Washington DC

In September we took a trip out to Washington DC. It was such a blast and I feel bad that I am just now blogging about it. James had a work conference out there. Work paid for his ticket and hotel for the first few days and with that I had to go. So it ended up being the cost of my ticket, the second hotel (because we decided to stay about 4 extra days) and food. All in all it was still somewhat expensive but totally worth it.

The first two days Lanie and I were on our own while James was at his work conference. We spent the days getting lost, finding the Woodrow Wilson house (beautiful), visiting the textile museum (not very exciting - they were under construction) then we got lost again (turns out we were walking in a huge circle for about an hour and a half), and then we went to down town DC where we visited the Botanical Gardens (Beautiful).

As you can see, Lanie was thrilled. Actually it was very interesting and the history is even more interesting. I would suggest to everyone reading or listening to the book Sea of Glory by Nathaniel Philbrick.
One room was dedicated completely to orchids. They were gorgeous and these pictures don't do them any justice. Some of them were huge!

Cute baby! She was so good.

Then we visited the American Indian Smithsonian (I loved how pretty much ALL of the attractions and museums were free - pretty awesome).


The next day Lanie and I went to old town Georgetown. It was quaint and had lots of shopping. We enjoyed a little of that and also visited "The Old Stone House" built in 1765 which is the oldest standing house in Washington DC (according to Wikipedia). It had a great garden and was a cute little building but the upstairs were somewhat dark. The downstairs used to be a shop and the upstairs were the living quarters.


After this Lanie and I went to Arlington National Cemetery. This is such a humbling place. We had to hurry and only got to see a small portion of it, but I am amazed at all the people who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

Lanie was such a good trooper. She spent so much time in the stroller and hardly complained, until the last two days. Every once in a while we could find a nice spot that she could crawl around at. She loved getting out of the stroller.

She was had a hard time staying awake at the cemetery. But at least she was there. And to think this is a teeny tiny portion of the cemetery. It is pretty awe inspiring to see the rows and rows of white headstones.

Here Lanie is at JFK and Jackie Kennedy's graves. She was thrilled.

Next we hurried up to Robert E. Lee's house which is at the top of a gorgeous hill at Arlington. Interesting fact is that Arlington Cemetery used to be land owned by General Lee of the South. It was so surprising to me that from his house you got a perfect view of Washington D.C. His house looks so impressive from the outside, but I was surprised at how small it was on the inside comparatively. The porch seems very disproportionate. The house was being completely renovated so there was no furniture and was very dirty and Lanie and I couldn't go upstairs because I wasn't allowed to leave the stroller. Oh well. I guess I probably didn't miss too much up there.

There were some very pretty roses in the garden and one plus for having been the South's General was that everyday that he could, Lee would go out to the garden and pick roses and then at dinner would give the smallest to his youngest, the next smallest to his second-to-youngest and so on until his wife who got the largest rose.

After that visit Lanie and I hurried back to the hotel to get James, grab dinner and then pick up some cupcakes from "Georgetown Cupcake" the home of the TLC show "DC Cupcakes." I had read that it is best to order the cupcakes early and then pick them up rather than waiting outside in line. What I had heard was right. The cupcakes were good but not worth waiting in line for. But it was fun to get to see the shop that the show takes place in. Too bad I really don't watch the show. Oh well, it was an excuse for cupcakes. (I don't know why I didn't get a picture - except that it might have been because I accidentally dropped the box and squished the cupcakes - I wish I wasn't a ditz. They were still tasty).


Niel joined us coming all the way down from Philadelphia. He and I toured our hotel (where Ronald Regan was shot in 1981).

Don't worry- he lived. ;)

Then Niel, Lanie, and I got to walk around and explore the area of Dupont Circle. It was a fun and popular place for a Friday evening. Sadly, James had some work to do. I'll have to update you on the rest of the trip soon.