Washington D.C. (Part II)

We woke up bright and early the next morning, ready to get our fill of DC! Walking outside was strange though...the streets were completely empty. No cars, no people, no noise. Granted, it was a Saturday, but I still expected to see a bit of city hustle and bustle. Nope, it was weirdly, absolutely dead. Since it was a (federal) holiday weekend, I guess the entire city had just completely cleared out. Still, it was strange to be walking around a large city in broad daylight with absolutely nobody in sight. Felt kind of post-apocalyptic and eerie.

 

We headed for the National Mall, but arrived before any of the museums had even opened. So we putzed around trying to find some breakfast and eventually stumbled upon a small café inside the Smithsonian Information Center. It was surrounded by gorgeous gardens and looked like a castle. I collected pamplets for all of the spots we wanted to visit and we made a tentative plan. Did you know all the museums are free here? My kind of city.

 

The earliest museum to open was the Freer Gallery, which was right next door, so we figured why not pop in. It was rather small, especially compared to most of the museums along the mall, and we were able to see most of the art on display fairly quickly.

 

Next stop was the Natural History Museum directly across the way. It was much more kid-geared than we expected, but still some fun things for adults as well. I liked watching the scientists working in the fossil lab.

  

 

 

Had strict instructions to see the Hope Diamond. It was so big it looked fake. That's what she said? Sorry.

 

 

Disappointingly, didn't have time to make it next door to the National Museum of American History to see Dorothy Gale's ruby slippers or the original Star Spangled Banner or Thomas Edison's lightbulb from 1879.  

But at least we caught some sweet boob action.

 

As we made our way off the mall toward the National Archives Building, we passed through a really neat park with some interesting tree sculptures and French subway station replicas. There was also a cute little kids skating rink and an adorable outdoor café that wasn't open yet. Gorgeous little pocket of the city.

 

No cameras allowed inside the National Archives. Security was crazy tight, had to go through multiple checks and a metal detector. The Charters of Freedom (Declaration, Constitution, Bill of Rights) were kept in a large rotunda (with little direction as to how visitors should view them, so there were lots of punk little kids cutting in and out of line), kept dark and cool. It was incredibly interesting to stand directly in front of these pieces of history that helped to shape our country's path and you've heard so much about but given little thought to the actual piece of paper and how it's preserved.

 

Our tummies were grumbling at this point and we happened past a Carmine's. Heck, let's be super tourists.  Spaghetti and meatballs for two at the bar, please. Only thing we paid for all day. I love D.C.

We met up with Sophia and some friends of hers at the National Portrait Gallery. It's huge and there was no way we'd be able to see it all in the two short hours we had before our next tour stop was scheduled, so we stuck to the hall of America’s Presidents.

 

 

 

 

And then it was off to our TOUR OF THE WHITE HOUSE!!!!

Washington D.C. (Part I)

In January we took a weekend trip to Washington D.C. as kind of a mini-honeymoon (but really more of just a last-minute tag-along with some friends of ours who were headed there anyway).  When the Spero's told us they were visiting some family in Bethesda over the long weekend and we were welcome to join their roadtrip, we happily accepted.  It was a trip of many firsts: not only our first vacation as husband and wife, as well as my first visit to our country's capital city...

but also my first time dining at a Cracker Barrel!

 

Have you ever been to one of these? I'd seen Cracker Barrel cheese in the supermarket before, but never laid eyes on one of the restaurants. Quite the country experience. Corralling EJ in the store attached to the restaurant provided plenty of wait-time entertainment. Thank goodness the wedding diet was over prior to this pitstop on our roadtrip, or I'd have found very little on that menu to eat. But boy was it delicious.

Surprised I could get this far off the ground after sampling so many fine fried foods!

The drive took us through THREE states: New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland.  I was fascinated.  Having grown up in California, where you can drive for ten hours straight and still not be anywhere near entering a neighboring state, it really struck me when we actually passed through other states (and multiple ones at that!) on our way to a city just 4 hours away. A 4 hour drive up the central coast will barely get you from Nipomo to San Francisco!

Though Bethesda is about 20 minutes outside of DC, the Spero's were sweet enough to drop us at our hotel.  We'd booked a room last minute after a quick search for deals near the city center and it was AWESOME.  Totally lucked out.  Easy walking distance from everything we were hoping to see, super fancy and super empty.  Plus a Starbucks onsite.  DONE.

We spent our first evening walking around the city, getting our bearings and shivering something fierce. We'd expected cold weather, but it was windy and FREEZING and we were far from properly attired. The only store open was a dinky little Macy's, so we spent too much money on stupid hats and gloves, which we'd dumbly forgotten to pack.  But what a thrill to see the white house!  All lit up and beautiful at night.  The actual real live white house, where the leader of our country eats and sleeps and meets with other world leaders and makes world changing decisions. I was blown away just to be standing outside the fence peering in at it.

 

 

Also loved the gorgeous building right next door, the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.   Soooo pretty all lit up at night.  And little did we know, we'd find ourselves standing inside of it the very next day...

Der Vati besucht NYC

I'm way behind on blog updates on visits/trips/staycations from the past few months, as I've been spending a ridiculous amount of time sawing logs (who woulda thunk growing a human would make 11 hours of sleep per night seem minimal?).  Going to try to play catch up and get lots of old pics posted over the next week or two, so I can start with the pregnancy overshares!  Because I'm sure you're all simply dying to hear exactly what I'm eating/feeling/thinking/smelling/sobbing about at any given moment. :)

First up - Papa K's visit to NYC in frigid January!

A friend of my dad's from college is one of the coaches for the Seahawks, and called up early in the year to say that if they made it to the Superbowl there'd be a pair of tickets waiting for pop and his best buddy from college, Tuc.  The sheer mention of this and flights were booked in record time.  We figured it would be fun for him to come out and see my place even if (heaven forbid) he didn't get to go to the game (don't worry, he totally did, and thankfully on the more enjoyable side).

So dad, Kat and Tuc all came out to NY for the weekend and we had a grand ol' time touristing about.  Though it was expected to be rainy their entire visit, we ended up lucking out with the weather.  It was beyond cold, but at least clear and we were free to roam about unencumbered by umbrellas, galoshes and the like.

One of our first stops was Ground Zero, which I'd actually never visited before. We arrived just as the sun was setting, which made the memorial fountains appear even more beautiful. Especially moving were the white roses here and there, which we discover honor each victim individually each year on their date of birth.

Dad quickly honed both his subway navigating and scarf tying skills (far from girly, I assured him).

 

DVC's jaw dropped when he saw all the Duck Dynasty gear my father lugged across the country in preparation for attending the game in the midst of a monsoon cyclone blizzard. He of course tried everything on for size. With the beard, it actually didn't look all that out of place.

We had a fun dinner one evening at Heidleberg, one of my favorite local watering holes.

 

Plus Kat and I escaped to SoHo on a shopping adventure one afternoon without the stinky dads!

 

  

Nightly scrabble games were seriously  long   drawn-out  intense.

 

AND FINALLY IT WAS TIME FOR THE BIG GAME...

Water bottle? Check.

Fleece vest? Check.

Off to the Superbowl!

It was nice and warm for the game, but we did get a fresh blanket of snow the following evening!

And GOSH wouldn't you know it, his flight was delayed an entire day due to the weather!

 

Good thing, as we ended up needing A LOT of time to get the perfect snow picture. :)

Thanks for visiting, Pops!