Washington D.C.

Chris & I spent Easter weekend (Fri - Tues) in the D.C. area. This was our last big East coast city left to see and what better time than during the Cherry Blossom Festival? For those who haven't been...ANY other time would be better! There were a TON of people in D.C. which made the already impossible task of seeing it all, even more impossible but we did our best and are glad we finally took advantage of living only 2 hours away from the Capitol. We stayed at the very fun and funky Hotel Topaz near Dupont Circle. We were only 2 blocks from the Metro which is SO nice compared to America's other sub systems. Very clean, fast, simple...loved it!

There is a lot to see in D.C. and it is not physically possible to see it all in one trip! Your feet would not survive! I thought 5 days would be enough but we still missed things! We feel fortunate to have seen all we did though.

AA

Here's a breakdown of our schedule:

Friday (beautiful sunny weather): Tidal Basin, WWII Memorial, FDR Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Holocaust Museum. I really wanted to see the cherry trees in bloom. Due to wind and rain the week before most of the blossoms had already turned but there were still several trees with great color and we saw them just in time. After Saturday's rain, almost all the blossoms were off!

AA

Saturday (rainy and gloomy): American History & Natural History Museums. Everyone else took shelter in the museums during the rain as well so we really didn't get to see very much this day. Example: Can you find me in this picture? I'm trying to see the Hope Diamond. However, in the same museum they had a new exhibit, Written in Bone: Forensic Files of the 17th-Century Chesapeake, very cool!

Sunday (just plain COLD): Trolley tour, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery, Georgetown. Oy my feet were shot. Chris wouldn't carry me around the cemetery yet somehow my feet still managed to make it to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Monday (a little less cold): Air & Space Museum, Botanic Gardens, National Archives, Capitol & White House (from the outside) then back to the American History Museum because it was too crowded on Saturday to see it all. We got to see the flag the Star Spangled Banner was written after, Seinfeld's puffy shirt, and Lincoln's top hat!

Tuesday (chilly and drizzling rain): Washington National Cathedral, Iwo Jima, Mt. Vernon (Washington's home & burial site). The Cathedral is enormous and really an amazingly constructed church. Mt. Vernon was great because apparently any other day (one with sun) we would have been standing in line for everything. The home has really been kept up beautifully.

For more pictures check out our slideshow!