Summer Vacation 2013: Our Nation's Capitol

After our quick and lovely stop-over in Philadelphia, we were off to Washington, DC - our nation's capitol!

I travel to DC for work on occasion, but Matt hadn't been since he was 12 on a Boy Scouting trip. Needless to say, his 12-year-old self had not wanted to wander the Smithsonian and check out Lincoln Memorial. Weird.

For this trip, we stayed in my favorite area in Northwest Washington, Georgetown.  Again, this was a quickie little one-day trip before we headed to our final destination and my brother's wedding!

We cruised straight into town and before even stopping to drop our bags we headed to Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers.

I had never seen the changing of the guard, but as with most traditional military ceremonies, it was fascinating!

The guards march for 30 minute shifts

You can see the path that the guards march in worn into the marble

Every 30 minutes they change the guard in a very unique ceremony

Arlington theater

Once we had finished watching the ceremony, we stopped by the graves of John F. Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. It was really beautiful!

After departing the Cemetery, in large part due to the requisite 3:30pm rain showers, we checked into the hotel and got ourselves some tickets to that evenings Washington Nationals game.  We had seen Yankee Stadium, and now it was time to see how Washington, DC does baseball!

 

Secret time: Don't tell New York, but Matt liked Nationals Stadium a little better than Yankee Stadium!  You should ask him why, but I think it was because they had barbecued ribs and chicken at Nationals Stadium.  Just a hunch.

After the game we hopped on the Metro and headed down to the Capitol.  Unfortunately, they were really gearing up for the Fourth of July Festivities and there was a massive stage and overhang set-up in front of the Capitol and the streets were all blocked off already!  We managed to sneak a picture anyway!

(Note: please prepare for the most disgusting I-am-so-tired-and-sweaty-I-may-fall-over selfie picture of all time!)

I also just noticed it looks EXACTLY like our Nationals Stadium pic with a slightly different background...oops!

We also swooped past the White House and Lincoln Memorial (unpictured) during our time in Washington, DC.  

Strangely enough though the one thing I remember with significant clarity is our walk back to our hotel in Georgetown that night.  I have to admit, this was the day that I just about died of exhaustion - which I wasn't prepared for at all.  Our hotel was at the very tip-top of a huge hill in Georgetown. It was actually about a 5 mile walk from the Foggy Bottom Metro to the hotel, and we hoofed it all the way!  I was proud of us, but I tell you it was soooo tiring! We both slept insanely well that night, which was great because the next morning was the day we took our little booties from DC to Richmond, VA for the wedding!

I love Washington, DC.  In all honesty, it is probably one of my very favorite cities in the whole country. This trip was no different, as it was so great to see a few new things (Arlington, Nationals Stadium, and the changing of the guard) outside of my typical work travel.