Trip Video:
Day 1
Well, we're here: Our month long journey living in Washington D.C. The day started by us landing at Dulles airport, and then charging the car up with about four miles to spare. Somehow, and I'm still trying to figure it out, the Tesla is losing about five to six miles a day on charge just sitting there. So it creates for quite the scare once in awhile. We went to Leesburg, Virginia to charge the car, about 15 miles from the airport. Cute little town. Grabbed some coffee then makeup for tonight's Halloween extravaganza, and we swung by Healthy Hound to pick up our dogs. To say they were happy to see us would be a severe understatement (and of course vice versa 😊) After that, onto the convention center to pick up our race packets for tomorrow's race, which we know the chances of us actually running are about 3% (well, we didn’t run so even that number was high!) We navigated through the craziness there, got the race packets, and then headed to our new home. Deborah, owner of the VRBO was there, sweeping the leaves, ready to meet us and move on so she could get to the World Series Game 4! Super cute place, two bedroom, including a loft. So there we are, moved ourselves in. Pretty exhausted from the day, we chilled for awhile before heading out to the Dupont market to grab some dinner. I went to the liquor store to grab a bottle of Rye. Cracked open a bottle of wine when we got back to the place a beautiful Patland proprietary red blend, and started to consume. Within an hour and a half, we had a few glasses of wines + Ryes in us, and I was the ferocious lion ready to go, and Chelle was beautiful Dorothy. We headed out for our first venture, and participated in the Nightmare on M Street bar crawl. We hit, and I think it's in this order: The Big Hunt, City Tap House, Public Bar Live, District Anchor. We didn't get to the Rose Bar Lounge I don't believe, but things are pretty foggy at that point. Walked back to our new place, luckily we found it. I didn't lose the keys or believe it or not anything for that matter, and crashed for the first night in D.C.
Day 2
Woke up in the morning and got a very late start after a rough night. Basically, Chelle was almost dead. She slept 92% of the day, but I was able to wake her up and get her to Bethesda Bagels, where the wait was quite long and she sat up there with Joonbug, fell asleep, tied the leash around her foot so she wouldn't run away and completely passed out. After the bagels, which by the way were awesome, we took Joonbug to the dog park (our first dog park together!), where she finally, incredibly, miraculously popped. It was a victory, we high-fived. Afterwards Chelle resumed her sleep. We watched some TV, definitely a lazy day. You play, you pay. We did get to the gym and check out Mint, which was pretty dirty and smelled like feet. So, not quite sure that's the gym for us.
After that, we headed to the World Series game number five. Pretty exciting stuff. Even though we got there early, after out first experience on the DC Metro, the lines were ridiculous. The Christ-screaming loud man broke my right eardrum. Cheers were heard around the world when he was finally kicked out. We finally got in there and barely had enough time to get a hat, food, and clothes. Seats were really good. Trump was sitting, actually, below us. But, in the end, the Nationals got their butts' kicked, and they're down three games to two. Went back home, found a 24-hour Subway to eat more (as if the super healthy chicken fingers, fries, and giant Bud Lights were not enough) and then crashed.
DAY 3
Woke up in the morning, had a nice run with Jooonbug to Meridian Hill Park. After that, went to our Bethesda Bagels again and headed down to see the Holocaust Museum. We took the metro down there and walked back. All I can say is it's unbelievable. We had the opportunity to meet a Holocaust survivor (Edith) and had her sign her book for us. She was super sweet and looked great! We spent three hours on only the top floor. There are four floors, so we will go back and see the remaining three. People there are very nice and helpful, and the museum is second to none. We walked back (about 2 miles) , watched a movie and then I headed out to check out another gym as a possibility (this one non feet smelling I hoped) and this one I really liked: The Washington Sports Club: Several Locations: huge co-ed steam room and sauna. Gym was four levels: Everything you could want and a lot of energy. We also did some shopping at Safeway, carried all of our bags back by hand, kind of painful.
