DC Trip

I'm a little slow, but 2 weekends ago we had our girls' trip to Washington, D.C. to visit Kayla. She is working as an intern in Senator Hatch's office. When we found out she would be out there this fall, we thought it would be a great time to go see the sights/sites and visit her. I lived in that area for a year back in 2001-2002, but it was good to go back and I got to see a few things I didn't get the chance to when I lived there.

Anyway, it was me, mom, Bekah, and Rachel. We were super sad that Debi wasn't able to come too. :( We flew into DC on Thursday night and we were sad it was raining. Kayla wasn't off work yet, but she gave us directions to a grocery store to give us something to do while we waited for her to get home. We wanted to save money by cooking some meals at Kayla's apartment and packing lunches to eat during the day. We figured 2 could stay outside with the luggage and 2 could do the shopping...but because it was raining, we just all toted our luggage around the store and all shopped together. We really embraced our roles as tourists on this trip.

Kayla finally got home, we cleaned up a bit and headed to Georgetown for dinner. We ate some tasty Thai food and then we were all ready to call it a night.

The next morning we had tickets to go to the top of the Washington Monument, so we headed out in to the rain. We were the last people with 9:00 tickets to get to go up...and had to wait outside the whole time. I personally was ok (even though my umbrella was broken...or so I thought at this point). But everyone else was pretty cold and miserable. We finally got to go inside and it was a really great view from the top, even if it the windows were a little clouded over from the rain.

View of WWII Memorial, Reflection Pool, and Lincoln Memorial

Next we went to the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Definitely impactful, a good history review for me, and overall a moving experience-one I think everyone should have if they get the chance.

After a lot of walking and standing, we were ready for our lunch break. We took our packed lunches to the cafeteria at the Senate offices, which is open to the public (who knew?) so we were also able to get some warm and tasty soup to go with our PB&J. After lunch, we headed to Kayla's office and then on to our Capitol Tour. Kayla was the best tour guide ever! I have even been on a tour before and learned a few new things.

Standing in/on the center of the District

Supreme Court

Day 2 it was still raining. Sigh. We were all pretty sick of the rain at this point, but we still wanted to do the things we had planned. We spent time at the Museum of Natural History and then headed out in to the rain to see some of the monuments and memorials on the National Mall, including: WWII, Lincoln, Vietnam, and Korean War Memorial. We also had good views of the Jefferson Memorial, WW I, the White House and of course the Washington Monument.


After lunch we headed to the Kennedy Center to enjoy their fancy restrooms and a great view of the Potomac River. After that, we battled the crowded sidewalks of Georgetown to experience the best cupcakes of Kayla's life. We waited with all the other crazies...for awhile...I didn't keep track but it may have been a half an hour or so. We finally got in to the tiny little cupcake shop and bought or $2.75 cupcakes. They were delicious. I tried a lemon berry and a pumpkin spice. I don't even normally like sweets, but these were some tasty cupcakes.


After a little shopping, we took our trusty friend the Metro over to Chinatown to eat at a burrito place...I can't remember what it is called now. I ate a burrito the size of my head and some tasty chips and queso. By this time, Rebekah was about to die...so we called it a night and headed back to Kayla's home.

Sunday morning the rain had finally stopped so we were able to walk around Arlington Cemetery without our umbrellas. Yipee! We saw the Kennedy's graves and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the changing of the guard. There is also a newer exhibit honoring the women who flew for the military during WWII, which was really cool.

Cool amphitheater in Arlington Cemetery

We were all pretty worn out...and didn't have a lot of time left anyway...so even though we were sad not to get to enjoy more of the nice weather, it was time to pack up and head home. It was a really fun trip, we packed so much into just a couple of days, and the best part was getting to see Kayla and share some of her life in DC. Rebekah was a real trooper-super hard core preggo lady (although we almost got her a wheel chair for the capitol tour). The rest of us were sore and tired too, but I think everyone had a lot of fun. I hope we remember all the fun things we did and the cool things we saw and not just that it rained the entire trip. Thanks to Kayla for being a great hostess (and her roommates) and a super tour guide.

You can check out more photos here