Chris recently had a week off for spring break and we decided to take advantage of this time and travel to one of the greatest cities in our nation -- Washington DC! We grabbed a few of our friends and drove the 2.5 hours for a great three-day vacay.
Our first stop was Mt. Vernon - the home and estate of our first president, George Washington. The estate consists of a gorgeous home, many gardens, and a working farm. We spent the entire morning exploring everything, from the upper gardens all the way down to the wharf on the Potomac river. It was beautiful and very interesting to learn more about this founding father. (They even have the very bed that President Washington died in! A little gross...but very cool.)
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| A little family photo outside Washington's home. |
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| Washington's very own buggy. |
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| Liv loved the sheep grazing in the fields! |
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| A great shot of Washington's home. (We always seem to travel when construction is going on...) |
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| The upper gardens and greenhouse. |
While it was drizzling a little in the morning, that afternoon turned out to be a beautiful 75 degrees! So we took advantage of the weather and decided to walk the National Mall and visit the monuments.
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| The family outside the Washington Monument. Calvin was just sleeping away. |
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| Hillary and I at the WWII monument. |
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| A star for each fallen or missing soldier in WWII |
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| Chris and Jason resting at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial. (Jason is actually kind of smiling. It's a miracle!) |
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| Liv's favorite part of the day? Running up and down the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. |
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| Chris snapped this great shot of the Washington Memorial on our way back to the metro. It could have been even more beautiful if the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, but alas, we were a week or two too early. |
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| That night we ate a half-smoked at the famous Ben's Chili Bowl. I had to be a tourist and get a picture. |
The next day the weather wasn't quite so cooperative. It was a little rainy and windy so we decided to stay inside and explore the museums. We were able to make our way through the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History, Air and Space Museum, and the National Gallery of Art.
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| The zoologist in Chris definitely came out as he showed Olivia the wonder of the natural world. |
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| We even paid a little extra to go into the butterfly pavilion. Turns out Liv likes pictures of butterflies much better than she likes the real things. She kept shaking her head and saying no when one flew too close. |
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| Chris and Calvin marveling at the huge planes in the Air and Space Museum. The picture is a little fuzzy but I needed proof that Calvin actually came with us on this vacation! |
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| That night we went to the Washington DC temple to do a session. As this is the closest temple to us we don't get to visit as often as we would like. It was great to feel the spirit (and to rest our weary feet!). |
Saturday was our last day in DC. We had planned to visit the National Zoo, but the weather was FREEZING! It looked nice and sunny outside but the wind was killer. We decided we just couldn't hack it so we went to the National Geographic museum instead. We got to learn all about the gigantic fish that live in rivers and the existence of the still debated Spinosaurus. (Unfortunately no pictures)
Although the cherry blossoms were not yet in bloom, the Cherry Blossom festival was still going forward in full force. We had been looking forward to the kite flying festival and competition all week. So we decided we could brave the weather for just a little bit in order to fly a kite on the grounds of the Washington Monument.
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| Chris and Liv getting the kite ready! |
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| Christ masterfully flying the kite! |
We could only stand the cold for about half an hour, but that was good enough for all of us. We decided to call it a day and head back to PA. Of course, on our way back we had to stop at the nearest Cafe Rio, which is in Baltimore. Any chance I get to devour one of their pork salads, I will definitely take! And Chris even bought me some of their delicious tortillas to take home. Yum!
All in all it was a wonderful vacation! I'm glad Chris could take a little bit of time off and that we could explore some of the treasures of the east coast. Looking forward to many more adventures in the future!