For dinner, we were dying for Indian, and we went to Le Mirch. In fact, we got Le Mirch, which is their signature dish: slow-cooked lamb, super spicy and amazing, along with tuna. We also had their soup, spiced with curry, and they had a spinach sort of baked, crispy appetizer which was also great. We got some kind of Cabernet from Paso Robles, which is actually a 2017. Turned out to be great. She gave us the wrong one, but it tasted so good we didn't care. Really nice people, we'll have to give them a good review.
Day 4:
Today was “Tours by locals” guided by Christian (who was born in the Philippines, moved here when he was three months old with his mother who worked for the Philippines Embassy). He's lived here most of his life, and showed us all around DC. Great tour. We ended up walking 10 miles, but learned so much not only all the sites, but some stories, great places to go, restaurants, bars. Definitely some valuable information. Plus on top of it, he was a really cool guy. Enjoyed spending the time with him. I highly recommend Tours by Local. Apparently they're worldwide. Based in Vancouver, and a great way to start the trip. It's a bit expensive, but it's a personalized tour. Had lunch at Potbellys which is like a glorified Subway, but much better. Very good. After the tour, I solidified my membership at Washington Sports Club. We got a 30-day trial for only $31. Not a bad deal. Access to all the clubs. Great club! For dinner, we actually finally ate at the rental and Chelle made some delicious chicken for dinner. Cracked open a bottle of Dakota Shy Ten and watched game six of the world series where the Nationals prevailed. Unfortunately, I have to wake up early in the morning to catch a flight back to Sarasota to go to a meeting: Then back to DC the next day.
DAYS 5,6 AND 7
Days five and six were occupied because I had to go down to Sarasota to take care of some business. So, day six, we were going to do something for Halloween, but Chelle wasn't feeling so good. So we just chilled and went to Glen's Garden Market: Incredible, and just picked up a couple of sandwiches and had some wine and chilled at the house. Decided not to go out, and did not use our tickets to Ovio Big Halloween Bash, Nightmare on M Street.
Day number seven. Woke up and went for a run to Georgetown. Went over the P Street Bridge, followed that down to the left, to a trail and I ended up on M Street in Georgetown. End up continuing down M Street, amazed at how awesome Georgetown was. Made me think about maybe I should've rethought my schools, but, of course, definitely not / Always a Gator! But continued on to GW Bridge into Virginia. Pretty interesting when you're running in one state, or sort of a state, and then you see a sign for the next state. Headed back for an 8 miler and then we went back to the Holocaust Museum to finish floors three, two, and one (since we'd already done floor number four) But not before we stopped at a bagel place I saw on P Street. I have to say, the Asian woman there was like the bagel Nazi, not the most friendly person in the world, but the bagels, once again, were pretty damn good. Still hungry, we stopped Poki DC and had an awesome sushi / veggie / rice bowl. Chelle had some sort of weird black licorice milky, sugary drink. I can't remember the name of what she said it was, but she liked it, although I'm not sure how that's possible to like that drink!
So we finished the Holocaust Museum: just unbelievable. The fourth floor takes the longest time, but we did get through floors three, two and one, and read pretty much every single thing they had to offer, and watched almost every single film. It was just unbelievable the atrocities, what happened. And for anybody to say that that didn't happen is just obviously 10,000% ignorant. I already knew that anyway, but after you visit this museum, it's just unbelievable that somebody could actually say something like that. The most amazing thing is how one person could've turned not only an entire country, but several countries and people into the monsters that they were. Made me super happy that I'm already a donator every month, and definitely want to increase the donations now. And a huge believer in the Never Forget slogan. Dinner tonight at the Russia House. Super cool place. The Vodka samplers were amazing.
The tomatoe and garlic vodka was pretty good. Horse radish vodka and pickle vodka very good too.. The sweeter ones Chelle wasn't a big fan, but I have to say, huge shots. Surprisingly pulled the shot out, we thought it was going to be a regular shot. And when we realized it was about three inches long, we knew we were in for a long night. But amazing that they can infuse it and make it taste so good. I think they have a couple hundred different kinds of vodka, ended up having a bottle of wine from Georgia (the country!) . Never had that, actually can say it was pretty good. Chelle had the beef stroganoff and I had the duck. We tried the perogies and also she had the beet soup, which I was pretty impressed with her nutritional though process there. I had their house salad. Everything was really good. Then we went up to the lounge, hung out, and had a martini. Back to the house, ate half of the Halloween candy, and of course as a result, slept like crap.
