This is going to be a super long post. We had so many great pictures from this trip.
With a long weekend available we decided to drive down to Washington DC for a fun weekend road trip! Matt had been as a kid but I had never been.
It was a lovely drive full of adventure!
We somehow got stuck on a bridge and had to drive through downtown Manhattan, NY.
We found the Lincoln Tunnel and made it back into New Jersey.
We stopped and had a picnic for lunch along the way.
We drove through Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and arrived at our hotel in Virginia.
While driving around that evening we saw the Washington Monument from across the Potomac River.
The National Air Force Memorial wasn't on our list but we happened upon it during our drive.
Driving through Arlington National Cemetery at dusk was definitely an experience.
Here is Matt at the Iwo Jima Memorial just as the sun was setting.
The next morning (Saturday 14th) we work up early and walked the 1.5 miles to the closest metro stop. We found a great breakfast diner on the same block too.
Later we noticed that all the metro stops looked identical and were very clean.
There was some difficulty in getting the paper metro tickets to work properly but nothing out of the ordinary really.
The Library of Congress was at the top of our "Must See" list so that was our first stop.
Arriving as early as we did, we were one of the 4 people touring so we got some great pictures.
It's such a lovely building.
Amazing architecture!
We explored the Library of Congress thoroughly, seeing the Jefferson Library, the National Map Library, the Gutenberg Bible, and coming upon a tunnel that led to The Capitol.
This under ground tunnel allowed us to go through security in the Library of Congress and go directly into the Capitol Building, thereby bypassing a huge line of tourists that were arriving in droves by bus. We didn't tour the Capitol very much but made our way outside to take pictures of the view.
This is the Supreme Court. We didn't go inside.
The Capitol Building.
I'm tiny next to the Capitol Building.
Around one side of the Capitol we could see the Washington Monument that is nearly at the other end of the National Mall.
This is the other side of the Capitol Building.
I set our camera on the steps and used the delayed option for this picture to get both of us together. :)
This crescent shaped building is where the Federal Triangle metro stop is located under. It took us a while to find since it was under this building and there were no signs until you already found the escalator. hahaha
Across the street we walked through the Old Post Office Pavillion and had lunch.
Then we made our way to the Washington Harbor Complex where we boarded our boat tour that would take us down the Potomac River.
This is a picture of the Kennedy Center.
On the way back I got this picture of the Watergate Complex.
The next morning we headed out again nice and early and ate breakfast at the same diner.
This is the National Museum of Natural History. Not really our thing, so we skipped going inside.
This is the Smithsonian Castle. We did enjoy touring the Castle.
It had this cool little door among other neat things and a beautiful garden.
We then made our way down the National Mall and had an up close sighting of the Washington Monument.
It was so very tall.
From on top of the Washington Monument's hill we got a peak of the White House.
We then continued on down the National Mall to the World War II Memorial.
This is of the Lincoln Memorial, the Reflecting pool (which unfortunately was dry at the time), and the World War II Memorial.
The World War II Memorial had a pillar for each state.
On our way towards the Lincoln Memorial we walked through the Constitution Gardens to enjoy more shade.
I'm glad we walked through the Constitution Gardens because we got to see the Federal Reserve which would have been hidden to us by the trees otherwise.
The Lincoln Memorial was very grand.
This bridge is the Arlington Memorial Bridge that leads into the Arlington Cemetery.
Cherry Blossoms! The Cherry Blossom Festival parade took place while we were there but we skillfully avoided the mass of people. That's how we roll ya know. :)
Me resting in the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial park.
It was very relaxing.
This was an amazing 80 year old Cork Tree.
I was sad to find out I wasn't allowed to climb it but it's understandable. I wouldn't want thousands of people climbing me each day either.
We walked along the little path that followed the edge of the Tidal Basin and got to see the Thomas Jefferson Memorial from the side.
As well as the Washington Monument across the Tidal Basin too.
The Thomas Jefferson Memorial was also very grand.
We walked and walked and walked to find the nearest metro stop to take us back to the center of things.
I just had to take a picture of the Internal Revenue Service building.
We went back to the Old Post Office Pavilion and went up to the bell tower.
The view was great!
The Capitol Building.
The FBI Building.
We walked down towards the White House hoping to get another picture or two but weren't allowed to get close enough.
So, the above is a picture of the Department of the Treasury.
Our next to last stop for the day was the National Air and Space Museum.
The next several pictures are some of Matt's. :)
The above is a Boeing X-45A Joint Unmanned Combat Air System
This is a General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Predator A.
This is a Pioneer UAV.
This is a RQ-3A DarkStar.
Our last stop of the day was the Pentagon Memorial.
We sat and watched the sun set.
The next morning we started our drive back home.
We stopped to tour the National Cathedral on our way out of town.
It was beautiful.
This is where the Chaplain of the United States Senate sits.
On our way back up the East Coast we stopped off in Philadelphia, PA.
Since it wasn't very far out of our way we had to stop and see...
The Liberty Bell.
It was a lovely day for a drive up the East Coast.
I would like to add a summary of miles we walked those two days.
Saturday - Day 1: 7.34 miles
Sunday - Day 2: 11.82 miles
Total miles: 19.16
Day 2 we were hobbling back to our hotel like a little old couple.
I blame the toe shoes we wore all weekend. hahaha
If you ever go sight-seeing with us you have now had fair warning. :)
I know this post was a long one but Washington DC had so many great sights to see.
Hope you enjoyed our pictures as much as we enjoyed taking them!
