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From the time we boarded the first airplane at 11:20 pm in Seattle until we touched down back in the Emerald city a mere 71 hours later our adventure was nothing short of awesome! Aleena and I wanted to get away on a whim. Our destination? Washington, D.C. People said we were crazy and it was a waste of money but I just figure that you only live but once so you might as well take all this life has to offer right now.
We landed in D.C. at 9:45am on Saturday morning and the wandering began. Our first stop was to buy a Metro Card then ride the subway just a few stops to Arlington National Cemetery. We arrived to Cherry Blossoms in full bloom and hundreds of thousands of grave sites that almost take your breath away. The perfection of the cemetery is almost eerie. We watched the changing of the guards and saw JFK's grave site with the eternal flame. Still wearing our backpacks we proceeded to walk back to the Metro station and make our way towards the hotel.
Once we changed our clothes we set out towards the National Mall to check out the
Washington Monument first. We took the opportunity to snap some pictures and take in the beautiful weather. We continued towards the Lincoln Memorial passing by the back of the White House, the World War II Memorial and the Reflection Pond. Our feet were beginning to tire since we had each had a fresh tattoo. Shoes were not our best idea but flip flops were out of the question with the amount of walking we anticipated.
Our stomachs began to growl and we grabbed the Metro out to Union Station where our Monuments by Moonlight tour also departed. I had an awesome Chicken, Bacon, Swiss Panini with potato chips and coleslaw. We wandered Union Station, bought a few souvenirs and boarded the Trolly for our tour.
Drew, the tour guide was quite entertaining and knowledgeable, which made our experience even better. We saw the city in a whole new way once the sun set and the lights came on. The beauty and majesty of everything had me in awe of our nation's capitol. We stopped at various sights but my favorite and probably the most memorable of the tour was the Marine Corps War Memorial also known as the
Iwo Jima Memorial. It looked like a spitting image of the famous photograph and was very moving.
After the tour we ventured back to our hotel to turn in for the night. After such an exciting and eventful day we were tuckered out and ready to get some sleep. I closed my eyes to the noise of the air conditioner humming and cars rolling along the street outside. 9am came at just the right time, not too early. We awoke, showered and decided what the day would hold.
We ate at Hard Rock Cafe after trekking through the rain. Being from Seattle the rain didn't slow us down but we did make an interesting observation, everyone owned and used an umbrella. We thought this was a little strange since we are used to rain and cold and just throwing up the hood of your jacket and bearing the elements in the Pacific Northwest. The food was enjoyable and our server was friendly. We finished stuffing our faces and headed to the Baltimore Airport for the return trip home. After about a 20 minute Metro ride and a 30 minute bus ride we arrived at our terminal for our
return to Seattle via Phoenix. When we checked in the ticket agent informed us that we would not be able to make our connecting flight due to a delay out of Baltimore. We weighed our options and decided that a night in Phoenix could be interesting and just be another page in our adventures!
We boarded the flight to Phoenix and upon arrival checked into the hotel that US Airways had to put us up in. It was pretty fancy and in a decent location. We soaked up the sun next to the pool but had to get out of the sun before we fried too bad. Our flight left Phoenix, landed in Vegas for a short jaunt and then we finally made it home to Seattle after it all.
What a weekend!!!
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El Eterno Caminante
Greg
cool
Hey Shelby....ahhhh you went to my part of town( i'm from D.C.) looks like you are getting your adventures going early!! hope you had a good time!! take care