Birthday Vacation Day 1

My mother and I planned a vacation for ourselves this year. I will be turning 30 in a few short weeks, and she turned 60 a few weeks ago. So, we decided to treat ourselves and actually take a vacation. Wednesday M dropped AJ off at daycare like normal, and he then drove us down to Boston to catch the train. We went to Washington DC for a few days. It was great.

Thanks to some internet friends, I got some help on where to stay, and we ended up at a fantastic hotel within walking distance to almost everything, but still far enough away to not be too touristy.

The view from our room. We had a nice park close, and were able to see the Washington Monument in the distance. It was great, well, unless you were looking at the park benches. Looks like a lot of people had made themselves at home, literally, on them. Our first day was spent taking an 8 hour train ride down. It was actually a great way to travel I think, if you're not in a rush. It was nice to see the areas passing, and be able to walk around, having someone else do the driving.  Once we got there, we took a cab to the hotel. We were thinking of walking, but realized we had no idea which direction to even head in. Plus I don't have a bag with wheels. So, yeah, not going to happen.

Our first full day there, was beautiful. 60s and sunny, a little breezy, but very nice. We took that day to do all the outdoor walking in the area. We started out having breakfast at Point Chuard, a crepe restaurant near the hotel. To Die For! Strawberry Nutella crepe. Yum.

Off we go down to the Mall area. We walked the 7ish blocks to the Washington Monument, then over to see Lincoln. I have never been to DC so everything was new. I was trying to remember which areas I was told were must sees. Everyone talks about the view from Lincoln's stairs. Well, I must say, I don't know what the hype is all about.

I guess I just assumed there would be slightly more reflective-ness to this area. I was also thinking there was water, not a ginormous sandbox. It did make for some great jokes as we walked along the fence though. After checking out Lincoln, the Vietnam, Korea and WWII Memorials, we started back towards the Mall, by way of the water so we could watch the paddleboats. There was one group, two teenage boys and their mother. We were really figuring we'd see Mom swimming soon since she was just sort of sitting in the back while they drove/peddled. No such luck there though.

We walked up the mall, only stopping at the Castle since we were planning another day for the museums. I can say, the Castle, not very impressive. Quite boring actually. My mother had always wanted to go in though, since she's been visiting a few tims and never had the chance. I don't think either of us will go back anytime soon. We made it to the Capital, sat on the lawn for a few and moved further back to see the Superior Court. It was on my list of things I really wanted to see. The front of the Capital is quite beautiful though. I don't think I ever realized this.

So, for those keeping track. We started our walk at 8AM. At this point in our excursion, it's now noon. Either we didn't stop as often as we should have been, or we just walk way too fast. We had both anticipated a whole day of seeing these sights. But, we were now done, and it was lunch time. We also realized we were tired and many, many, many blocks away from the hotel. We didn't feel like spending $3 on a water or $2.50 for a granola bar, so we took the Concierge up on her info to head to 7th street for lunch. No idea what we were looking for, but stopped in at District Chop House & Brewery. Mmmmm Very nice.

We made it back to the hotel by 2PM. We both looked like we'd been riding a horse all day. A twilight bus tour was booked for 6:30 and I don't think we got off our beds until the absolute last minute.

The bus tour was okay. I'm glad we did it, the buildings are beautiful at night. However, we still couldn't walk right, and had more walking do as the bus dropped us of for pictures, and picked us up at a later time for a new destination. I guess I wasn't expecting all that more walking to be done. Also, our bus sort of gross, and our tour guide mumbled. When not sitting on the bus he would entertain himself with lasso tricks. Yep, we had a cowboy in DC. Fun times. We got back at 10:30, again not what I expected, and we were totally exhausted. Too tired to realize we skipped dinner.

On to day 2