DAY 8
We started the day looking for the taco place we've been dying to go to. Even though we've seen it 100 times, we couldn't remember exactly where it was. So after fighting for a bit about directions and neither one of us being able to find it, we ventured onto to another poke-place, this one was also quite good and easy, and set us up for a good day. We headed over to the World Series Celebration Parade. We started to walk in the general direction of the Washington Monument, since that was supposed to be the start of it, and as luck would have it, we ended up right at the very back of the parade before it started, so that we got up close and personal with barely anybody else there, to the back/finale part of the parade which had the best players on the double-decker buses, including one holding the World Series trophy. Saw lots of kids getting autographs, got to take some good pictures of the players, and then we moved onto where the crowds of the people were and watched the parade. Pretty awesome stuff, great energy, and the confetti display at the end was just awesome. Pretty cool to see all of that confetti in the sky, and right behind it, the Washington Monument. After that, hustled back home to watch the Gators lose to Georgia, 24-17, what a bummer. However, we would not let this kill our mood. After that, we went to the Washington Hotel, which is now owned by the W, and went to the rooftop bar, which is called POV. Pretty awesome, great views, lighthouse, Washington Monument, got a couple of really good Old Fashioneds. Set the stage for the next stop, we stopped by the Hamilton which looked really cool, had no idea what it was. Turns out it's a cool restaurant / bar with live music on two different floors. We moved on to dinner at Ocean Prime: Very good but a little bit dated, compared to some of the other restaurants around town, so as good as it was, I don't know if I'd rush to go back there. After that, we decided to go back to the Hamilton and we got tickets, albeit not cheap, $45 a pop, to watch a jazz band (from New Orleans). Got a good table / great times, and then went back to the house.
DAY 9
Okay, woke up this morning. Had a great long run. Amazing how you can run here and I'll tell you, you'll see so many things and the air is so fresh and cool, it's like you're not even running. Went by the White House, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Martin Luther King Memorial, FDR Memorial, Thomas Jefferson Memorial and just kept going by the Washington Monument on back to the house. 8 ½ miles and didn't even realize it. Then Chelle and I went, (finally got her butt to go) to the gym and we were all set up for body pump, but the guy canceled, so it was “body conditioning” class: 30 minutes (running in place, lunges, jumping jacks, weights and being filmed? (we’ll see where that ends up!) Next: another Poke bowl and then to finish museum of natural history. Pretty awesome this time: we checked out the gems, saw the Hope Diamond, the mummies, the bones and also the infectious diseases. There's no question now, I'm extremely worried about traveling anywhere because I could contract one of these diseases, H1N2 is coming my way! I hope not! Moving on, and we're walking in this city everywhere, so we're putting on some serious mileage, six miles today and the walk culminated with the Pacers Running store, got a bunch of running equipment and gear so that we're ready to run in the cold weather. Headed back to the house, played with the doggies. Now on to La Tomate (restaurant where Chelsea Clinton had her first date whoop’dee’do!). Found a black squid pasta: DONE! Chelle, being a good girl had her high protein no carb meals, octopus and monkfish. Delicious place, great drinks, cute little atmosphere. On way back to watch MNF and the Cowboys rock the Giants.
Day 10
Today tried Surfside Tacos for lunch (we finally found it after passing it previous days 100 times!) Looks fun from the outside, always busy, open 24 hours, but .. not really worth it. Just so-so. After that, went to the National Gallery of Art. We went to the Modern Side (East Side). Four levels, huge building, amazing actually how little art there is in such a building because much of the art is large. Lots of sculptures. There's also a sculpture garden which is pretty cool. Our favorite ones were the tree and the 3D house. Inside the National Gallery of Art, they had Picassos, many other artists. Some of it was awesome, some of it was okay, and some of it was just amazing that it actually is in the Smithsonian. For example, there's basically one "sculpture" that's a napkin tacked on a wall. We call it “Napkin on the Wall” 😉! Or there's a square prison white picture that says “ I am a man”. Things like that (just blew our mind!)! But overall definitely very interesting, worthwhile. So exhausted we did not walk back. We cheated and took the metro back from the judicial square station. We got back, forced a work out in. Chelle cooked some Indian food which turned out to be awesome. I ran up Embassy Row to almost the Washington Cathedral, straight up hill and straight down hill: Only problem is it's quite busy on Massachusetts Avenue the whole time. Had an early night. Watched the rest of “Denial”( as our interest in the Holocaust continues strongly after that awesome museum visit) which turned out to be a great movie!
