Washington, D.C.

So for our anniversary this year we decided that we would go and take a trip to D.C. I had never been there before, and Chris hadn't been since he was little so we were both really looking forward to it. My good friend Kevin and his fiance Lisa live in Arlington, VA so we stayed with them, which was awesome because hotels are sooo expensive. We learned that on our honeymoon. But anyways, it was really great because they knew exactly how to get everywhere and how to use their subway system which is amazing I might add. It was clean and inviting for the most part. The worst part about the trip is that we drove there and back which seemed like it took forever, especially the drive home. We wasted a day driving all together but it was worth it.

We left early friday morning and arrived there around dinnertime. We hung out for a little while and had some drinks and then went off to dinner as we were all starving. We ended up going to the Chart House which was this really nice seafood restaurant.

Lisa and I at their apartment

After that we went bar-hopping for a while, and walked around The Mall to see some of the monuments at night. That was a short night and we were pretty tired.

I have to note their cat, Bianca. This cat was hilarious....it was pretty cute, it's not very young but still the size of a large kitten. You think its nice until you try to pet it and she hisses at you and attacks you. She scared the crap out of us several times (thankfully she is declawed.) I wanted to take a picture of her, I could tell she was annoyed. Apparently I was bothering the crap out of her and when I took it she lunged at me....haha.

Saturday morning we tried to get a Capitol tour but got there too late. I took some really great pictures though.

Since we had some time to spare we walked over to the Library of Congress. OH. MY. Goodness. What an imazingly incredible beautiful building. Seriously, I loved it. I could not stop taking pictures of it. The painted ceiling was so beautifully detailed...it was one of my favorite things that we saw on our trip.

Here is a video from inside, I loved this building!!

Another thing that was very cool was that they had all if not most of Thomas Jefferson's library there. We weren't really supposed to be taking pictures of this area so I took some video.

After that we headed on over to the Holocoaust Museum. This was something that both Chris and I really wanted to see. I must say, it is very....well, words do not describe. Sad. Unbelievable. Disgusting. How in the world...did that happen?? How is it still happening now in Darfur?? I do not understand. You were not allowed to take any pictures at all in the museum, not that we necesarily wanted to. Although I have no desire to ever go back, it is something that I will never forget.

Then we headed back to the apartment to watch the U of M/MSU game. Kevin went to MSU law school so we were all pretty big State fans. We ate in for dinner and just kind of relaxed after all the walking we had been doing. Later on we went back into D.C. and walked the whole Mall to see all of the monuments at night.

The Washington Monument with the reflection of the Mall in the pool

These were at the World War II Memorial. One of my favorites; the fountains are really cool and make for some great pictures.

The Lincoln Memorial. Abe was HUGE!

I can't remember what memorial this was but we thought this was pretty funny.

This is the Jefferson Memorial, it was really pretty reflecting off of the water.

Last but not least we visited the White House. It seemed a lot smaller than I thought it would have been.

Sunday morning we went back to the Capitol to try to get a tour again but it turned out that it was closed, which they thought it would be open. We were bummed that we didn't get to see the inside but once again I got a lot of great pictures from the outside.

All of the colors there were still gorgeous. We love fall!

Once we realized the Capitol was closed we decided to spent the rest of the day at Mount Vernon and go see George Washington's house. We also toured where he made his flour, cornmeal and whiskey. It was pretty interesting.

Kevin turned the water in the cask to make the alcohol

Yep. That is George Washington's tomb.

After all the walking we did we were pretty tired again that night. Monday morning we got up with Kevin and Lisa and as they went off to work, we left to drive back to Michigan. I am thankful that we had to opportunity to visit someplace new. We are blessed that my friends let us stay with them for free. We are very greatful! Thank you Kevin and Lisa.