Spring Break in DC: Day One

I have a bajillion photos from our DC/VA trip to share with y'all, and I've decided to divide them up by day so I don't end up with hugely long posts! I know that looking at other people's vacation photos isn't the most exciting thing in the world, but one of the reasons I have this blog is to document our memories, so I'm going to go ahead and blog about the whole thing.

It all started last Wednesday with an early-morning drive to the airport. When we got there we found Kristen and Dan, both looking a little sleepy. With boarding passes in hand, we waited on our plane.

Three hours later, we had landed in Baltimore (we flew into Baltimore because the flights were cheaper than DC).  An hour after that, Continental still couldn't figure out where Jeff and my luggage was (we were all excited because we got to check them for free because of Jeff's frequent flyer status... Dan and Kristen told us we got what we paid for!). So we left our hotel info with the nice people at Continental and grabbed a train to DC sans luggage! Kristen had never been on a train before and was quite excited!

Our train arrived in Union Station, and we grabbed some lunch before hopping on the subway to go to our hotel. If you're counting, we're now up to five modes of transportation in one day (car, foot, plane, train, subway). Six if you count the shuttle bus from the airport parking lot to the terminal!

After a quick stop at the hotel to drop off Kristen and Dan's luggage, we went straight to the Mall to see all the monuments and memorials!

Library of Congress

Inside the Capitol

White jackets, buttoned cardigans, black purses. It's like we're the same person. :)

Supreme Court building

Pretty view looking at the Capitol from the Supreme Court building

Pretty doors on the Supreme Court building

(Click and enlarge this one - it's engraved with portrayals of law over time!)

I had so much fun snapping photos of all the white columns in DC. There's just something so beautiful about really tall cyclinders! Haha!

Another look at the Capitol...

Washington monument!

If you didn't notice, he's failing miserably at doing that tricky photo thing where it looks like you're pinching the building. Crazy kid.

WWII Memorial

Our favorite state!

Vietnam War Memorial (+ a bajillion little kids on a school trip)

Lincoln Monument

Again with the cool columns!

The reflecting pool was drained and under Construction. I was SO hoping to get a good photo of this spot, but no such luck without the water!

Dan was making us walk super-fast because he wanted to make sure we saw ALL the monuments, and by this point Kristen and I needed a little break. And oh yeah, did I mention that I was walking in heeled boots the entire time because of the whole lost luggage situation? I wore them on the plane to avoid having to make space for them in the suitcase. And then I got stuck in them for hours of walking. Ouch. 

More fun column photos!

"Come on guys! Get up and come see more monuments!"

So sweet. He held her purse because she was tired. Haha. LOVE these two.

Next up was the Korean War memorial, which was absolutely amazing. It's incredible to me that someone can create artwork that is so powerful and so emotion-inducing.

We didn't quite make it all the way to the Jefferson monument, but we did see it from a distance.

Dan has a friend who lives in DC, and she was nice enough to make a dinner reservation for all of us at a wonderful restaurant in Chinatown called Matchbox.

(source)

Dinner was delicious! They had a pretty extensive bar list, so the boys got "good" beer and Kristen and I got an entire bottle of wine just for us. :) We even splurged and bought dessert... you know, since we were on vacation and all...

Eventually we made our way back to the hotel, packed our stuff up so we'd be ready in the morning, set a few alarms to make sure we'd get up bright and early, and drifted off to sleep.

Next up, MUSEUMS!!