Day 11
The morning started off with a great run. We both ran around D.C., I went to the capitol and back, spun around a few times. Chelle ran to the White House and back : We picked up a couple of bagels, then headed out to Charlottesville, Virginia, to see my clients Bruce and Betsy: Wonderful people that just made the jump from living on Siesta Key to moving to an assisted living place to be close to her son. Interesting story with Bruce: His kidney was failing and was on dialysis. He had been on a kidney transplant list for years and felt his chances now that he is in his mid 70’s were slim. So they decided they needed more help and put a deposit on this new assisted living place. They didn’t love the idea of leaving their home on Siesta Key, but felt they really didn’t have the choice. Well, shortly after they put the deposit down, BAM: Good news: They had a kidney for Bruce! He immediately went up to Tampa and had the transplant. He is now doing well, but it was too late so they made the move anyway to the assisted living. Charlottesville is a cute energetic college town. They turned the Main Street into a brick, pedestrian-only. Rows of bars, restaurants and shops type situation, similar to Burlington and Boulder. We had a great lunch with them and got to see their place. We did have a nice surprise during lunch: the wine : called “Octagon” a blend by Barboursville, a Virginia-based winery: Very good and only $60 at the restaurant. Bruce mentioned to us that there are actually 600 wineries in Virginia. We had no idea, so we definitely want to come up here one time and do a Napa-type wine tasting trip and check it out! Then time for Chelle’s birthday dinner:
We headed for our reservation at the Inn at Little Washington.
What an unbelievable experience. It’s in Washington, Virginia. It was dark when we got there unfortunately so couldn’t see the grounds. Very strange place! Hard to describe: It’s a Michelin Star restaurant. Ridiculously expensive, but it's totally the experience. What you think is five, six, or seven courses becomes like 10. The wait staff is actually quite young, but super professional. They cater to you from the beginning to the end and just keep on surprising you: Pre-printed menus with Rechelle's name on it and happy birthday wishes: Little house filled with candies at the end, extras on extras: It just didn't stop. Everybody there around us was celebrating some kind of monumental moment, either a birthday or an anniversary. Place actually is quite large, but all private like rooms. Fire pits on the outside: just a great experience. Definitely need a second mortgage after you're done paying the bill, but worth it for a once in a lifetime experience.
Day 12
We headed back and that was the end of that. The next day, we did the Library Of Congress. I thought it was pretty cool but Chelle was pretty bored. Just to see it, I think is no question, worth it. Especially where you see Thomas Jefferson, 6,500 books that he sold to start the library (The library was his idea). There are also exhibits on display: I did do a calculation: Thomas Jefferson received $24,000 for the books back in 1800: In today's dollars, assuming a 5% rate of inflation, that's worth $1Billion. Tonight: No more going out to dinner: Chelle cooked some healthy Indian food. We hit Poke DC again for lunch: Love that place!
