Washington DC in One Day

Between bad weather, us being sick, and Hubs working, we really only had one day to "see the sights" in DC.  And "see the sights" we did...a lot of sights.  In one day.

But first things first. Our hotel!

The Westin in Alexandria, Virginia was pretty fantastic. Aside from our first night room mixup where we were stuck sleeping in a twin bed together (yes, we could have slept in separate beds, but I like to cuddle and Hubs can sleep anywhere (jealous)). Being my mother's daughter, I promptly marched down to the front desk the next morning and smiled my way into a king room with a view on a Starwood Preferred Customer floor.

What? It was their mixup, after all.  :: Insert innocent angel face here ::

The obligatory mirror reflection shot, just for you, Lostlocalhost

The view was actually of a courthouse, but it's the best view the hotel had, and it was actually pretty cool at night when the sun reflected off our hotel windows.

On a side note, when they said the "Westin Heavenly Shower" had 2 heads, I wasn't quite picturing this:

But it was pretty heavenly.

Moving on...

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We took the Metro into DC (which, btw, is super confusing if you have more than one color line at the station you are at - Chicago is much better) and I was surprised by how dark and gloomy the stations were. However, they made for some pretty cool pictures.

Crooked, but eh.  This was the craziest escalator I have ever been on.  It was sooo long and sooo steep.  It was enough to give you a case of vertigo.

Stop 1: The White House

Not nearly as large as I had imagined.

Starbucks and The White House - we're so yuppie

Obama?  Is that you in the helicopter?

On another side note, the day before we visited, the winds were so strong that it knocked down The National Christmas Tree.  The black mass of dirt in the picture below is where the tree used to stand.  Sadddd.

Stop 2: The Washington Monument

Hubs took this picture - the boy has talent!

He also took this one...almost like a pathway to heaven, no?

Hubs thought I was crazy for taking this pic, but I think it's hilarious.  He ended up laughing, too.  It just takes some convincing, sometimes ;)

Stop 3: The WWII Memorial

Hubs wanted this picture for his Dad

Stop 4: The Lincoln Memorial

There were wreaths everywhere since we visited the day before President's Day.

Stop 5: The Vietnam Memorial

(Mom, I have the pictures of the names of your two friends, but I am working on cleaning up the pictures a bit so you mainly see their names)

Stop 6: The Smithsonian Castle

By this time, we had been walking for approximately 4 hours straight, and I was beginning to feel pretty tired...and sick.  Darn sinus infection in the making.  You'll notice that there are significantly less pictures from here on out.

Stop 7: The Smithsonian Air & Space Museum

Hahaha, this iPhone pic still cracks me up.  Only Hubs would make a point of visiting a monkey corpse.

Stop 8: The Smithsonian Art Museum

REPRESENT!  GO DUTCH!  Mom - you would have LOVED this.

Yay for windmill paintings!

All in all, we walked about 304.65 miles that day (or, it felt like it), but it was so great to finally see Washington DC.  Most of my classmates went in the 8th grade, so this trip has been a long time coming, and I'm so thankful to Hubs for surprising me with one of my wishes to see DC in person.

...even if it did eventually lead to me having the sinus infection from you-know-where.

Want to see all the pics?  Here you go!

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P.S. - Pin - I took these pics just for you :)

PD on horseback!

More PD on horseback! (Ignore the manure...)

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P.P.S. - Theresa - the infamous bacon picture from your brother.  Not sure why this is so funny, but here ya go!