Washington DC Trip - Photos

Well, we're back ... and among leaving my sunroof open and car unlocked the entire time we were gone, the last two days has been a real mess! My computer had to go into the shop, a bad battery, my office is a mess, the upholsterer needs chairs that I have yet to finish gilding, and I'm supposed to start on the barn this Saturday. Yes, life is back to normal, firing on all cylinders, and I'm longing for that moment of sanity I had in DC.

I didn't take my camera. Lugging around a 4-pound camera is not exactly fun when you're walking hours and hours every day, exploring. I did however, take a ton of photos on my iPhone, which many of you probably saw on my instagram account, here. But, in case you didn't, here we go:

We got to the airport early, I wore my customary airport shoes. They're so comfortable, easy to slide on and off, but highly impractical in the rain! (Yes, it was raining!)

We got on the 50-seater, United Express puddle jumper plane with no first class. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a snob, but I like to invest in my travel experiences, and I don't like folding up in a tight coach seat. No choice here, think of an Artie pretzel, that's exactly what the 45 minute flight looked like! Anyway, we got there!

In fact, it was a beautiful day for flying. Just enough cloud cover and a gorgeous azure sky. We arrived at Dulles, a no-frills airport.

I put Scott in charge of our ground transportation. And in typical Scott fashion, he booked us on the $6 bus and metro line which would have taken approximately 2-hours to get us into Dupont Circle. 

After waiting for what seemed like thirty minutes for the first leg of his 2-hour trip, I decided that I needed to take over. 

$39 for the both of us, and just 30 short minutes later, we were at our hotel in Dupont Circle. Not ready to review them just yet ... more on that later! 

Very European, modern, and truly in the best location! We dropped our bags, and headed off to see what lay ahead of us in the Shutdown DC. 

All of the fountains across the city, along with the monuments and memorials, were shut down. The Dupont Circle fountain was dry, which allowed for this pretty nice photo of the statue. We found the subway station so we could quickly get to Georgetown. I wanted to do some shopping, and Georgetown is where just about all of that exists. 

I have to admit, the Dupont Circle Station is a bit scary. The rather steep escalator takes you down into a big unknown. Once we got down there, some helpful DC locals told us we could walk to Georgetown from where we were! Awesome, we thought. So up we came from the hole. 

I mean, I'm not crazy right? Does anyone else find this a little scary? Coming up was even more treacherous than going down. Lean backward even the slightest, and it felt like you were skydiving backwards. Anyway, we walked over to Georgetown. 

Some more statues and architecture on the way there. 

And then of course, some lusting in Waterworks in Georgetown. Then we did more shopping, had brunch at Thunder Burger. Then we went to the hotel, changed, rested a little, then did some more exploring on our way to dinner at Annie's Paramount Steak House. 

More great architecture in Dupont Circle at night. I won't bother you with all the photos I took of the buildings along the walk - let's just say, I was quite enamored. The next day we headed out to the shutdown sites! 

Not before we headed over to the Dupont Circle Farmers Market though, and brunch at Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe & Grill. 

They even had a shutdown brunch! I had the most amazing banana french toast. Delicious! 

More statues on our way to the White House ... 

Where we were welcomed by these horses asses. Literally. The million veteran march was that day, and the Park Police were there watching all of the protesters. I was less interested in protesting, and more interested in taking pictures. But because of this: 

The best centered shot I could get of the White House was this: 

I was however, able to get a photo from the side which was pretty good: 

I was shocked at how small it appeared to be. I don't know what I was expecting, Scott said: "it's called the White House, not the White Palace."

Next door at the treasury. Look at that main terrace .. such a gorgeous building. But yes, blocked off. We then headed over to the Washington monument. 

More statues and architecture on the walk over there ... 

The Washington Monument was having some restoration - and the protesters had removed the barricades from the World War II monument and were piled here, by the road. 

We paid our respects, and then walked over toward the reflecting pool ... 

I was so excited to see the Lincoln Memorial ... so excited. Unfortunately, this is as close as I could get: 

And so it goes, right? Protesters were here, too. In fact, if we had waited a few hours, we would have been able to see the actual memorial and statue, as there was a mob of protesters who rushed the monument. We moved on though, to the Vietnam Memorial Wall: 

We then head all the way back (by foot I might add) to Dupont Circle, where we changed, rested up, and headed to Art & Soul on Capital Hill for dinner! 

For those of you who watch Top Chef, and Top Chef Masters, you're aware of the owner, Chef Art Smith. He also was the private chef to Oprah for 10-years! I had the fried chicken, it was great! But the BEST thing I had was their bacon cornbread! Oh it was so good - so, so, so good! Anyway, we had a great meal, and we headed back to the hotel on foot. I got this great photo of the Capital Building at night: 

They left the lights on for us! Yes! I guess they don't shut down everything, do they? Must have been a necessity, like the gym and golf course. The next morning, Columbus Day, and our last day in DC, we headed out for more: 

We started in Chinatown. 

Then the Capital Building again, this time during the day. We walked down the Mall, past the Smithsonian (also closed!). 

And then headed over to the Holocaust Museum, which was advertised as being open. It wasn't. He had a late lunch at the Capital City Brewing Company. 

Then we finished up our evening with the BEST dinner of the whole trip, at Circa at Dupont. 

All in all, a great trip. I hope you enjoyed the pictures! I'll be back with posts about some changes at our house pretty soon! Enjoy your weekend!