Day 13
HAPPY BIRTHDAY RECHELLE TODAY! Had a good day. Started the day w/ a great workout at our new favorite gym Washington Sports Club. I had another awesome run, about 8 miles. What an exhilarating run when you're running around the White House to the Washington Monument, you circle the Monument, you just pick the grass to run down, go backwards, look at it, see the Capital Building behind it, flip around and you see the Washington Monument with the reflecting pool and the Lincoln Memorial on the other side. Then ran by the Vietnam Veteran Memorial. Later went to Dupont Bikram yoga. Next we did get Thai massages. It wasn't really a Thai massage. It, at least from my perspective, really felt more like a brutal beating. I think this girl must have had me in tears. There was really no stretching, this was more just beating you up with elbows and knees. I'm not sure why I would pay for pain like that. For Chelle’s birthday, she decided she didn't want to go to any museums (she is TOAST w/museums ☹), so we checked out some consignment shops (she LOVES a good deal), and she had total success with the Buffalo Exchange. She said it was just a great day, and she ended up getting 14 dresses for $200, plus a pair of shoes. After that, the plan was to go to Doyle for a drink at the bar. Looking at the food there, would have been better just to stay there and eat. After that, we went to our highly recommended reservation at the Iron Gate. We walked in there, and they walked us through a nice, seated front area, and then all of a sudden, they walked us OUTSIDE. We had seen the pix where it showed everybody at the patio, but I never could believe in 40 degree weather, they'd seat you outside? Well it’s TRUE! They had a few space heaters, but it was cold. Seats were metal, cold. They did give you a blanket, and we looked at each other, and we're like, we're not sitting out here! We had a big, beautiful bottle of Celani Adore and was not interested in consuming it whilst freezing our butts off! Well we just left (not normally us but we had to make the right call, especially on such an important day!) I was shocked that they actually seat people like that. So, went across the street to Hotel Tabard (where the food actually smelled really good): Just had a drink there. Chelle hadn't eaten anything all day, except a cucumber, so the alcohol got to her quick! Decided to go to MXDC a Mexican place: Was so so. So much for the big night out: Too much alcohol too quick and not enough food: Time to go home! Went back and crashed: I was able to give her the big birthday present: tickets to the Elton John concert in Philly, which we’ll go to the next day!
Day 14
For the new day, we woke up, moving a little slow after the last night, and the plan is to head over to the U.S. capital building. We have a 2:20 tour of the capital. Everything worked out fine. Being in the capital is pretty amazing. It's beautiful inside. So much stone and marble statues and paintings. It was really surprising how nice it was. Not a bad place to work if you're a congressman.
But first you see a 13-minute film that talks about the history of the Senate and the House of Representatives and the three divisions of our government, which is a judicial, Congress, and the presidential. And then we did a little tour, saw some of the rooms, see where the president gets inaugurated, and where they bring the bodies of some of the presidents in the past after they died and before the funeral.
Now the race is on to get the concert on time in Philadelphia. We've got the dogs with us. We have a room at Lowe's Hotel: The concert is at the Wells Fargo Center in Philly. Elton John's last tour: His Farewell Tour!
For Chelle’s birthday present went to Philadelphia and got there right on time to see the Elton John concert. The Loews hotel was crazy, the systems were down, they couldn't get people in their rooms, we had the dogs, and we had to make the concert in 45 minutes. Luckily, they somehow miraculously had our room ready, so we got the dogs up in the room: Every restaurant we tried to go to was completed booked. Something was going on in Philadelphia!. Nothing was available so there was no time: So Shake Shack (our first experience!) was the answer. We were surprised you can actually have a glass of wine there?! Not the best wine in the world, but actually not that bad. After our first Shake Shack experience, which I actually give a pretty decent thumbs up to, we took off and we got to the show. We actually got there and unfortunately, it's like anything, when you're late for something, it starts on time, and when you're early, it starts late. That was the case here. Concert was already going on, we missed a song or two, but got to our seats. As the usher had us follow her to the seats, we were already down on the floor, I forgot our seats..but then she started to make a slight left and another left and all of the sudden, we're walking right to the front and sure enough, bam, we are in row two, right up at the front. Not only was the concert amazing, but the seats were just unbelievable. I was really shocked to see how good Elton John was and how he sounded at his age. On top of that being so close and getting some great footage: Special unforgettable moments! Chelle said it was one of the best birthdays of her life, maybe even better than her 40th party last year. After that, could not find a taxi or Lyft to save our life (Lesson: Don’t rely on Uber/Lyft when you really need one after a big concert: You will be outta luck!). Good news: We were able to figure out the subway system, which took us right to within blocks of our hotel. We walked around of while trying to get something to eat, decided maybe going to a bar and eating something wasn't the best solution with the dogs. So, we grabbed some “gourmet” food at Wawa and if you can believe it, and it was pretty darn good. What a great night!
Day 15
Not much happened today. By the time we got back from Philadelphia, it was already about 2:00. So to Chelle's delight, no museums. We just hung out, had a little bit of a workout, and we drank and ate at a place called The Doyle, really cool bar.
