When I was a freshman in college, I got an idea in my head. I knew (or thought I knew) that I wanted to go to law school anyway. (I was so going to live out a John Grisham novel. Preferably one notsomuch with the mob following me but more like The Street Lawyer or The Rainmaker. Gosh. I just went off on a total tangent about John Grisham books then deleted it. I really do adore him). Anyway. I decided I was going to do one more year at Baylor and then transfer to Georgetown and maybe, possibly, sometime not too long after that snag me an internship with someone involved in the government. Mind you, this was when all the Clinton/ Lewinsky brouhaha was going on - a time when I actually had a dark-haird waitress at Chili's on Halloween dressed in a beret and wearing knee pads - and saying internship was a lot like uttering a dirty word. But I've always enjoyed politics and it's something I really wanted to do. And, besides, I didn't own any blue Gap dresses anyway . . .
Then. A boy entered the picture and I forgot all about that dream of Georgetown and a Capitol Hill internship. Being in DC a couple weeks ago (it was my very first visit, by the way, I didn't go back the summer after sixth or seventh grade when it seemed like erryone was going) made me realize: that city would've swallowed me whole! If I'd gone when I was just 20-years-old, never having really been anywhere, HOLY SHEE-ITE, you guys! It's busy and it's loud and the traffic is like OMG and there's just so much.
We started our day in DC bright and early by catching the commuter train in Fredericksburg. It was the first time for most (maybe all?) of us to take any sort of train like that. I'm sheltered, ya'll, or maybe just a country girl. My only other experience with any sort of train was The El in Chicago. Oh, and the trains at the zoo. Those totally count, right?
We ended up only spending one day in DC and it was JAM PACKED and FULL. I'm exhausted now, just thinking about it. Rather than being all, "first we did this and then we did this and then we did that" I'll give you an entry full of buildings and monuments and another entry full of museums.
Our train brought us to Union Station and as soon as we walked out we saw the Freedom Bell and the Columbus Memorial (along with several street people who glared at us as we took pictures. Street people? You live in DC. You are sitting on a memorial. You should be used to people taking pictures. Kthanks).
Then it was on to Capitol Hill!
Hahahahaha. Picture Fail! I'm the only one looking and you can't even SEE most of the capitol!
The DC tours are so expensive! Especially if you have children with you. We ended up just walking everywhere we wanted to go. Which would've been a better idea if, you know, I had thought to bring a stroller for the four-year-old. Karis was totally content to chill in her stroller (okay, for the most part) but Kyan pretty much lost his shit about halfway through the day. He was DONE with walking. Not fun.
I absolutely LOVE this picture!
The Washington Monument and the WWII Memorial -- I pretty much love how this picture turned out! I wish the pics showed up as vibrantly on my computer as they do on my iPad.
There was construction going on at the National Mall and we were not able to walk over to the Lincoln Memorial and the monuments close to it (we could have but we'd have had to go way out of the way). We saw (from a distance) the Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, and White House but weren't close enough to snap any decent pictures.
We passed the Grant Memorial on the way back to the train station.
Gotta love this one with the capitol in the background!
Note: I saw more monuments than I have pictures of because my crappy little camera just wouldn't/ couldn't zoom enough to get decent photos. (There's a smudge on the lens and whenever I zoom my pics end up with a pink glare on them). ANYway. Just yesterday Eddie called me and told me he'd been able to pick out a 15-year-anniversary present from his job. Wanna guess what he picked out? A new camera! And it's a point-and-shoot but it has some super duper zoom lens. Ahhhhh! What I wouldn't have given to have had that in my hands a couple weeks ago! As it is, we have to wait for it to be delivered and won't have it for our California trip either. I would pout but, hey, regardless I'm STILL getting a new camera!
Next up: Museums!
Next up: Museums!
