Spring Vacation Part II

Our final leg of the trip brought us south to Virginia and DC! The weather was so nice and the trees had actually bloomed, which is more than we could say for Boston when we left on this trip. There were so many beautiful flowers and plants everywhere paired with stunning architecture and monuments, it made me want to cry out with joy (actually I did just that, several times).

Jeff's sister Steffany drove the kids down from upstate new york and we met for dinner on thursday at ... Cafe Rio! Yes, they have this Utah favorite in DC! How great! We had a nice time catching up that evening and headed back to our hotel in Dulles to rest up before a jam packed day of touring. Friday we drove to lovely Georgetown and somehow managed to find a parking spot right outside DC Cupcakes where we ordered the super secret, off the menu, cupcake of the day (lemon coconut). The store gives away a free cupcake to the first 100 people who order the secret flavor of the day. The place was PACKED but luckily for us it seemed there were very few people who knew this secret. The cupcakes were delicious, and you can't beat the price!

We then drove through the lovely George Washington Memorial Parkway (where there were no tolls and a great view of the Potomac River and Georgetown across the way) to get into DC. We parked at a garage using Parking Panda, a convenient and inexpensive online reservation system for parking in cities, and then walked to our first site on our itinerary: Ford Theater. Unfortunately we were unable to take a tour or even see inside the theater where Abraham Lincoln was shot, due to maintenance and preparation for an evening play. Guess we'll have to save that one for next time we visit DC.

Ford Theater with its arched entries behind us.

On we went to the National Archives, which is such a majestic building. It seemed like all of the buildings in the downtown DC area were constructed with beautiful architecture, even the most commonplace things like post offices.

We stopped to enjoy our cupcakes on the back side of the National Archives building.

I just love this guy.

Entrance side of the National Archives. Jeff snapped a picture while we were waiting to get in.

It was really cool to see the Declaration of Independence and Constitution and to look at the faded words that helped form our country. I have so much gratitude for those who fought for liberties that I now enjoy. Being in DC made me want to watch all of my historical movies again like Lincoln, the John Adams series, and of course National Treasure : )

We had predetermined that we would be eating at Nandos restaurant for lunch long before we got to DC. Jeff had frequented Nandos regularly while living in Australia, and the only place Nandos exists in the states is in DC. He had talked it up quite a bit, and the food did not disappoint. The Peri-Peri seasoning they put on the chicken is so good! And their butternut squash salad dish was amazing! We recommend stopping by the Nandos on 7th St. NW if you're ever in DC.

Bright flowers blooming everywhere we went!

We made our way over to the White House and took a few pictures before some park policemen on bikes started gathering across the street. Someone had left a backpack unattended and it started to cause a bit of a scene. We decided to leave promptly rather than hang around. We didn't hear or see anything about it on the news the next day so we assume it was just a school kid's bag that had been left in the hustle of the tour group.

As we started to head for the Lincoln Memorial it started to rain. Hard. We had rain coats and a nice rain cover for the stroller to keep the kids dry, so we continued walking through the Mall. It was actually a pretty cool experience because we were some of the only people out and we had all the monuments to ourselves.

When we got to the Lincoln Memorial there were lots of tourists crowded around the monument taking shelter from the april showers. It is always humbling to stand in front of this monument and consider all that this man gave for the people of this country.

What a guy.

We still had a way to walk to get back to our car, and all of the museums were closed by this point in the evening so we headed back to our hotel. Steffany picked up her husband Joe on the way home and he told us all about his adventure at the Quantico FBI training center. He had gone on a class field trip of sorts with fellow Cornell students to experience what hopeful marines go through in training. It sounded intense and exhausting! Very cool that he could have that experience and that the timing of his trip was when we were in DC.

Saturday morning we headed to the Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy National Air and Space Museum in the Dulles/Chantilly area. This museum is the annex of the Air and Space Smithsonian which is in Downtown DC. It was so cool! We decided to take a guided tour and our tour guide was this amazing guy who had flown a number of the aircraft in the museum and had served in the Vietnam War. We got to see the Hubble Space Craft, the Mars Rover, the SR-71 Blackbird (fastest aircraft in the world!), and many other planes from various eras. It was fascinating!

I thought the SR-71 Blackbird looked like a ship from Star Wars.

Looking at some the earliest planes ever made.

The Enola Gay - the plane that dropped the Atomic Bomb during WWII

Jeff and Jack hanging out

SR-71 Blackbird - the world's fastest jet-propelled aircraft, used during the Cold War. On its last flight, March 6, 1990, the pilots set a speed record by flying from L.A. to D.C. in 1 hour, 4 minutes averaging 2,124 miles per hour. 

The Air and Space Museum contains so much amazing American history. It was definitely worth the visit!

Later that evening we went to Arlington National Cemetery. It was such a lovely and humbling place. So many people have served this country and given their lives so that others' might be better. I am so glad we could be there to see the spring blossoms.

John F. Kennedy grave site - the Eternal Flame

View of Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument across the Potomac from Arlington.

Jeff said he took this picture thinking it was a perfect contrast between death and life springing anew.

It was a nice way to end our time in the Capitol. We had such a nice time in D.C. and look forward to visiting again. You can't possibly see everything there in one three day trip. We'll be back!