On March 29th, Jonathan and I flew out to Washington D.C. for 6 action packed days of NON-STOP walking! I kid you not, I almost died!
Jonathan loves history, specially the history of our country and he couldn't wait to see every monument, memorial, museum, archive, etc...that Washington D.C has to offer. I have been there twice & both times, saw just about everything DC has to offer. But I was excited for a week with no kids, no laundry, no cooking and 100% quality time with my BFF sweetie-pie!
Day 1: was traveling (leaving here at 9:30 & getting to D.C. @ 8pm) We luckily got a full nights rest before heading to Gettysburg, PA then next day. Jonathan was very disappointed that I wasn't really sure what the battle at Gettysburg was over. I mean, I learned it in H.S., but come on....? Am I the only one who doesn't know my history. Probably not. :)
Day 2: It was interesting to see the actual spot where Abraham Lincoln gave his "four score and 7 years ago..." speech. The 1st picture in the slideshow is Jonathan standing in front of the monument that marks the location of that speech given in Gettysbury, PA. It was a long day of walking & learning, but we had fun. As we drove back into Washington D.C., we drove to the D.C. Temple. It was beautiful! Unfortunately we didn't have our dress clothes with us that day otherwise we would have taken the time to do some temple work. The most interesting part of that temple is- there is not ONE single window. It is a stone fortress for sure, resting in the most beautiful grove of trees with cherry blossoms & tulips blooming everywhere around!
Day 3 we drove to Mt. Vernon, VA to see George Washington's plantation & house. It was actually very interesting, even for me ;) We took a 30 or so minute boat tour, right from the wardf on his property, up the Patomic to learn about the history of the area & of Washington's home. This day there was even more walking than at Gettysbury, but I still survived.
Day 4 was the killer. Washington monument, Lincoln memorial, WW II Memorial, Vietnam wall & Korean Memorial, Smithsonian Museum of American History, and phew...I'm not sure what else. I just know that Jonathan ran me into the ground!
Day 5 was not much better. Smithsonian Museum of Natural History (fun for me- lots of dinosaur bones & stuffed animals (not the toy kind) jewels, Egypians & even mummies (there is an adult & child mummy in the pictures). Interesting stuff that I liked and gave my brain a break from all the "boring" kind of history! :) Next, we spent some time in the Holocaust Museum, which I loved & have been to both times before. Walked to see the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building, Ford's Theatur (which you needed to get tickets in early AM in order to go in-bummer), ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, got my way for some quick shopping at H&M :), walked to the White House & then clear about the block to see the other side....ugh, this is the point where I took OFF my shoes & walked barefoot. My feet just couldn't handle the pain & that seemed to do the trick. I know, people think that's gross. Well I am a barefoot kind of lady- I'd live that way if people would only let me into 7-11 like that!! ;) Jonathan forced me to walk a few more blocks where we hoped on the metro & well that's where I died. (At least I felt like I should die, how could my legs possible carry on.....my time had come, I was sure of it!) Those last few hours of precious life during which I was in great pain, I kept my spirits up by taking lots of random photos, forcing Jonathan to hold strange poses in front of many strangers. He was a good sport, because lets face it- I had been a good sport for 5 pain staking days now!!
Day 6- Started by waiting in line for almost 2 hours to get into the Archives Museum to see the Constitiution & Declaration of Independence. Just before we shuffled through the door, I realized I have seen this twice & I can't bare the idea of shuffling behind people for another hour or so, stuck looking at history that I can still see in my memory! (sorry, don't be offended- this is day 6 remember?) So I took one last ditch effort & told Jonathan that I'd rather see the Air & Space Museum, which I haven't seen before & he didn't care to squeeze into this trip. He was totally fine, so I walked over there to look for an hour or so. I think had the previous 5 days not been packed with sooooo much HISTORY :( I would have been much more interested. My brain was just fried & needing some entertainment & a lot less learning. But it was interesting..... He stopped in the very boring Art Galleries on his way to meet me. We walked a ridiculous distance to have lunch & then we both knew we had covered every square inch of D.C. BY FOOT and luckily he was now in as much pain as I was. Walking 5-7 miles a day & standing ALL DAY for 6 days straight is just plain ridiculous & NOT considered vacation in my book, no matter how cute your husband is! :) So I was thrilled when he said lets get some popcorn off the street cart (MY FAV!!) & head on back to our room to swim, lounge, vegitate, nap & try to recover before our very early flight home the next morning.
The slide show is a lil' random, but mostly in order of the things we did/saw. I miss slide.com which is now out of business. I am yet to find another slide show maker that is similar. I had no way or rearranging the photos or putting explanations on them.... But enjoy :)
3 comments:
Sorry you had so much walking. I hope the week away from kids and cooking still made it worth it!
Looks like so much fun. I'm not much of a history buff either. Bring on the fun stuff!
ahhhh! This was so fun to read - we are headed to DC on Wednesday!
You just convinced me to keep the comfy shoes I just bought. :)
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