One week ago tonight we were on our way to my parent’s house to begin our DC trip! We planned this trip months ago when we realized around Christmas that my Dad’s parents had never toured DC and Jason had never done the touristy things there. We’d thought about trying to go in March but we’re afraid of the weather being too cold & that things getting crazy in DC around the Cherry blossom festival. My mom’s a big planner for trips~ she likes every minute to be filled with something! We decided to let those who hadn’t been to DC make the big decisions, so we played some things by ear. We’re all used to vacationing with Mom so we knew what we were in for and that we’d see a lot in a short couple of days.
We left Midlothian early Friday morning and we’re parked in front of the Washington monument by 1030! Friday before lunch, we saw the Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, Lincoln Monument, Vietnam Memorial, and Korean War Memorial. They are all right there together but we still did a lot of walking.
We’d packed sandwiches & snacks so we ate a picnic lunch on the grounds around the Washington Monument (yay for saving money!). The afternoon was spent running through the American History Museum and the Natural History Museum. If you want to do the museums speedy go to the visitor’s desk~ they have a top ten must see list! We ended the day stopping my the National Cathedral. It was really pretty inside and there was also a international flower festival going on all around there. Nana, Pawpaw & Mom checked out all of the church and the flowers inside~ I “window” shopped in the booths outside after peeking in the church. At this point we were pretty spent and piled in the Tahoe and headed to the hotel.
We found a deal ($59 a night!) for the Marriott Courtyard in Alexandria. That night we ate the best meal I’d had in a while~ I’ll recommend Carlyle to anyone and everyone! Carlyle is right off 395 at the Shirlington exit and in the Village at Shirlington. We topped the night off by playing spades in the hotel room (Nana & I lost, badly!).
Saturday we went back into DC. We started with the International Spy Museum (the only thing we spent money to see and it was only $16). It was so cool~ you assumed a spy name and had to keep it up for the beginning of the museum. It starts by “teaching” you to be a spy then goes in to the history of spying. I’d recommend this to anyone~ especially people with kids. We were there for a couple of hours and didn’t even see every little thing.
We split off after that~ Jason met up with my brother & grandfather and they went to the Nationals baseball game. Mom, Nana & I ventured into Chinatown at had lunch at Chinatown Express~ looks sketchy on the outside (and kinda on the inside too), but it was a recommendation from a coworker of my moms and turned out to be pretty good. After lunch, we went to Ford’s Theatre and then the house that Lincoln died in (which was across the street). We met back up with the boys and went to the FDR & Jefferson Memorials. Those are a little bit further away from the others~ too far to walk with a wheelchair.
Two of Jason’s groomsmen live in the Northern VA area, so we were able to meet up with them in Old Town Alexandria Saturday night. We started out with dinner at King Street Blues then the fam went back to the hotel and we made out way to Murphy’s Irish bar. Good times had by all~ maybe too many!!
We woke up Sunday to rain! It had sprinkled on and off on Friday & Saturday, but nothing to mess up our plans. Sunday it was POURING! S
o we scratched our plans to go to Arlington Cemetery and decided on seeing the new Air & Space Museum at Dulles. 
Dad’s really into air/space & history and he really wanted to see this.
I’m so glad he suggested it so cool! Another great place for kids & adults too! We headed home after spending a couple of hours checking out all the planes.
We were starved & some of us a lil hung over so we had lunch at Eggspectations. 
If you are EVER near one of these fabulous restaurant GO THERE! Jason & I had been to the one in Columbia while at a wedding and we’d just talked to everyone about how great it was. We were so excited to find their newest location right on our way out of town!
We got back to Raleigh late Sunday night and this week has been pretty low key while we recover. I’ll post some pictures in another post since this one is long enough already!
