sorry, mom.

I must start with apologies for those of you that have hounded me to update my blog. Yes, I did go to DC this weekend and take pics for my blog but in my own defense:

1. the "4 hour ride" back to NYC took 6 1/2

2. when we finally got back i had to take care of the more critical areas (unpack, balance check book, check email, call Anna)

3. after i had accomplished all of that i was way too tired to type anything!

Alright, on to the update. We took off for DC around 7:45 Saturday morning, arrived around noon. On the way there I couldn't help thinking how funny it was that we drove through New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, to Washington DC (all those states!) in just 4 hours. We had lunch at Union Station, which is huge and really beautiful. It's almost a shame how modernized it is, but if you look closely, away from the neon fast food signs, you will see the original marble and notice the incredible statues decorating the station. After we filled our bellies we hopped back onto the bus and began our tour of the city. We had to pick up Doris first, she was our really old/senile tour guide. She was funny (kinda), I'll give her that...

We flew passed a lot of government buildings while Doris told odd jokes about the statues we passed, unfortunately for you, none of them are coming to mind for me to share.

First stop: The United States Capitol

A pic of Angela and I infront of the fountain. Apparently this fountain just hangs out underneath the platform constructed for the presidential inaugurations.

Then onto the White House:

Then lots, and lots of monuments/memorials.

World War II Memorial:

Korean War Memorial:

Vietnam War Memorial:

Lincoln Memorial:

Jefferson Memorial:

Navy Memorial:

At this point everyone was gross (very hot and humid day in DC) and it was time to hit the hotel in Georgetown. We stayed at the Westin Grand where I got the best night sleep I've gotten since leaving Texas. The beds were literally called "The Heavenly Bed" and having an entire full size bed to myself with room service was definitely heavenly.

For dinner I met up with my friend Nathan who goes to UT with me and is interning in DC. We ate at The Alamo Grill. I know, how Texan of us (and it was delicious). Followed by some Georgetown adventuring.

Nathan and I at Nathans...

And with Virginia in the background.

Our adventures led us to the movie theater where we saw WALL-E. And despite that some of you are rolling your eyes at the idea of watching a Disney movie, it was awesome. I want a WALL-E, just so he can roll around and play show tunes for me all day (so precious)! At this point I was exhausted so Nathan made his way back into DC and I crawled into my most ethereal bedding and snoozed.

When morning came I was so refreshed and the sight of the cups and cups of complimentary Starbucks coffee only 5 feet away from me made me certain I had found absolute bliss. Unfortunately check out time was 11 am so that only gave me 3 hours to really soak up the bliss, but I got in as much as possible before tossing my bag back onto the bus and roaming the monuments of DC another day. Day 2 consisted of the bus pulling up to the Washington Monument and a total of 2 hours to check out the premises of the National Mall. There were several museums in the area, but we didn't quite make it to any of them. However, we did get this cute pic in a huge tree (hahaha).

Me, Stacey, Whitney Whitney, Angela, Stacey

We had to go back to the monument and get in line for a trip to the tip-top. I snapped a few pics and it was pretty incredible to see everything from that height. Did you know that the Washington Monument is the tallest free-standing structure (it doesn't have any metal or steel beams holding it together) in the world?!

That was the finale and then we boarded the buses again and headed back to the big city. As I said before, it was much longer than estimated getting back. But overall, I must say, I had quite a delightful weekend (and I strongly recommend The Westin Grand to anyone visiting the area!).