36 hours in Washington DC

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I wanted to share with you some pictures from a recent trip to Washington DC. Last weekend my oldest son Aidan and I got an amazing opportunity to tag along with a friend and her son to Washington DC.  It was going to be a quick trip, and it proved to be an amazing adventure. I've been to DC before as a kid but now that I live in the other Washington, the city isn't super accessible. My last visit was also before 9/11 and I must say, so much has changed.  You can't just walk in the front door of the Capitol building anymore. It is an amazing city chock full of history and as my son said, it took what he had been studying for so many years in school and brought it to life for him.  A ringing endorsement from a 13 year old if I ever heard one. My big guy was also the official photographer, and after we deleted a jillion blurry photos, it was fun to see DC from his perspective. First up, a little "holla" to my home state!  Holla! DC is full of amazing stories, fun facts, and beautiful architecture.  Take the Willard hotel for example.  It's where Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his "I have a Dream" speech. Being from the midwest, we always drove into the city.  Flying into Reagan National airport at night was an amazing experience.  Seeing the Washington Monument reflected in the reflecting pool from the sky was a sight to behold! Since we didn't have much time, we hit the streets to see some sites at 10:30 at night. Some of the most iconic buildings in DC deserve to be seen at night.  They are amazing!   The Lincoln Memorial is one of those buildings that is worth saving for after sunset. The spot where Martin Luther King delivered his speech is on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.   Why hello Lincoln. We visited several Smithsonian buildings, but the Castle was by far the most beautiful.  Isn't the rotunda gorgeous?! We also made plans to tour the Capitol while we were in the city. Um, yep, that's a Starbucks cup in my hand, sue me.  Guess I'm becoming more of a Seattle girl than I thought.  I can see why people on the East coast aren't total Starbucks fans.  It's a totally different experience to enter a Starbucks in the Seattle area vs a Starbucks in DC.  The service is what makes the experience, but I digress. The weather was amazing!  It was in the high 60's.  Seriously, for early January you can't ask for anything better. Fun fact: I have a great great great (the list of greats goes on, I just don't remember how many) Grandfather who has a statue in the Capitol building.  His name is Lewis Cass from Michigan (Cass county anyone?), anyway, we refer to him as my fat Grandpa. You can see by the heavy equipment located behind my fat Grandpa that he holds a place of honor in the Capitol building.  He's pretty much in the corner, but whatevs.  My fat Grandpa's in the Capitol, where's yours? Also, fat Grandpa's statue was carved by the same guy that did the Lincoln Memorial.  But I'm not sure that guy liked him.  I mean seriously, he's like literally popping buttons on his coat.  His zipper may well just be down too. Anywho, we also made a stop at the National Archives.  I've been told the line for this building is usually snaked around the block and several hours long.  Got to love the off season because we walked right in to everything.  Seriously, January is the time to go. Take that Washington Monument

If you ever dreamed of going up in the Washington Monument, you better come up with a better dream.  Check out that crack and the gaping holes from the earthquake damage last year.  It's not much different than going up in the St. Louis arch, do that instead...dream big! We went into the Library of Congress building and were amazed at it's beauty.  Probably the most gorgeous building in the whole city.  No visit to DC would be complete without a trip on the Subway.  Even though we only made it two stops (with great assistance), it was a fun ride. This is literally the last picture we eeked out of the camera (we ran out of battery power) on our last few hours of our stay.  The big guy is still smiling. And don't tell, but I think he learned something too.

Phew!  It was a whirlwind trip and we are thankful for all the things that we were able to see, experience and learn.

Here's a rundown  in case you wanted to know what we could see in 36 hours.  We call it:

Bustin' Out DC in 36 hrs

Saw city flying in (amazing!)
Taxi from airport (a first for Aidan)
China Town (Starbucks in China town was super cool!)
White House
Washington Monument
Ellipse
WWII monument
Vietnam Vetrans Memorial
Lincoln Memorial
Castle Smithsonian Tour
National Archives ( Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights )
Sculpture Gallery
Holocaust Museum
Lunch at Subway
Capital Tour, scoped out Gramdpa Lewis Cass and saw old supreme court
Underground tunnel
Library of Congress
Saw Supreme Court Building
Italian Ice on the Mall
Air and Space
Metro (subway)
Chinese Starbucks (so cool it made the list twice!)
Ford Theatre
Peterson House (where Lincoln died)
IRS...Oops (I sort of broke into the building)
Museum of Natural History
Museum of American History
Post Office Tower
Official Bells of Congress