The GPS system wasn't, we were. We didn't have an exact address so we stupidly thought we could type in a general one and we got completely lost. We ended up in Middleburg, VA. The drive was actually really, really beautiful so we didn't really mind the detour.

Us in Middleburg, VA.

We finally made it to Mt. Vernon and it was even better than I remembered. We walked the grounds of George Washington's home and it was gorgeous. It's pretty amazing to walk where so much history has taken place.

In George Washington's woods.

We really wanted to be able to visit the Washington, D.C. temple. I wasn't sure we would have time but luckily on Sunday after church (where Tawny bravely wore her jeans), we were able to go walk around the temple grounds. It's my favorite temple and I was so glad we made it there. It is so beautiful!

Washington, D.C. is probably one of my favorite cities. It was such an awesome trip. I only wish there would have been more time to spend with my cousins and aunt and uncle. They were so great and accommodating and we really appreciated that! We did get to drive down through Virginia with them to their home in Chesapeake which was fun. I actually really enjoyed the drive. The country out there is so beautiful and if I ended up out there, I think I'd really love it. There are so many trees and I love that! I can't wait to go back.