Virginia and Washington, DC

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October 12 - 18, 2007

We departed on Friday, October 12th for Washington Dulles Airport in Virginia. We went to visit Cambria and Ryan (sis and bro in law) and to also see Washington, DC for our first time. I sat next to a Kiwi (gentleman from New Zealand) on the way. He is living in L.A. on a visa and has to leave L.A. every three months to renew his visa. This time he was going to Rome (our plane was continuing on there - sooo jealous), so I thought that was pretty cool. I told him I had a friend from NZ and then as we landed he asked if this was Washington, Dallas - instead of Dulles. He thought we were in Texas. So cute. Hehe.

Cambria awaited us near baggage claim with a cardboard cut out reading our names. We almost walked right past her! That's the first time in years I've had someone waiting when I get off a plane, so that was great. We gathered our luggage and then headed to Herndon. Ryan was already home with Vega when we got there. What a great apartment they have! We sat and chatted before we headed to dinner in Ashburn. There we met Heather, their friend, at a cute restaurant (that of course I've already forgotten the name) that was converted from a series of farmhouses. Ashburn used to be a huge farming area, so it was a real piece of history and a treat for our first meal there.

Day One: Saturday

Saturday morning we had to start a little early since we had LOADS to see. We left the house around 8:30 and drove to the metro (East Church I think?) where we caught a train into the city. We came up from the metro stop right in the middle of The Mall. Our first stop was the Washington Monument. With its white exterior and the blue sky it was an amazing first sight! We then headed directly towards the Jefferson Memorial. We got our first look at it from across the Tidal Basin which was really a sight. Planes were taking off from Reagan just to the right of the monument so that was pretty cool too.

The Jefferson Monument is amazing. I love the dome-shape of the building, it makes it stand out from the typical Roman (square with columns) architecture that you typically see in DC. The big statue of Jefferson in the middle is great and the view of the Tidal Basin through the columns of the monument is really a sight. We then headed west around the Tidal Basin and over to the FDR Memorial and ending up at the Reflecting Pool. We went off path for a moment to see the Korean War Memorial (creepy but a great memorial) and then back over to the Lincoln Memorial. This was by far one of my favorite sights! It was of course a huge tourist trap so it was packed with people, but nonetheless I really enjoyed it. The sights of the Monument across the reflecting pool just take your breath away. And they also have a marker where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his speech in 1963.

We then continued on our path towards the Vietnam Memorial where I was able to locate my dad's best friend that died in Vietnam. Jim was killed in 1968 and I grew up going to his grave with my dad most Memorial Day holidays. I wouldn't say it's "great" knowing somebody on the wall, but it made it a more personal experience and I was very focused on trying my hardest to get pictures and his name etched on paper for my dad. Made me feel good to do something like that for my dad. Cambria helped me etch his name on paper and I was very excited once I accomplished that.

Then we headed over to the WWII Memorial (which is fairly new - est. 2004 I think) which is in a stunning place. It's at the end of the reflecting pool - between the reflecting pool and the Washington Monument. So you look to your right down the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial and then directly to your left is the Washington Monument. The fountain in the middle just adds to the beauty of the architecture. Again the white colors of the architecture just pop on the bright blue sky.

It was finally lunch time. We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe right next door to the Ford Theater (which was unfortunately closed) and across the street from the Petersen House where President Lincoln spent 9 hours in a coma before he died. After a few quick snapshots we were onto the Library of Congress which was also one of my favorite sights on this trip. The interior is painted and carved so much like many structures in Europe, so of course I absolutely adored it. The library itself just takes your breath away with the tall ceilings and the beautifully carved and painted walls.

After a slight break to see the U.S. Supreme Court (awesome!) we were then onto the Capitol Building. This was also one of my favorite sights. I think it's ten times prettier than the White House! Again, a large white building against the bright blue sky - it just makes it even more spectacular. Between the beauty and the history, you really get overwhelmed and feel like you could sit there all day just staring. The Capitol Building also has a view straight down the mall to the Washington Monument, which is great.

After the Capitol Building we were exhausted so decided on a Starbucks break before we headed to the National Archives. After my Pumpkin Spice Frap Lite was gone we headed over to the Archives only to discover they close early during the fall. So we decided on one last stop before we headed back to Herndon, and that was the White House.

I purchased a sweatshirt and a snow globe at a street vendor by the White House and then went and dove into the crowd outside the South Lawn for some quick pictures. Cambria and Ryan then took us around to the North Lawn which has a much better view of the house and is a lot less crowded (if you don't mind protestors lol).

We then headed to the metro to catch a train back to Virginia. We ate dinner that night in and just hung out. Ryan googled our route that day and we discovered we walked about 8 miles. We were all tired and sore and had to wake up early the next morning to go to Charlottesville.

Day Two: Sunday

We left the house around 7:30am to grab Starbucks and make the two hour drive south to Charlottesville. We stopped to take a tour of Monticello first.

