Fall Travels 7 of 8: Washington DC

I went to Washington DC and stayed with my Dad’s cute cousin, Shauna, for a week; she wouldn’t allow me to stay any less. I arrived the first day at FIVE A.M., yup, I took the red-eye, but not without a layover in Long Beach, California. Oh yeah, the Long Beach Airport is so small and ghetto that it doesn’t connect to all of its terminals so… I even had to be escorted from my SLC flight over to my DC flight because the terminals did not connect. That was funny. So I arrived at 5 a.m. to a big lovable hug from Shauna and she took me to her home where she had the master guest bedroom all ready for me… complete with chocolates on the night stand. I went back to bed and then got up at a reasonable hour.

We took that day easy and went to High Tea at a Mansion/Museum in DC. That was very fun and proper.

The next day we went into DC and went on a tour of the capital. We walked around the entire Mall to the other end to see the Washington monument, the WWII memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.

In the rotunda of the capitol

The next day we went to Mt. Vernon; George Washington’s home. It was so beautiful. It is this HUGE estate right by the water; so green and lush. We toured his house and then went on a slave tour. Apparently George Washington was against slavery to a degree but since it wasn’t “cool” at the time he didn’t really speak out about it but he did do his best not to separate his slave families, but he also didn’t free them.

The next day I went into DC all by myself, Shauna dropped me off at the subway stop by her house and I rode it into DC! I walked a TON that day! I was even mistaken as a local a few times… that made me feel way cool. I visited the Vietnam and Korean Memorials, walked around a HUGE pond/lake thing to FDR’s memorial, which ended up being one of my favorites, over to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial which I thought was cooler than Lincoln’s (sorry Lincoln), I tried to get in on a tour at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing building but they cut the line off right when it got to me… shucks, I walked to the White House where my camera died so I’ll have to photoshop a picture of me into a picture of the White House. 

 The majority of the pictures of me on this trip were taken by me

After that I walked back to the mall to go to the American History Smithsonian which was SO COOL (I got to see the original puppet of Kermit the Frog, Dorothy’s shoes from the Wizard of OZ, a Stradivarius violin (the most expensive/ nicest violin you can get), the lunch counter where the sit-ins started with the human rights movements, and there was a whole section for the all the First Ladies of our country and it had a display of all of their Inauguration Gowns and lots of other cool things. That was a long day with lots of walking! 

The next day I went into DC all by myself again. I went to the international spy museum; that was so interesting and a lot of fun. Apparently some movies have inspired actual spy equipment and vice versa of course.

After that I walked passed the Ford Theater, where President Lincoln was shot. I didn’t get to do a tour because a play was going on… something to do the next time I go.

After that I went to the National Museum of Art Smithsonian and took a tour through the American Art Section. After that I went to the Air and Space Smithsonian but I didn’t stay long because I don’t really have a huge interest in airplanes BUT I did LOVE the Wright Brother’s display; that made it worth it. There was this quote I really liked by Orville Wright, “We were lucky enough to grow up in an environment where there was always much encouragement to children to pursue intellectual interests; to investigate whatever aroused curiosity. In a different kind of environment, our curiosity might have been nipped long before it could have borne fruit.” I just thought that was really cool and I hope I can create that in my home one day.

After that I walked through the U.S. Botanic Gardens and then tried to make it to the National Reserves before it closed but I missed it so I went and bought a pretzel.


The next day we slept in, I got up and read my book on her back porch that is screened in, and then we went to a movie, out to lunch and then to watch her granddaughters play softball.


My last day there we stopped by the temple which is beautiful, we visited the National Cathedral and then went to Arlington Cemetery before Shauna took me to the airport.

It was such a fun trip and it was a lot of fun spending time with Shauna, she is so sweet, fun to talk with, adventurous and hilarious. I loved DC and would love to live there.