Baraw Photo Blog: Our Trip to Washington DC!

« Happy Birthday Baby! | Main | Garage Construction »

May 10, 2008

Our Trip to Washington DC!

Devon and I traveled to Washington DC on April 15. We flew from Burlington to JFK in NYC and then to Dulles in Washington. Our flight was uneventful except for a bit of a delay in JFK which we now have $50 vouchers for on our next trip via Jet Blue!

(hangin' out at JFK waiting for our flight to Dulles)

We traveled with my boss Dorene, her husband Jim and sister Kathleen and her two nephews, Nick and Sam.

We stayed at the very old, but pretty well maintained and nicely situated Americana Hotel in Arlington VA.

The first morning there we enjoyed coffee, cereal and bagels and donuts at the hotel and then took the subway into Arlington Cemetery and spent the entire morning exploring. I happen to find cemetery's very interesting so I LOVED my time there...

(Dev at Arlinton National Cemetery)

(Some of the beautiful cherry blossoms)

(On our way to the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown...)

(Changing of the guard)

From the cemetery we walked just over a mile to the famous IWO JIMA Memorial. It's huge!

From here we caught the subway back at Roslyn to Union Station where we had lunch and then headed towards the capital.

(Inside Union Station)

(hangin' out by the capital)

The Capital was really cool and so big! From here we wondered over towards the National Mall checking out some more statues and memorials and the Smithsonian Castle and then catching the subway again to go see the White House!

(Ulysses Grant Statue)

(Smithsonian Castle)

(Devon at Pennsyvannia Avenue)

(Here we are at the White House!)

After six miles on our feet that day we headed back towards the hotel and had a bite to eat for dinner at the Marriot right next door to our Motel and hit the hay!

The Morning of the 17th we headed out on the metro around 8am and headed back to the Smithsonian and then walked to the Washington Monument. We had tickets for 11:30 to go up 500 feet and check out the views of the city.

(Dev taking a break on our way to the monument!)

(Looking waaaaay up!)

(Me at the monument.)

From 500 feet up, what a view!

(Looking towards the Lincoln Memorial and in the forefront a view of the entire WWII Memorial)

(Looking north towards the White House)

That day we had lunch at the famous "Ben's Chili Bowl" where a lot of celebraties hang out such as Bill Cosby.)

(Dev and I enjoyed chilli cheese fries and they were good!)

From here we made our way back to the National Museum of Natural History and on the way enjoyed the Navy Memorial Park.

(The building in the background is the National Archives)

(Sailor Statue)

This park was really nice.

Onto the museum!

My poor feet!

Their new butterfly exhibit.

The next day it was back to the Smithsonian Castle where the founder, John Smithson, is incased in granite marble. Inside the castle we saw lots of artifacts from periods past.

(Jackie Kennedy's jewlery & momentos)

(Heading down the escalator back to Chinatown for lunch!)

(Ford's Theater, we couldn't go in as it was under renovations.)

(Dev outside of the Peterson House where Lincoln died.)

From here it was back towards the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. We waited in line just over an hour in the blazing sun to get in! Thank goodness a BIG group of school kids got sick of waiting and shortened our wait!

(On our way we passed the FBI...)

(A copy of the most famous document ever, the original was there, my photo didn't come out very good as you couldn't use flash inside the archives, but it is very faded now, barely legible.)

We also visited the Holocaust Museum this day. Quite an experience.

Our last day there we spent checking out the rest of the monuments including the World War II Memorial, very nice.

(Dev at the WWII Memorial)

Then it was on towards the Vietnam Wall.

(Vietnam Women's Memorial)

(Memories and pictures people leave at the wall...)

(Vietnam Soldiers Memorial)

(Korean Memorial ~ Very unique!)

(Faces of the Korean War engraved in black marble)

And then we spent some time at the Lincoln Memorial at dusk. Very cool to see at night and it's just massive.

Our last day there we traveled to Mt. Vernon to see the estate of George Washington. An interesting fact that I never knew is that back in the mid 1800's, when his great nephew was no longer able to manage or care for the place, he went to the state of Virginia and Washington DC and asked if anyone would be willing to purchase it to keep it maintained and they all turned him down! So, some ladies in N. Carolina heard of his need for help and they formed the Mt. Vernon Ladies Society and purchased the property and have maintained it ever since! It's quite a place with a gorgeous view of the Potamac River.