Flight Itinerary
Caught flight at 6 am to Seattle, WA.
Left Seattle at 8:10 am.
Arrived 4 hours later in Ronald Reagan Airport in Arlington, VA. Virginia time: 4 pm.
Upon Arrival
Rented a small Fiat to satisfy our driving needs.
Drove to Alexandria, VA. Stopped at a very good Sushi restaurant called Momo's.
My previous 2 experiences with sushi have not been good. Including a friend convincing me that wasabi is there to eat in large mouthfuls. I still have not forgiven him. This experience was much improved. I especially liked the Dynamite Roll: salmon, cream cheese, jalapenos rolled in seaweed and deep fried.
Sept 5, 2012
Dustin and Mallory Moon, good friends of Jake's from college, were very gracious in letting us stay in their guest bedroom.
We got up early, catching the metro to Capitol South where we proceeded to the White House for a tour. We were allowed to see a few of the rooms as well as the dining room where President and Mrs. Obama eat dinner. The inside was beautiful. It was exciting to be in a place that held so much history and which housed many valiant and admirable people.
We continued on to Mt. Vernon, George Washington's estate. We toured the grounds, his home, and watched a couple videos about the Revolutionary War. Again, very inspiring to be in the place where an honorable leader and a man of God lived and worked.
After wandering around Mt Vernon for a couple of hours, we took our voyage to Monticello. As well as penning the Declaration of Independence, serving as the 3rd President of the United States of America, and living 5 years in France as the U.S. Ambassador, Thomas Jefferson was an architect, farmer and book collector. He designed and invented many advanced features in his home. Though he was not a man of morals, per se, his love of learning is very exciting and inspirational for me.
Sept 6, 2012
Allowed ourselves to sleep in. Ate at We, The Pizza: one of my favorite pizza places. Dinner was at Good Stuff Eatery, owned by the same Top Chef participant Spike Mendelsohn that owns We, the Pizza.
Toured the Supreme Court.
And the Library of Congress.
We learned about the meanings of the mosaics and pictures found in the Library. Everything in the Library speaks of learning, knowledge, and understanding.
Afterwards, we caught the metro to the Nationals Baseball Stadium. We only had a couple mishaps with the metro: got off at the wrong stop and didn't have enough money for the ticket. I used my wit, charms, and little girl-ness to get a free riding pass from the security officer to make it to the right stop. We met Dustin at the stadium with only a couple mishaps: I led us to the wrong seats. A nice gentleman came and sat by me, in Jake's seat, while Jake was taking a pit stop. I told the nice gentleman that he had the wrong seats and was ultimately wrong in every possible way. I looked at my ticket and realized it was me that was mistaken. I quickly apologized and ran.
Nationals vs Cubs
Nationals won!
Looking at this picture, we were at the top on the far right. "Cheap Seats" we call them.
Sept 7, 2012
Allowed ourselves to sleep in...again. Spent the afternoon at the International Spy Museum. We took on secret identities with a cover story. We tested our spy abilities, crawled through ducts, cracked codes, looked for the disguised enemy, and were entirely enveloped with information about the spy business.
We returned to Dustin and Mallory's early to eat homemade pizza with them. We stayed up watching Football and talking.
Sept 8, 2012
Spent the day in Baltimore, MD. We went Kayaking on the Ocean.
We also went to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Amazing. We saw dolphins, sharks, Australian fish, Amazonian fish, and jellyfish. It was pouring outside, so it was nice to be indoors.
We walked to the Baltimore Orioles Stadium for a big game between the Yankees and Orioles. Yankees were getting walloped for most of the game. Towards the end, they gained some speed and caught back up.
9th inning, 2 outs.
Teixeira at bat, 2 guys on base: 1st and 3rd. Teixeira hit. Swisher ran to 2nd: tagged out. Teixeira slid across 1st base. Safe! Tying run made it to home. WHAT?! OUT??? He's out. Teixeira's out. Game is over. Orioles win. Replays on the play showed that that call was one of the worst calls made. Tex was obviously safe. The Umps cost the game for the Yankees. Quite the disappointment.
We wallowed in our grief over some White Chocolate Caramel Macadamian Nut Cheesecake.
It helped.
Sept 9, 2012
Went to Arlington 1st Ward Sacrament Meeting. That was our old ward. Saw a bunch of old friends. Had a really great time.
Drove to Downtown DC. Walked through the Holocaust Museum. Very humbling and sobering. I cannot comprehend Hitler and all that he did and what happened.
Sept 10, 2012
Spent the day at the National Zoo. We had so much fun seeing all the animals. Most were on the endangered or vulnerable list. Went to hotel in Rockville, MD for Jake's Auditor Training.
Sept 11, 2012
I spent the day lounging in the hotel. Jake's first day at Auditwatch..his training. I got locked out of my hotel room. I used my feminine charms to speak to the managers. They allowed me back in after first saying, for security reasons, I could not be permitted back in. Jake wasn't answering his phone, so I resorted to feminine charms.
Tonight, we went with Jake's coworker on the metro to Downtown DC. We walked past the Capitol building with all flags lowered to half mast in memoriam of the tragic day 11 years ago.
