Washington DC...Take Two!

This is my second time visiting our Nations Capitol. Can I just say I LOVE IT!!! It is SO beautiful and full of History. The first time I visited was in 2007 with my friend Jessica. I decided to go back again, this time to visit different places.

Here are a few of the fun things we did while visiting...

Old Town Alexandria
We walked up and down King Street and window shopped. The side walks were made with red brick. We were able to walk to the Pier and view the Potomac River. They had some cute shops! The weather was a bit chilly and cool! A couple days later, we stopped at two cupcake shops, Alexandria Cupcake and Lavendar Moon. Morgan, Jessica and I bought cupcakes and split them into thirds. What a great way to try them all. Lavendar Moon was to die for!!! It was SO good! The average price was around $3.

The National Mall

What a beautiful place! Lined by the Lincoln Memorial, the World War II Monument, the Washington Monument and our Nations Capitol. In between the Washington Monument and the Capitol the Smithsonian Museums. We stopped by the American History Museum (it was closed in 2007) and saw Julia Child's kitchen, Dorothy's Ruby Slippers, and many of the First Ladies gowns. We also went to the Natural History Museum and walked through an amazing butterfly exhibit. The butterflies were beautiful and some even landed on us. You will never get bored in DC, always something to do...and mostly FREE!!! Our walking average per day was about 10-12 miles.

Gettysburg, PA

We were able to visit Gettysburg. It was AMAZING!!! We started at the Visitor Center Museum, and walked through some exhibits of the war. It continued onto a movie narrated by Morgan Freeman. After the brief documentary of the Cival War, we moved towards the Cyclorama, which was so cool! It was a gorgeous painting that looked almost 3D, it was a compelte circle. The dimensions were 43 ft high and 377 ft in circumference. I tried to get a panaromic portrait of what it looked like. It was an amazing experience. I had chills the whole time.

The grounds of Gettysburg have an aduio tour to explain the many attractions associated with this war. We didn't have enough time, and only stopped at a few monuments and the cemetary. We didn't even scratch a dent and wish that I could go back and do the whole audio tour.

DC Nationals VS. Baltimore Orioles Baseball Game

It was LDS singles night and Jessica was able to get us tickets for the Major Leauge Baseball game. We had a lot of fun, even though the Nationals lost...it was still a great game. When you go to Baseball games, you have to experience the Hot Dogs...that is right, $7 of goodness!!! Afterwards they had fireworks. What a way to start off summer!

Whitehouse Tour

The last time I visited DC, I was able to go on a Capitol Tour. This time, I went on a White House Tour. This tour requires tickets ahead of time. Thanks to Jessica's friend, we were lucky to be able to go. This tour was self guided and started out with many different photos on the wall. We proceeded towards the library, red, green, and blue rooms, the dining area, etc. It took about 40 minutes for me to walk through. We weren't able to take pictures, but if you ever get the chance to go, I would highly recommend it. The experience lives in my mind. On a sidenote...while waiting for a tour of the Washington Monument, Morgan and I were able to see the President's Motorcade go by. It was pretty cool, about 15 motorcycles, lots of black suburbans, black cadilacs (with the USA flag), and many more 15 passengar vans and police cars. There were too many to count, but was fun to watch.

Mt Vernon

I have been wanting to visit Mt Vernon since 2007. Jessica and I were hoping to do this on our last trip, but only made it to the Mt Vernon Metro Stop...this is not the place you want to go. We learned the hard way. Mt Vernon is actually nestled about 20 minutes from DC, next to the Potomac River. It was beautiful. We were able to tour George Washington's Mansion, which also had a blue, and green room. We only had to wait in line for about 40 minutes and it wasn't super hot. After the tour, we went to the Old and New Toombs. The New toomb is where GW is buried today. We also saw the 16 sided barn, beautiful gardens, the waterfront, slavery cabin, as well as the slavery memorial. Mt Vernon is currently owned by the Ladies Association.

Monuments at Night

What a beautiful Experience!!! The monuments at night were amazing! I never thought anything could be so beautiful. The funny thing about visiting is we all ended up wearing green! We were practically a DC tour group!!! If any of you have been to DC, you know what I am talking about. There are millions of tour groups of all ages that visit. They all wear the same color shirt, so they don't get lost. We called our group the Green Beans...or something like that. The group consisted of Morgan, Dallin, Jessica and Myself. We had a lot of fun!

National Cathedral

What a gorgeous building. Very ornate and detailed. They still hold daily services. We barely missed one by an hour. We did a self tour and saw many gorgeous stained glass windows. It was very intricate and beautiful!

Washington DC Temple

This is my second time attending this temple. It is amazing! I love it! Our pictures didn't turn out so well, since it was evening. I am still trying to learn how to use my camera.

I was also able to visit my friend Clint. He was in DC the time before...so it was fun seeing him again.Thanks Jessica for a wonderful trip and letting us invade your home. Your roommates are amazing!!! Thanks Jenny and Crystal for a wonderful visit.

P.S. Sorry for the Red Eye! I am lucky enough just to get this posted. I obviously need to make time for editing too. Enjoy!