Day 16
Woke up today, and Chelle decided she didn't wanted to go to a museum. I checked out the Museum of American History. This is the one I've been looking forward to. Absolutely loved it. I made the mistake of buying a tape recorder to help guide me, but it really doesn't do anything but kind of get in your way. I ended up on the third floor, and I spent most of my time there, checking out the presidents. Great hall of presidents. Then I got into the war area. Loved it! Ran outta time and had to go. On the way back, I stopped at the Pacers Running store. Talked with Steve again there. Bought a couple more things, and got those new Vapor-fly Next Gen shoes, which are the newer ones, even above the Four Percenters (the first sub 2 hour marathoner ran with them: Supposed to make you 4% faster) Then Stopped at the grocery story, made dinner. Walked a few blocks with some groceries and the running stuff, getting cold outside. A nice dinner, good fire, and that was that!
Day 17
Woke up this morning / back has been bothering me quite a bit the last couple of days, so need to slow down the running. Chelle decided she didn't want to go to the museum with me again, so I went back to the Museum of American History. Again I got stock on the top floor checking out the rest of the wars. After Chelle met me at the Trump International Hotel. We had a drink at the bar (Pretty incredible really cool bar). Then we met my client, Dave Hall, and his wife Jennifer for dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse in town. We had never been to one before, but pretty cool experience. We had a beautiful bottle of wine and a great time. Then they dropped us off afterwards. We just hung out, watched the Boy With the Striped Pajamas, as we're still in this Holocaust learning mode!
Day 18
Went to the Pentagon for an 11:00 tour. You walk in, and of course there's a gift shop like there is at many museums right when you walk in. The tour was free but you had to get approved and it had to be reserved. Can't really even see from the outside: once you get off the metro you are in the building. There's about 12 or 13 corridors. We went down corridor 4. Actually surprising how nice it is, it's like a mall inside. 4 Starbucks, 2 Dunkin Donuts, lots of shops and cafes. We went towards the end of corridor 4 where the plane hit the Pentagon: They have a really nice 9/11 memorial there. One thing about the tour is that you can't take any photos. The phone has to be completely off, not even just on airplane mode. Lots of military there, 26,000 employees (125 pentagon people died in 9/11 there) I would say overall it went so fast you really didn't have a chance to look at anything along the walls -- a shame since it really was laid out very nicely. It's not the boring government building you would think: Lots of gift shops, jewelry stores, but they don't really allow you any time to stop and look at any of that. So it's pretty rushed. Definitely worth it to just be in there and see it: Walked around the corridor once: 1 ½ miles right there. But apparently I think they said it's 17 miles of space
Day 19
Went to the White House. Had a private tour. In order to get one, you've actually got to go through your congressman or senator. You're supposed to do it three or six months in advance, and give them the window of time. They'll let you know. It's rare you get into the White House. Luckily, we got in. I think because we probably had a large window of time while we were here, because I did not really do with much advance notice. Unfortunately, Chelle could not make it. You start off obviously going through a bunch of security, and then one of the first stops is the gift shop. It's crazy. Most of these tours actually start with the gift shop, so if you don't get something right away, you won't be able to get something at the end. Then bam, you're in the White House. Unbelievable.
Of course, you can't go to the West Wing and see the really important stuff. Actually, Trump was in the White House when I was there, because you can look at his schedule every day. Also, the Secret Service guy told us. We got a chance to see the Red Room, the Green Room, the Blue Room, the banquette rooms, dining hall, and so much different memorabilia. It just felt pretty magical being there, I will definitely say. So, you take your time. It's self guided. You can ask the Secret Service people any questions you would like. Then you exit out literally right through the front entrance of the White House. You can take as many pictures as you want, but you're not allowed to take videos, although I admit I did sneak in a couple. Later that night, Chip and Shannon, our friends, were here. I met them at Rose's Luxury.
