Proud to be an American

What an awesome weekend! We might have possibly had the BEST TIME EVER in DC. The weather was a little cool, but just in the “we live in LA” kind of way. Warning: this will be a long post! Our trip was non stop and we have tons of stories, but I’ll try to keep it as concise (and interesting) as possible…with lots of pictures, of course!

Friday:
We left in the morning on a direct flight from LAX to Dulles. We flew Virgin Airlines which was a lot of fun since they have the whole “Red” entertainment system-you can watch live TV, play games (Anagramarama!), buy movies, order food and drinks (you just swipe your credit card at your seat), chat seat to seat, listen to music, etc! We arrived early at Dulles and Sarah Kay was waiting (in the Civ!) for us. We could feel the cold air as soon as we got off the plane! We went to Sarah’s apartment in DC and met her boyfriend, Ryan who was waiting for us for dinner. He was watching the tournament when he opened the door so I was pretty confident that he and Aaron would get alongJ We hailed a cab right outside of Sarah’s apartment to dinner in Dupont Circle….what a sight! We went to a restaurant called Lauriol Plaza and it was the biggest restaurant I have ever seen. It was huge and PACKED! Sarah and I held down the fort while the boys went to find a place to get a score check on the games. We were finally seated outside under the heat lamps for dinner.

After a great meal, we caught a cab back to Sarah’s and drove through Adams Morgan to get there. We decided to go for a night tour by car to see some of the sites. It was surreal to see all the monuments lit up-Kennedy Center, the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial, and Iwo Jima. We got out and took a few pictures, dropped Ryan off at his house in North Arlington and then headed back to Sarah’s for the night.
Saturday
After a late night, we slept in a little bit and left the house at about 11 on Saturday morning. Sarah bought us a walking map of DC and the three of us hopped on the metro towards the Mall. It was NUTS out! The Metro Center station, in particular, where we had to switch trains was a mad house. Sarah told us that it was one of the busiest weekends in DC. There was the Kite Festival on the Mall, the National Cherry Blossom Festival, the National Marathon, and the Epilepsy Walk…whew! After waiting for a not so packed train to arrive, we rode to the Smithsonian stop and found ourselves staring straight at the Washington Monument. It was such a fun day on the mall because there were cute kids everywhere trying to fly kites!

From there, we walked to the Tidal Basin and were in awe of the cherry blossoms IN FULL BLOOM. It was absolutely stunning-the pictures don’t even do it justice. Everyone had told us about it but I don’t think we understood how pretty they made the whole city this time of year.

We decided to head up towards the business district for some lunch. We had a (delicious) bite to eat at Cosi (Kate, we thought of you!) and walked down the street to the White House after lunch. The White House was pretty surreal, especially with the sniper standing on the roof (see picture below). From there, Sarah caught the metro back to her house to do some homework and Aaron and I ventured out on our own. We walked and walked but really saw quite a lot:

1. Lincoln Memorial: This is one of the most overwhelming monuments. The view of the Washington Monument, Capitol, and the reflection pool is stunning but so is just the sheer size of Honest Abe:
2. Vietnam: As we were walking towards the memorial, Aaron spotted the wall and said that he didn’t realize how big it was. I generally agreed with him, but as soon as we started to walk alongside it, I spotted the first couple of names and just burst into tears. It was literally as if someone had flipped a switch. I continued to cry the entire length of the memorial; the cards and flowers that people put down in honor of their loved ones combined with the magnitude of the loss of lives was shocking and humbling. We watched some members of the Army polish the flagpole across from the Memorial and from there, I took in the whole wall from afar and cried again in Aaron's arms. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to have lost a dad, a grandpa, a friend-I guess I had been so sheltered from how devastating Vietnam really was and it was crystal clear to me as I saw all the names and the symbols by their names indicating their status (MIA, etc.).

3. Korean: My boss, Dwana had told me about the Korean War Memorial and so we definitely checked it out since it was right across from the Vietnam memorial. It's a neat memorial and there are these really cool etched faces in the marble walls.

4. FDR: From there, we headed over to the Jefferson Memorial. Aaron's Grammy had recommended the FDR memorial and we passed it on our way to the Jefferson. It was full of quotes from FDR and pretty waterfalls.

5. Jefferson: The National Cherry Blossom Festival was in full swing over by this stop. The pictures show you just how crazy crowded it was!

By now, we were (ok, I was:)) tired, hungry, needing a bathroom break-you name it! We tried to get on the metro to head to Arlington cemetery for the changing of the guard ceremony but the Smithsonian station was temporarily unavailable! We got very lucky and stumbled into L'Enfant Plaza Hotel where they had a gift shop with food, a nice, clean bathroom, and great lobby chairs! Also, the metro stop was right down the stairs from the hotel lobby! God is good! Unfortunately, by the time that we got to Arlington, it was about 6:30pm and the cemetery closes at 5pm every day (until tomorrow when it is open an hour later all spring and summer).

So, we headed back to Sarah's on the Metro and then caught a cab to Georgetown for dinner. We met a college friend of mine at Pizzeria Paradiso and walked the streets of Georgetown and stopped in at the Daily Grill for a little bit. It was so good to see Mike!

Sunday
Sunday morning, Sarah called us a cab to head to the 16th and Decatur Church of Christ. Service was at 11am and the driver took us via Rock Creek Park to get there. It was so pretty! Sarah did some more homework while we were gone and then we headed back to Georgetown to check out the campus and eat some lunch. The campus is so pretty:

We met another college friend/sorority sister Liz and her boyfriend Derek for lunch at Dean and Deluca in Georgetown. It was all that I hoped it would be and more!

Our last stop was Arlington Cemetery. We left Georgetown at 4:30 so we were pretty worried we would miss the changing of the guard ceremony...again! Sarah decided it would be most time efficient to drop us off. We hustled up to the tomb of the unknown soldier and thankfully, a groundskeeper told us that there would be a change at 5pm and we would be able to see it! I have a video of it but I am going to try to fix it up a little before I post it. For now-photos!

And then it was back to Dulles for our flight out. It was a late and exhausting flight for us but being able to have a full day in DC was well worth it. We are so blessed to have had such a great time! The weather was good, the company was fantastic, and the experience was unforgettable. It is truly a trip that every American should take, at least once, to fully understand what was done for us before we were even born. I don't think anyone can leave DC without feeling humbled and overwhelmed with appreciation and thankfulness that you are an American.

*Sarah Kay, thanks again for everything. I miss you already!*

"But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."" Matthew 19:26