Day one of our D.C. itinerary

When visiting D.C. there is just so much to see and do that you can't squeeze it into 3 days so Justin and I had to pick and choose and come up with an itinerary. We had a full day planed on our first official day in Washington. 

Justin really wanted to go back to Ford's Theatre and I had never been before so that was first on our list of things to see. 

The cool thing about D.C. is that everything is open to the public and everything is free to get in. You still have to get a ticket and you still have to wait in line. The only bad thing about coming to D.C. in the summer is all the school groups, there everywhere. Our guide told us that the best time to come back is in the fall when school is back in session. So we might just do that!

When we fist got in the theatre we all sat in the same seats that was here years ago and heard the entire story on how Lincoln was shot. The box you see that he was actually shot in is open to the public but not during the summer so we didn't get to go in. Bummer

Here is the view front up top in the balcony 

And here is a view from the bottom

It was so awesome to see everything. This was one place I wanted to come last time I was in D.C. but didn't get to go so it was neat finally getting to see all of it

Then we walked across the street to the house that he died in

The Parlor Room

A guest bedroom

And then the room that Lincoln died in

The house was so tiny

Here is the actual bed he died in. Looks a little short to me, lol

Then we walked back over to the theatre to visit the museum

My favorite was the real actual artifacts from his funeral. 

A handle and casket key off his coffin

These are actual rope pieces from the hangings of the Lincoln conspirator's

The actual gun that was used to kill him with 

Pretty awesome

The gloves he was wearing

And his bloody pillow he died on

Next we were hungry so we walked across the street to get something to eat. They eat ALOT of sandwiches up there and BBQ

Then we walked down the street to the White House. We went to the back of the house first and noticed they were setting up for there summer picnic at the White House

Too bad they didn't invite us, lol

I was able to zoom in with my camera and noticed they had a popcorn machine set up! Ha!

They have it gated off pretty far away 

Then we walked around to the front of the White House to get a closer look

See that secret service guy behind us....he wasn't playin. They are everywhere, on top of building and hiding in places you wouldn't believe. You defiantly don't want to do anything stupid in D.C.

Then we walked over to the National Mall to see all the monuments

I told Justin we were going to the National Mall and he said "I ain't going shopping at no mall" bahahhaha  

Our first stop was the Washington Monument

Then we had a long hike to the reflecting pool

The monuments so easy to walk to but then once you start walking you don't realize how far they really are

Such a cool picture right here, love it

We finally made it to the Lincoln Memorial

About a thousand people trying to look at it all at once

He's huge!

Then we trekked back to the Washington Monument

And over to the Holocaust Museum. This was one thing I really wanted to go to and I'll have to say I was pretty disappointed because there was that many artifacts in the museum. Just all the history written on the walls

Pictures of Holocaust victims

And actual barrack from one of the camps

And all of their shoes the prisoners had to take off before entering the camps. Very touching.

After our long day we came back to John T's apartment and got dressed to go eat. Justin and I went to this little bar located around his apartment that had the best sauteed greens I've ever tasted. Yum!

The City of D.C.

The next day we got up and headed out. I would have loved to shop old town Wytheville but we just didn't have time. But I'll always remember that little town with the great food!

The inside of our Charger. Vroom!

We took the back way down a more country highway going into DC. Can you see the shenandoah mountains in the back ground :) 

So fun! We stopped at a road side over look to take in the view

Very peaceful and pretty 

Virginia is a very beautiful and clean state. I could totally live here too!

We stopped in Colepepper, VA and had some Southern 'gold sauce' BBQ

We finally made it to DC after hours of driving. Justin's uncle John T lives in a high rise apartment in Fairfax, VA about 20 minutes from downtown DC. The first thing they wanted to do when we got there was show us how to use the Metro (subway). It's really the only means of transportation because going by car is torture because of traffic and finding a place to park. 

So the first thing he did was give us two Metro cards. Each person has to have one and you have to load it with money in order to ride. Each ride is a different amount but fairly cheap, no more then 2.00 or 3.00 to ride one way. Then you walk into the tunnel system 

Then we had to learn how to read the trains and see where each train was going. So OR is for orange train. We were always on an orange train. It goes from Vienna(there place) to New Carrolton a place about 30 minutes away in Maryland

So to get us use to it we took the train all the way from Vienna to New Carrolton.

At first I thought riding the Metro was super cool! But then I realized when you ride it at 5pm during rush hour and your packed on it like a bunch of sardines and someone could easily bomb the train at any minute, and what a germ pit it is with the dirty floors and greasy head prints on the window, I realized how quick I wanted off that train. Could you imagine in the winter time??? Barf! No thank you! Makes me thankful I drive to work everyday in my own car. 

We both took showers immedately each day after we got off that subway.

Here is a short clip of one slowly coming through our stop. It was a silver train going in the opposite direction. But let me tell ya these trains go fast and the doors open and close fast so you better be on top of it getting on and off the train.

We finally made it to New Carrolton. We headed straight for a roof top bar to over look the city

An adult beverage was definatly what I needed after riding in the car forever and riding the scary Metro

We were loving the view. So awesome

Then Lauren and Megan met us at the bar. From left to right. Megan (Lauren's childhood friend) John T., Crystal, his wife, Justin, me and Lauren, John T.'s daughter

We stayed for a few drinks and then headed back to Vienna to Johnnie's apartment for some more drinks and burgers

While we were gone we got updates on the girls. As you can see the girls were having a blast in grandma's pool! No worries there