Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Washington D.C.

Several people have told me to take advantage of trips to other major east coast cities while in NYC this summer. This past holiday weekend Brooke and I spent some time in our nation's capitol. A BIG thank you to our hosts Kristen and Andrew Harding for letting us crash in their guest bedroom. Kristen is Brooke's best friend from BYU.

So here's how it went...

Friday we caught the Bolt Bus at 8:30 p.m. from NYC to Washington D.C. We arrived at approximately 12:45 a.m. and took the Metro out to Shady Grove in Bethesda, MD. Got to bed around 3:00 a.m.

DAY ONE

The next morning we all (our hosts included) took off for Arlington, VA to see Arlington cemetery. Andrew's grandpa is buried at Arlington and his family has a sweet VIP pass that allows you to drive anywhere in the cemetery. SWEET. We were able to see the changing of the guard and the amphitheater.






After visiting the cemetery we headed over to the 9/11 memorial at the Pentagon. This memorial is so well planned out. Throughout the memorial there are benches with names of people who died at that site. The benches that "point away" from the Pentagon are those who died at the Pentagon. Those that "point towards" the Pentagon are those who died in the airplane. The benches are then laid out in a grid pattern with dates running along the perimeter of the area. This allows you to see how old the victims at this site were. The youngest was born in 1998.





Kristen and Andrew dropped Brooke and I at the National Mall afterwards. From there we went to the Washington Monument and the American History museum. We then headed back to Bethesda and then out to Gibson Island for dinner with some of Kristen and Andrew's friends. Gibson island is where The Great Gatsby takes place. It was so gorgeous out there! I think I could take up a private island...




DAY TWO

Sunday we saw A LOT.

White House

Declaration of Independence Memorial

Vietnam Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Korean Memorial

World War 2 Memorial

Portrait Gallery

Air and Space Museum

We rounded off the day by visiting the National Archives and a nice little 4th of July BBQ back in Bethesda.

DAY THREE

On our last day in D.C. we finished up pretty much everything we wanted to see.

Capitol

Supreme Court


Library of Congress

Ben's Chili Bowl

Ben's Chili Bowl is frequented by Bill Cosby and the Obama family. The chili-cheese fries were definitely my favorite, the milk shake coming in second and the half-smoke in third. Ben's is a little out of the way, but well worth the trip!

JFK Performing Arts Center

The JFK Performing Arts Center was our last stop and we kind of went on a whim. And boy were we glad we did! While walking through the hallway of the center, we saw a sign that said Free Tours. We went up to see when the next one was, and turns out we had just missed one and the next wouldn't be for about a half hour. One of the guides that volunteers at the center, a sweet older lady named Sandy, spoke up and said she would take us around herself. Who got a private tour? We did!

Overall it was a great weekend! We headed back Monday evening and went to bed in order to be rested for the short work week ahead.

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