Washington D.C.

During August Pete and I were able to take a fun trip to Washington, D.C. Visiting all the U.S. history sites is definitely on my bucket list so I was excited to knock a whole section of that out in one trip.

I actually had to go for a work convention and since it happened to fall during Pete's break in between semesters, it was perfect timing. He was able to come and carry all the heavy boxes for this poor pregnant girl and I was able to show him a little bit of what I do when I travel for Little Heroes.

You can see a little of the hotel lobby here

 

First of all, the hotel was incredible. It reminded us of the Grand America in Salt Lake City. It was very historic and was literally next to the White House. So we took full advantage of that our first morning there--in our spare 10-minute break we wandered over and took a couple pictures.

 

On our last day we had a few minutes before we had to catch the shuttle at our hotel, so we walked down again and took a picture from the front side this time.

We woke up real early each morning to do my work stuff and then we typically had the afternoons free before we had to be back for galas and banquets in the evening. So each day we set out exploring the city and trying to hit every place on our list of must-sees.

We got to see the Holocaust Museum, Museum of American History, Museum of Natural History, National Air and Space Museum, the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, U.S. Capitol Building, Martin Luther King Memorial, World War II Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Botanic Gardens, Smithsonian Castle, National Archives and Arlington Cemetery--I think that is all the highlights. And here are the pictures:

Capitol building

National Archives where we saw the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence

 

This wall at the WWII memorial commemorates the many individuals who lost their lives in the war--there is a gold star for each person. It is pretty incredible to see that long wall.

It was a long walk from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial all in one day--and stopping to see everything along the way. Our feet were SO sore after this day! But it was all worth it.

 

This display is at the American History Museum. It is a tribute to the Mormon pioneers and the Nauvoo Temple!

 

Washington Monument

 

We ventured out to use the metro system on our last day so we could see Arlington. I was a little nervous since I had never used a metro or subway or anything that we would end up at the wrong end of town but Pete was confident and we found our way just fine.

 

We watched the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

 

The Kennedy graves. Pete had been saying this quote (in the JFK voice) all the way to Arlington that day so I couldn't help but make him take a photo by it.

I think Arlington Cemetery was my favorite place we went. I have wanted to go there for as long as I can remember and it was just as impressive and moving as I thought it would be. There are so many graves stones to honor the many people who have made sacrifices for our country.

We had a banquet at the Kennedy Center one evening



This is David Osmond, we rode on the planes all the way from Salt Lake together only to find out once we arrived in D.C. at 1:00am that we were headed to the same convention! He was the entertainment for the gala one night and we thoroughly enjoyed listening to him perform.

Outside our hotel just before we left the city.

 

This trip was so perfect and I was so glad we were able to work it out for Pete to come. Without him I wouldn't have seen nearly as much of the city. It was the perfect get away for us to hit some things on our bucket list before we have a baby in tow!