Monticello is a beautiful place; it is a plantation, farm house, and was a home to over 150 slaves. Thomas Jefferson designed and built the home and it is on an amazing piece of land (5000 acres) covered in trees. And luckily the trees were just starting to change color, so we had some great views of the property. Monticello is a lot smaller than I had anticipated it being, but is still nonetheless beautiful and packed with history. Jefferson was quite the "designer" and there were a few clocks and gadgets that he had designed still preserved in the house. There is this "gadget" right when you walk into the house. It's a weight system that is a calendar of sorts. It tells what day of the week it is. It runs from the floor beneath through a small hole in the floor up and across the doorway over to the other wall and then back into the floor beneath. There's labels for each day of the week and can you believe it is still working and still accurate! We then walked the path down past his grave on our way to the parking lot and there was a beautiful trees with pink, yellow, and orange leaves just next to his headstone. So beautiful. We then had lunch at Michie's Tavern (ca. 1784) which has all you can eat colonial food (fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls, and bbq pork) and of course is served by women in colonial garb lol.

Next was wine tasting at Blenheim Vineyards just outside of Charlottesville. We got a private tasting and enjoyed panoramic views of the vineyards and farmlands of Virginia. We also went to see downtown Charlottesville and stopped for some yummy gelato. Ryan also drove us by the University of Virginia to see the rotunda that Jefferson had designed. What an amazing school! It's your typical east coast school fully loaded with brick buildings and a beautiful campus. I would have loved to go there! We then headed north a little to Barboursville Vineyard where we took a tour and did a wine tasting. Cambria and I also went to look at the ruins of the Barboursville mansion that Jefferson had built but burnt down in the mid-1800s. The winery is Italian and they only grow Italian grapes and it is run by an Italian man. I didn't like any of their reds (the Merlot was the best) but enjoyed most of the whites. Afterwards it was another 2 hour drive home. Once there we made some food at the house and enjoyed a game of 90s Trivial Pursuit. Cambria and I technically won because we were all too tired to finish the game! lol.

Day Three: Monday

Cambria, Jeff and I headed out around 9 in the morning and said our goodbyes to Ryan. He had to take a four day trip but we would meet him at the airport the morning we left to have some coffee. Our first stop on Monday morning (after seeing the side of the Pentagon that was blown away in 9/11) was Arlington National Cemetery. This is a very beautiful and peaceful place. If you're brave like us and hike to the top, there's gorgeous views of Washington DC and the Mall from there. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was different than I thought. A soldier paces 21 steps, pauses 21 seconds, and then paces another 21 steps all day, every day in 1 hour shifts. You have to sit behind a railing and honor the tomb, you can't really get too close to it. Of course JFK, Jackie Kennedy, and Bobby Kennedy are also buried there. Seeing JFK's grave really brought tears to my eyes. I wish I would have been old enough to know him as president. It's so sad that he died so young and he had such great plans for our country. It's just tragic. Bobby too. But it was great to see and the views from their memorials were great as well.

After Arlington Cemetery we headed back into the city to go to the National Archives again. This was a great experience. The Constitution, Bill of Rights, The Declaration of Independence, among thousands of other documents, are housed here. They all looked the way I thought they would, just a tad more...uh...faded. I mean duh, they're insanely old and written on some parchment paper, but still a lot more faded than I expected lol. I enjoyed seeing them - it is something everyone should do in their lives. Gives you more of an appreciation for your country.

After the National Archives and a yummy "wreck" from Potbelly, we headed to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. The biggest highlight was that they are currently housing some collections from the History Museum because it's under renovations, so the coolest thing I saw was the hat that Abe Lincoln was shot in. Unbelievable! I really enjoyed seeing the Wright Bros. plane, Amelia Earhart's plane, and the Spirit of St. Louis (Lindbergh). Crazy history! We also popped into the National Gallery of Art to see a collection of Monet's (my favorite painter) which I really enjoyed. After that we headed back to the metro to go get the car in Arlington to head into Georgetown to see my friend and co-worker Tony. He took us to one of THE best Lebanese restaurants in all of DC called Neyla. He's Lebanese so he gave us some education on what we should order and what we were eating. Everything was Tapas, so it was a lot of fun trying all sorts of different dishes. And I learned never say never when it comes to eating lamb. It was great! I must say that I do enjoy grape leaves warm more than cold and I like them with a lot more meat than they typically serve at restaurants. The highlight was that I finally tried some raw Kibbeh and it was ok, good flavor, but I just can't bring myself to do it! I later had some fried - I liked that better haha. We also had something that I think was or was similar to a Turkish Pizza which is like a grilled pita (quesadilla type) dish with lamb in the middle (goat cheese and grilled onions too). The hommus was AMAZING! And the pitas were so fresh. For an appetizer we had this Baked Cheese dish which was a mix of Halloumi, Mozzarella and Manchego cheeses. Halloumi is a Lebanese cheese that you can actually put on the grill and it won't melt onto it. It's kind of like a brie texture. We also had a great dish called Fatteh which is Eggplant, Lamb and Pine Nuts, with whipped Yogurt, Garlic, Chick Peas, Cilantro Oil and crispy Pita. Jeff and Tony also enjoyed a lamb sausage deal, I can't remember the name and there's a few on here as I scroll through their menu. I had one and I enjoyed it lol. We also had what I called growing up as a meat pie. It's just a flaky croissant like roll around the meat and the meat has onion, pine nuts and can have rice in it too. Dessert was amazing too. We got two but my favorite was the Phyllo Wrapped Banana which was a pistachio and chocolate wrapped banana. SOOO tasty! We also tried Kanafe which is a baked sweet cheese dish. It was different and good. Not insanely sweet so I felt like I could eat more lol.