Day 19
National Archives Museum tour: Wow!! Definitely recommend the tour. The docent (older lady that had been there over 30 years and had worked directly with white house) was phenomenal. It's short, takes you through everything. But, you realize the size and the time you really need to go through this. But, seeing the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, private letters written from George Washington. Then there’s genealogy and list goes on and on. She also highly recommended going on Facebook and friending the National Archives, as they'll tell you something that happened in history every day, and also when there's a big movie that comes out they'll give you a link to the actual documents. The place has actually gotten so filled up in the main area (where most of the documents are held) there is now Archives Two which is in Maryland (they actually have a shuttle if you're doing research that will take you over there) I definitely need to go back and spend more time. I would say, it would take at least a day to get through the whole thing, maybe two.
Also this day I did the FBI Experience tour. Dave Hall (client and employee for FBI) got me in. Started with the great gift shop of course: Then tour given by FBI retirees. It was very cool and worth it for sure.
Rest of Days:
Dinner at great peruvian restaurant: Nazca Mochica with Chelle Andy Susan: Need to go back sometime: was excellent : Great atmosphere and food.
Washington Monument Day along with other stuff:
You have to get there early, wait in the cold to get tickets and then you can get as many tickets as you want. They are free but they sell out quickly. I got there at 7:30 in the morning in 39 degree weather and by the time I finally got to get the tickets all time slots in the am were booked! We ended up getting a 4:00pm slot.
After running a couple miles to the monument I ran three more miles over to the Supreme Court: Pretty awesome. Opens at 9:00am and it's free and they have got a great set up, the exhibits are really informative, they have a film, a crazy spiral staircase, the architecture is beautiful and even the cafe was good. The Supreme Court building was built during the Great Depression in 1935. Prior to that the Supreme Court actually rented a dark dingy room in the capital building. It was supposed to be temporary and it ended up lasting for 100+ years, but William Taft finally pushed forward and got the building built. You are able to walk right up into the courtroom, definitely worth it. Next continued the run with three more miles back to the rental to see how Chelle holding up. In the afternoon we headed to the Washington Monument (after the girls got their hair blown at Dry Bar).
I have to say that going up the Washington Monument is a super cool experience. Also since it's been closed for so long since the earthquake, it makes it a bit more interesting. You go right to the top in 70 seconds. It's over 550 feet. Down it takes about four minutes because they slow you down so you can see some of the interior structure, and a lot of the interior stones are actually decorative. There's about 36,000 stones and it's just massive. Believe me when you get up close to it it's much taller than you think. When it was constructed and finished around 1850 it was the tallest building in the world. When initially constructed they made it to about 150 feet they actually ran out of money! It stood there like a big stick in a cow pasture (literally): 20 years later when they finished it they couldn't match the same color, so you can see the contrast in the two colors of the stones when you look up the monument!
Then early dinner at Rasika, an Indian restaurant close to the Ford Theater (which was awesome food/atmosphere) After that Susan, Andy, me and Chelle headed over to go see A Christmas Carol at the Ford Theater. It was just really being cool in the Ford Theater to see what it looked like. We didn't get a chance to go through the museum so we will save that for next time. Intermission came: We did what we often do: Left! We are just not theater people: although it was a pretty good play. We got home, we attempted to watch part of This Is Us and crashed!
Went to the National Geographic Museum. Finally Chelle was feeling a little better. (Side note: Next to this museum place called the coffee bar. Probably the best vanilla almond milk latte in the city: Secret is they use Oat Milk!). Really good museum. They had two exhibits focused on Jane Goodall, the chimpanzee trainer, and then advances by women and the photography surrounding that. Really well put together and nice that it changes and you can definitely go back. Finally, had a pretty good day today. Afterwards, I just picked up some casual food at Glenn's. Then we watched the American president somewhat fitting to where we were at.
LAST DAY IN DC :( WE LOVE IT HERE AND WANT TO COME BACK FOR SURE!
I ran down to the Air and Space Museum. It was pretty good but not as good as I thought. Incredibly crowded. I watched DDAY in the IMAX theatre there. Later we watched mainstream film there called: Ford versus Ferrari. At the museum definitely some pretty amazing exhibits and some original stuff like the real spacesuit worn by Neil Armstrong when he walked on the moon. Lots of exhibits on time and the development of sea travel and time and how it relates to one another. Different rockets and information on the space shuttle and also some kids stuff as well.
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