Weekend in DC

So last weekend my friend Lindsay and I decided to leave the husbands at home and drive up to DC for a much needed break. We've both had so much going on and so much stress lately that it was really nice to get away for a few days! I drove to Raleigh on Thursday to spend a little time with my mom and then on Friday we were off. Lindsay drove and I have to give her credit because once we hit DC the madness ensued - street names changed multiple times and the traffic was hectic. We only got honked at once, and that totally was not our fault...unless the car behind us actually wanted us to run over the pedestrians. Once we arrived at our hotel we safely deposited the car keys at the front desk and did not see the car again until we departed on Sunday. (We did wonder where they parked the cars though, because there was no parking lot anywhere near our hotel!)

We were total tourists all weekend and it was great! Friday afternoon and evening we walked around and took in some of the sites before grabbing some dinner. Had we known how crowded Saturday was going to be, we probably would have done more sight seeing that evening. We ate dinner at the Hard Rock and turned in early - a sure sign that we are definitely getting old!

We woke up early on Saturday and headed over to the Holocaust Museum. I'm really glad we got to go see everything there, even though some of it was pretty hard to take in. We tried to go to the street festival, but here is where the crowd part comes into play - it was packed! We herded around like cattle at every intersection and finally gave up on the street festival and just walked around DC. We did pretty well at not getting ourselves too turned around, and saw our tax dollars at work in all of the different government buildings. We did get turned around once, but discovered a beautiful garden along the way so it was a worthwhile detour. Lindsay is a pro with her professional style camera, and I'm trying to learn a little better about how to use my regular camera so it was a nice accidental discovery. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom and they are beautiful. I totally want to plant a tree in my yard now!

After the street festival and our walking tour of DC, we checked out more of the monuments that we didn't get a chance to see on Friday.

We had a fun time and I'm so glad that we got to get away and spend some quality time together. I wish we lived in the same city, but fortunately Raleigh and Charlotte aren't too far apart (and we both have family in each other's city!) Hope you enjoy some pics from our nation's capital!