Dc Trip--Revisited

So, as everyone know, I *surprised* Kurt with a trip for his birthday to Washington DC. To start, we had an amazing time. Seriously. It was kinda an out of the ordinary trip for us, siteseeing in a major US city. Loved it though, and did not have even close to enough time to do everything we wanted to do.

Thursday night. Flew into DC via Northwest. Was terrified because it's them, we would be delayed or have a bad flight or lost luggage, but everything went well. Arrived on time, and decided to take the Metro to our hotel, as suggested by my friend, K.C., who used to live in DC. Managed to figure it out, and met a girl on the Metro who lived near our hotel and so kindly let us follow her there! She also recommended a place for dinner, Afterwords Cafe, which we chose to eat at. Awesome dinner. I had a lobster and asparagus ravioli that was to die for. We were exhausted after that, and went to bed. Hotel we stayed at was Hotel Palamor, which wwas incredible. The entire hotel was recently redone, and completely modern and as Kurt said "lori like". Our bed was super comfy, and the bathroom and view from the room were really nice.

Friday. Got up and headed to the Russell Building and Carl Levin's office to take a tour of the Capitol. The tour was very kewl, and conducted by a Levin intern who knew like everything. LOL. I loved the tour. My fav part of the Capitol was probably seeing the first Supreme Court, which was in the Capitol Building. Very interesting. After that, Kurt and I headed to the Supreme Court. Just as we walked in, a tour of the court was starting, and we jumped into that. Learned a bunch of fun facts about the court, and explored some on our own. Next, headed to lunch at this place called Burrito Brothers. Yum. Kinda a hole in the wall place with super yummy, Mexican food. After lunch, headed to the Library of Congress. Got there just as a tour was starting and jumped into that one as well. Learned a lot, then explored on our own. There was a really kewl exhibit there on the Incas. Next, we stopped at this Conservatory that was breathtakingly beautiful. I love flowers, and miss the greenery in my midwestern winter. Headed to the hotel next to get ready for dinner with Angel, Ryan and Char at an Heritage India in Georgetown. Angel and Ryan picked us up and we met Char at the restaurant. The conversation and food was awesome. We stayed over 3 hours, and had a blast. I really wish they all lived closer to us.

Saturday. Got up and headed to the Holocaust museum, which was awesome, but depressing at the same time. Really educational, I learned a lot I did not know. Cried a couple times while there and watching video on people who were part of it. Horrible. Headed to lunch next, at a cute bar next to the White House called Elephant and Castle. Had a great crab cake sandwich. Next, went to the National Archives museum. My fav things there were the original legal documents of famous cases, such as Brown v Board of Education and Gideon v Wainwright. After that, headed to the Aviation and Space Smithsonian Museum, in specific wanted to see the Wright Brothers' room and Amelia Earhart's belongings and plane. Very kewl. Headed next to the hotel to get ready for dinner with Amanda and Jason for Kurt's birthday. Ate at a place called Nage, which was super yummy. Had an awesome time (for the second night in a row) at dinner, staying again for over three hours. Again, wish they lived closer.........

Sunday. Decided to do the tour of Monuments and Memorials this morning. Started off by walking past the White House, Treasury. My favorite Monument was probably the FDR Memorial, as I really liked how his little dog Fala was a statue there. But, everything was very incredible and beautiful. I was very excited to see the Lincoln Memorial as well. After that, headed to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History to see fossils and animals. Really kewl. After that, headed to the International Spy Museum (which was literally the only attraction we paid for the entire trip). After this, stopped into the Smithsonian Portrait Museum, which my fav painting was this one of Richard Nixon by Norman Rockwell.

Flew home that night. Such a great trip, even if we tried to do more than we should have, exhausting ourselves. This is the norm for us though, LOL. We do need to go back at some point though, do to the stuff outside of DC, which we did not have time to do this trip. The weather was a nice break from Detroit as well, as it was in the 40s to 60s while we were there. I am so glad Kurt had an awesome birthday too. :).