Two weeks ago, Craig and I took a short trip to Washington DC. Craig had a meeting there on Thursday, April 5, and a Delta companion ticket to use, so I joined him. It was our frist trip to our nation's capitol. (Technically it was Craig's second trip, but the first time, he never got out of the car. After a meeting in New Jersey a few years ago, he and his co-corkers drove around the city one evening and just looked at a few of the sights out the car window).
We arrived Wednesday evening around dinner time, checked into the hotel, then headed over to Potenza on H Street for some amazing Italian food. The weather was unseasonable warm. We strolled the streets in 70 degree temperatures up until about 11 p.m. and checked out a few of the monuments and memorials, along with the White House which was just a couple of blocks from our hotel.
The World War II Memorial (above) and the Lincoln Memorial (below)
Thursday, while Craig worked, I visited Ford's Theater, where Abraham Lincoln was shot and saw a 35 minute, 2 man play called "One Destiny" about the events in the theater the day of the assasination. It was wonderful.
I then walked over to the National Archives, but the line was really long, so I went to the Natural History Museum. The best exhibit there was a temporary photography exhibit of wildlife photos. Absolutely beautiful and amazing! From there I went to the US Holocaust Museum. Since I didn't have a ticket for the permanent exhibit, I was only able to see a few parts of the museum, one of them being the part that featured more recent genocides like in Bosnia and Rwanda, which were fascinating to learn more about. If we ever get the chance to go back to DC, I will defintely sign up for tickets in advance to see the whole museum. That evening Craig and I ate another delicious Italian meal, this time at Tuscana West on I Street. Friday we went back to the National Archives together and stood in line for about an hour in order to see the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. (It's always a good idea to keep a book and an apple in your purse for long waits!)
We then went down a couple blocks to the Air and Space Museum and that was fun to see space shuttles, one of Amelia Earhart's planes, the Wright Flyer, and the Spirit of St. Louis (which is the white plane over Craig's right shoulder in this picture).
From there we walked over to the American History Museum and one of the highlights for me was seeing the Star-Spangled Banner, the actual flag that flew on Fort Henry in Maryland that Francis Scott Key saw waving after the bombardment by British troops and inspired him to write the words of what we now know as our national anthem. Of course, they had the song playing, a medley of artists, ending with Whitney Houston's awesome Superbowl performance, and as always, I got teary. We ate another fabulous dinner, this time at Ceiba on 14th, just down from our hotel. It was the restaurant Craig had eaten at during his brief driving tour the last time he'd been there (so I guess he actually did get out of the car). The food was a delicious Carribean-Brazillian fusion.
Roasted Butternut Squash Tamales
Fricassee of Seasonal Vegetables, Pipe Dream Farms Goat Cheese, Toasted Pepitas
I'd have to say the best part of our trip though, was our 10 mile run Saturday morning to all the monuments and memorials. We hit the ones we hadn't seen yet and the ones we'd seen the first night we were there. We also ran up Capitol Hill. We happened to be in town just in time to catch the last of the cherry blossoms. There were still some on the trees for our visit.
(Our friends who showed up in DC Saturday afternoon, about the time we were leaving, said the blossoms were completely gone when they arrived. The wind had been showering us with petals.) We also got to observe "yoga at the Washington Monument" in conjunction with the 100 Years of Cherry Blossoms Celebration. Too bad we weren't jogging with our yoga mats; we could've joined in a sun salutation:)
Or later, as we got lunch, a demonstration:
We enjoyed beautiful sunny weather our whole trip, never quite as warm as our first evening, but in the low 60s. We were content to don our sneakers and look like the tourists that we were as we walked all around downtown DC. Our trip just happened to coincide with spring break for many, so we had greater crowds than if we'd come at a different time of the year, but since we were child free, it didn't bother us that it was a little more crowded and took a little longer to get in to see things. There were still of course many things we didn't get to see, but I left satisfied and look forward to taking our whole family back for a visit in the next few years.