After stuffing ourselves with Tony we headed back home but first drove through the Mall so I could see it lit up at night.

Day Four: Tuesday

This day was my birthday so we got kind of a late start. We headed into the city via the metro and went to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum which was such an amazing experience. The museum takes you on a journey through the Holocaust based on a timeline. I learned a great amount I didn't know, especially how the events that would eventually lead to the Holocaust started taking place in 1933. It tells an amazing story about all of the countries that were taken over by the Germans and all of the countries that fought to bring down the Nazis. There were so many first-hand experiences on video and written on the displays. The most eerie thing was the display of shoes they have. It's a room filled with shoes actually taken from the Jews as they entered one of the concentration camps. They're very eerie and have a smell about them that just makes you want to cry. They had a lot of possessions from Jews and they also had an actual train car that they were transported to concentration camps in. You could walk inside and it's just horribly sad and very creepy. To make the experience real they give you an Identification Card upon entering the museum. It tells the story of someone who lived and died in the Holocaust. It makes the experience more real. I really enjoyed this experience and as sad as it is, I think that it's beautiful the way they set everything up. They even have a remembrance hall where you can light a candle for the victims.

Afterwards we had a fabulous meal at Zaytinya, a Mediterranean restaurant in DC that serves Greek, Lebanese, and Turkish dishes. Again great Hommus and pitas. We enjoyed the Tabouleh (salad), some grape leaves, some fresh feta, some goat cheese wrapped in a grape leaf, a grilled pita with lamb inside, and what I think was like a Turkish meatball. It's an itty bitty piece of meat wrapped in a small noodle with a yogurt sauce. So tasty! It was a great lunch. Then we went to the beautiful Georgetown area to do some birthday shopping before we headed home for the evening. After dinner at a local Italian restaurant we stopped by the sweets shop that Heather works at and she gave me a cupcake and a piece of cake! They were both soooo yummy and creamy. Especially the cupcake!

Day Five: Wednesday

Our last day was quite an adventure. Cambria had to work and Ryan was on a trip so Jeff and I rented a car so we could go out on our own. We first headed to Mt. Vernon, George Washington's home and the place where he rests today. What an amazing place! It's set right along the Potomac with panoramic views of not only the water, but beautiful forest with multi-colored trees as far as the eye can see. Mt. Vernon is (I believe) 5,000 acres of land with small rolling hills, a fruit garden and nursery, even a wharf to take a cruise on the Potomac. After the tour of the house and down to see George and Martha's tombs we ate a colonial lunch (with peanut soup!) at the Mt Vernon restaurant before we hopped back in the car. We got lost quite a few times, I have no idea why there are so many roads with so many different numbers. If you take the wrong road/highway/freeway you'll just end up on another road/highway/freeway, it's almost impossible to turn around. None of the signs make any sense - none of the directions (North, south, east west) make any sense. Once we were back on track we headed west to Manassas to see the Manassas Battle Field. This battle field was the first major land battle of the civil war and was host to the first and second Bull Run battles. It's a very eerie place, insanely quiet, but packed with history. There's markers everywhere that say "so-and-so was wounded fatally right at this spot." That is so amazing to me. They had unloaded cannons sitting out on the field - those were interesting. We only spent about a half hour there because it was hot and humid and we didn't want to walk horribly far. We then hopped back into the car to go to another Smithsonian Air and Space Museum this time at Dulles Airport right outside of Herndon.

This museum was amazing as it is just a gigantic airport hangar that houses a space shuttle, a Concorde, a blackbird, among Nazi planes, missiles, and the famous Enola Gay. It's newer and a lot less crowded so we enjoyed ourselves there. Cambria then picked us up from the rental car place and we did a little packing before we went and had Chicago style pizza at Uno's.

We left around 7:30 the next morning and Cambria dropped us at the airport. Ryan's flight was delayed an hour so we caught him just about 20 mins before we had to board our flight. It was good to see him one last time before we headed home. We had an amazing time and were very tired, but nonetheless very relaxed! I love Virginia and DC! :-)

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Comments

[Craig]

Great trip!!
Looks like you guys had a blast! I know your hosts were first class all the way. Great site.

[Lisa]

I love reading about your travels. Great idea to put this travel blog up. Can't wait to read more!