Tim and I just returned back to my brother's house from a wonderful "lightning trip" to Washington DC. Since we were in Virginia, we thought it would be foolish to not take advantage of the proximity of our Nation's capitol! Washington DC is 3.5hours (as the crow flies) from Norfolk.I was very excited as I booked a hotel online that was right across the street from the White House. When we arrived at our hotel, Tim and I were impressed by the fancy lobby. However, when we got to our room, we came to the realization that we were staying in "the chateaux de la dump" ..... the plumbing in the shower was exposed out of the wall and we had a wonderful view of an industrial vent and a bird shit-covered roof! Although disclosed on the website, we did not have a refrigerator or an expansive view! We were disappointed in the room, however, we did not let that hinder our spirits as we knew we wouldn't be spending the majority of our time there anyway!
We arrived around 1pm on Sunday and began our stay with a walk of the memorials. The Capitol p
ark was about 1.5 miles from the hotel - we crossed in front of the White House on our way to the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the Washington Monument, and then we finished our day tour with the World War II Memorial. Each memorial had an ambiance during the day that is difficult to describe. Tim and I were fortunate enough to ride to the top of the Washington Monument (500 feet). The views were breathtaking .... however, we had to cut our sightseeing short as someone dropped a stink bomb fart that started to burn the hair out of our noses ...that experience was breathtaking as well, but not in the same respect!
After our day walk, Tim and I returned to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We started to drink and ready our selves for our honeymoon night on the town! We ate at a wonderful (reasonably priced) restaurant and had an opportunity to enjoy each other's company, uninterrupted, once again. After we finished dinner, we decided to walk the memorials once more at night. Each memorial has impressive light set-ups that create a unique
ambiance. Since we were "warm" from the alcohol, the chilly temperatures of nocturnal DC did not hinder our adventure. We returned back to the hotel around 11pm. We were surprised that each of the memorials touted small crowds late in to the evening.The next day Tim and I cruised the Smithsonian Natural History
museum, strolled in front of the Capitol and enjoyed the Capitol's botanical gardens. We also (quite unexpectedly) saw Ford Theatre (where Lincoln was shot) and the house in which Lincoln died. We went on a hunt for a waffle restaurant - when we found one, we looked out the window and saw the theatre! It was a pleasant surprise! We figured that we walked on average of 10 miles each day for a total of 20 miles for the whole trip. By three o'clock on Monday, I (and my boobs) were ready to return back to my brother's house as it had been too long since we had been parted from our wee baby! It took us 4 1/2 hours to drive back to Norfolk from DC.
We recovered from our DC trip today by watching C2's and hornet jets land at the FCPL field again. I thought C2's were a blast to watch ... the hornet jets were LITERALLY a blast to watch - I could feel the pass in my chest as the jet touched down and powered back up to take off again.
We then jetted (get it? har har ... I know, bad pun) over to the base and took a tour of the George Washington aircraft carrier. It was amazing to see how many people and resources go into operating the floating city. It was fascinating to see the aspects of my brother's job. The whole process of organizing and coordinating operations on a deployed carrier is quite complicated and involved (and we only saw the flight operations part)! It was mind-boggling to see what goes into the operation of that military machine!
Anyhow, tomorrow we will be taking a trip to historical Jamestown and will be readying our bellies for the massive feast on Thursday!
We hope this finds each of you doing well!
Love,
Jenn, Tim and Mason
P.S. In the coming days, I will have a plethora of video and pictures to share from our Virginia trip. I had to save everything to my brother's computer and I just can't quite figure out how to get my pictures off his computer and to a CD to take home!!
