Our Hotel was awesome. I got a great deal online at a hotel that had shuttle service to the metro and free made to order breakfast. Not to mention the heated pool and hot tub. What more could you want?
On Saturday I was excited to start our day a little later than the day before. Instead of eating from the breakfast buffett (eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, sausage, pancakes etc) I was going to have a loaded omelet for breakfast- made to order! As we were headed down the elevator Joseph started complaining about his side hurting and not being able to breathe well. We got to the lobby and he could hardly walk he hurt so bad. I was concerned and so I got directions from the lobby to an urgent care. I couldn't figure out what he had done! He was fine when he got up, all he had done was cough hard to clear his throat!
View of the hotel from the elevator lobby on our floor
We headed to Urgent care only to find that it wouldn't open for another 2 hours. His left arm was starting to hurt too, so I was thinking he was having some kind of heart issue. We headed to the hospital (all the while I am mourning the loss of my omelet... sad, but true) He started to feel better, and so we hung out in the parking lot for a bit, googling things on our phones trying to self diagnose him. After a while he felt better, not completely, but enough to try and make our 10:30 tour of the Capitol Building. We now know that he popped a rib out of place while coughing to clear his throat,(Iknow, CRAZY but true) and a visit to the chiropractor after we got home fixed him. SHEESH.
Back to our story. Of course the day we are running late, and can't walk quickly, would be the day there is major maintenance being done on the metro. It delayed us a good 45 minutes, so we missed our tour. Luckily, we were able to squeeze into the very next one. (perk of traveling with just 2 people!)
Inside the dome
Up close...
Each state gets to have 2 statues in the Capitol. They decide who in their states history should be remembered, then have a statue made and sent over.
Below the capitol
We were disappointed in the Capitol tour. Since it was Saturday we couldn't see any of the action that goes down there, so we basically just had a tour of the dome :(
After the tour we took the tunnel from the Capitol to the Library of Congress. I must admit most of my excitement to see this came from National Treasure as well. Unfortunately they took a lot of liberties with this... (shocker!! ) It was nice to see the architecture, even if it was from behind big bulletproof glass ... (which you're not allowed to take pictures of either)
So here are some random Library of Congress shots-where cameras were allowed-
We didn't stay long seeing that their wasn't much to see. We walked across the street to the Supreme Court Building to check out the view.
The architecture of all these buildings is amazing!
Now onto the National Mall! Joseph was having a hard time walking so we decided to rent some bikes. Best decision ever! We had so much fun on those bikes, and we were able to see the monuments a couple of times each since we weren't walking.
Self portrait behind the Lincoln Memorial
Well Hello Mr. Lincoln!
Lincoln's view of the National Mall. Not that great at the moment considering the construction going on with the reflecting pool.
Its a beauty!
Next was the Korean War memorial. Easily one of my favorites. Notice how their are statues of soldiers in front of the wall. Then as you look at the wall you can see images of ghost like soldiers walking out of the wall! They aren't reflections! Up close all you can see are faces etched in the marble looking wall. But from a distance it is a full image of a soldier. SO NEAT!
Its harder to see in this one..
What made these monuments so neat was there were veterans everywhere! From the Korean war, Vietnam, and even WWII.
The Vietnam Memorial
I was surprised how emotional these memorials were... absolutely amazing.
The Declaration Of Independence Memorial
World War II Memorial
My great grandpa was killed in Peleliu during WWII so it meant a lot to me to be able to visit the memorial.
Jefferson Memorial
Martin Luther King Jr Memorial
F.D.R. Memorial
Washington Monument
Unfortunately we could not go up into the monument due to the earthquake last year :(
After we saw everything around the national mall, we biked back to the White House and then the Capitol building. It was so much fun!
We returned out bikes and headed to the metro to catch a ride to the Nationals game.
We were really late to the game because we originally got off at the wrong stop (oops!!)
But we had a great time. A great finale to our getaway!
Why did we wait so long to to this?? Looking forward to our next getaway...
