Washington DC

Our trip for the month of April was the furthest east we've gone (and the worst weather we've had), out to our nation's capitol.  We flew out of SLC this time instead of Provo and that was quite the bummer.  It took so much more planning to figure out the "getting to the airport/what do we do with our car?" part of travel.

But it's okay because of how improved SLC's transit system has become.  Dillon took the train up like he normally does for work and then I drove up with our bags after I got home from work.  We went and grabbed some dinner on Temple Square (and took some pics of the lovely springtime) and then went back to Dillon's office to plan out some details of DC before dropping off our car at the train station and heading to the airport for our red eye.

We stayed with my friend Janae and her adorable little family.  They were able to come with us one of the days and show us around.  It was so much fun seeing some of the things through her little 2.5 year old son's eyes (seriously, he was sooo adorable).  

And thus commenced the fun--documented by one million pictures:

 

 Yes, Dillon actually took this pic.  So gorgeous, right?

 Our connecting flight let us see sunrise in Charlotte, NC

 Our first stop after getting our rental car was to the National Zoo to see ourselves a panda bear, because naturally, since they're pretty much Dillon's fav.  But first we saw a zebra.

Here's the panda! Just hanging out in a tree.

And an on guard cheetah.

  Don"t we look good for having slept on a plane?  And because of the hats, of course.

 No, we did not buy anything absurdly expensive from this panda.

 After the Zoo we went to Arlington Cemetery.  I guess since it took up a ton of space on the map I should have been a little more prepared for how big it was once we got there.  But I wasn't, so we spent a ton of time walking around.

 We watched a changing of the guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

 It was so very peaceful despite all the people there. 

 I hope to have a statue like this over my grave someday (in the distant future).  Except mine will be a unicorn instead of a regular horse.

 Our last stop before we headed up to my friend Janae's was to the Raising the Flag at Iwo Jima memorial. 

 Jefferson Monument the next morning after getting a lot of sleep to make up for that red eye.

We came for the cherry blossoms.  Here they are! Ha most of them were not blooming yet.

 Jefferson Monument from across the tidal pool.

 And then Dillon started a little side business.  We'll be rakin' it in now!

 Self explanitory

Just hanging out with Abe and being touristy with a map

 Lincoln Monument

 Korean War Memorial

 Such a true statement.  I'm grateful for all the people who have sacrificed to give me the gift of freedom.

 Just an elephant at the Natural History Museum

 And whatever this guy is...

 Our one pic together.  We're getting worse at this!

 Air and Space Museum

 This was our third, and finally successful, attempt to purchase a pretzel.  We managed to buy two more during the trip so all was not lost.

 Statue of Grant outside the Capitol Building

 Just a little street with restaurants.  We were super loving the millions of time we had to cross streets.  Look at that! Almost a minute to walk across a tiny street!

 And check out these smushed houses!  They're cute but I doubt I could ever live in one.  Too cramped.

  

   And then dinner at Good Stuff Eatery. 

 The had great burgers and fries.  And the dipping sauce--that chipotle sauce!! Also, sometimes I like to say it like chipol-tay to watch people cringe. 

 I swear, all the best pics of the monuments and buildings were coolest at night since the weather wasn't so great during the day.  Dillon did a great job with these.

 Capitol Building

 Washington Monument

 The White House

 Our last day we went out to George Washington's home, Mt Vernon.  It was a beautiful, though windy, sunny day.  Perfect for being out on his property.  We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but it was very cool.

 George and Martha Washington's resting place.  She died three years after him.

 Before we headed to the airport we made one last stop and it was to Eastern Market.  I have no idea why I love markets so much, but I do.  There was an inside and an outside, and the inside part made me feel like I was back in one of the markets in Russia. 

We grabbed some baked goods and booked it to make our plane!  It was such a good stop!

And such a good trip, as always.