Washington DC

Mark:  I have another convention that I need to go to.  It's in DC..wanna go? 

           *Sounds of rustling in the closet*
           *Me appearing at the door to the garage, luggage in hand*

 Me:"I'm packed.  When do we leave"?

Washington Monument

Lincoln Memorial

Two trips in two weeks?  Okay so I can get used to following Mark to these national conventions that he has been to lately.  We have got to go to some cool places.  This week we were in Washington DC.  We flew in on Saturday- totally missing the game where our Longhorns BEAT the sooners. We didn't find out about that WONDERFUL bit of news until after we landed because the wifi on the plane wasn't working and we couldn't get any updates at 30,000 ft. 

We stayed at the Gaylord National which is about 10 miles south of the Mall but it is like its own mini-city in that area. 

Gaylord at National Harbor

Inside of the Gaylord

Sculpture in the sand

We didn't get into DC until almost 6 and even though it wasn't "our" dinner time we decided to find a place nearby to eat at.   We had about 30 restaurants in a 10 block area to choose from; all of which were great places to eat at.  We ended up eating outdoors, on the Potomac River at McCormick and Schmicks.  The weather was perfect so we were able to enjoy the sunset while eating dinner.  But believe me, the minute the sun went down we were ready to head back to the hotel.  The wind coming off of the river cooled things down in a hurry!

"Downtown"area by the Gaylord

National Harbor

On Sunday, Mark checked into the convention and had a quick meeting but was done by 9 am.  So we Uber-ed it downtown and spent almost 5 hours at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. 

Smithsonian Castle

Air and Space Museum

Mark by the Gemini IV Capsule

After a quick bite from a Roach Coach on the Mall, we went to the Natural History Museum and spent another 4 hours there before they kicked us out.  All of the Smithsonian Museums are so big that you could easily spend 2 full days going through each one of them if you stopped and read all of the information by the displays they have.  Mark was in hog heaven in the Air and Space museum and I could have spent all day looking at the gorgeous gems in the Natural History museum. 

Natural History Museum

Mark in a Megalodon's Jaws

The Hope Diamond

 I had to take another look at the Hope Diamond but Mark wasn't impressed with it at all.  Go figure! About a month ago, Delaney was in DC visiting Zach's sister, Allison (who lives there).  Delaney suggested that we try Hill County BBQ for dinner if we had the chance and as it turned out, we were very close to the restaurant when we finished touring the museums for the day.  And that's where we went. Okay...talk about yummy!

Ordering line at Hill Country BBQ

Monday morning was business as usual for me- online classes and Mark had meetings almost all day.  I took the opportunity to go on a nice long walk along the Potomac in the afternoon.  In fact, unlike Atlanta, we had the BEST weather ever so I took advantage of it and did a nice long walk everyday. One of the vendors took us out to eat at which was another fine meal.  Tuesday was the same: Mark in meetings, me taking care of my classes and dinner out again with a vendor at McCormick and Schmicks again.

Wednesday, Mark had morning meetings and he got to hear Condi Rice speak for the closing of the convention.  Mark has always been a fan of hers but after hearing her talk, he walked away with a whole new respect for her.  He said she was impressive.  I'm sad I didn't get to hear her speak but I was busy with my classes during that time.  That afternoon we went to Mount Vernon.  We had first thought we would take a water taxi from our hotel there, but Mark got out of his meetings later than he had thought so we Uber-ed it there instead. 

Mount Vernon from the back

View of Mount Vernon as visitors back-in-the-day would have seen coming in by horseback or carriage

Wash house and Guest house

Stables

Mount Vernon from the Potomac River side

On the grounds at Mount Vernon

Slave quarters at Mount Vernon

George Washington's metal and ivory dentures

Gosh, Mount Vernon was really beautiful.  I guess I thought it was going to be another Colonial house but I was SO wrong.  The grounds and the house are impressive.  I didn't realize how many acres old George Washington had acquired and farmed until we were on the premises. 

We stayed until they kicked us out and once again headed back to the hotel.  We had heard that the guacamole at Rosa Mexicano at the National Harbor was "the best" so we went there for dinner with low expectations for good Mexican food.  Well, we were pleasantly surprised.  It's funny because we have not found any decent Mexican food in Denver and we actually found a pretty good place in of all places...DC!

After my office hours on Thursday we spent the day being tourists again. We met Zach's sister, Allison, for lunch which was a real treat for us.  Of course she has been to almost every restaurant in the downtown DC area so we told her to pick any place to eat at.  She took us to Founding Farmers Restaurant.  It was good to catch up with her and see a friendly face from Texas!  

Mark, Allison and Me

We saw Ford's theater, The Museum of American History and surprise surprise, we got kicked out of the Holocaust Museum at closing.  (That seems to be a theme with us this trip)  We enjoyed all of the places we saw but were kind of disappointed that the American History museum had over half of the exhibit spaces closed for "renovations on the exhibits". 

Museum of American History
Probably one of the most boring buildings in DC

Holocaust Museum

 We spent the early evening walking around in the downtown area and finally decided on dinner at Tadich's.  The waiter told us that the original one is in San Francisco and that this one has only been open since the previous Wednesday night so we may have one up on Allison!

Friday we had to leave to head back to Denver.  We had a late afternoon flight so we Uber-ed it across the Potomac and spent the day in Old Town Alexandria Virginia.  It really is a charming area but we both agreed that row house living would NOT be for us! 

Row houses in Alexandria 

Paddle wheel boat on the Potomac River

Pier at Alexandria

Streets of Alexandira

City Hall in Alexandria

Main Street in Alexandria

More stores in Alexandria

We really enjoyed the time that we got to spend in DC and as we always say, this is another place we are going to come back to "once we retire".