Last year we put a significant pause in our travel to focus on renovating our new house. Financially it obviously made sense to put all resources towards upgrading our forever home but fixing up a house is also extremely draining. And rewarding too – it’s been great to sit back and enjoy all of our hard work over the past few months. We’re not done but we don’t live in a construction zone anymore so we’re definitely on the right track.
This year we’re focusing more on travel and new experiences. We’re hoping to take Annabelle to the beach for the first time this month, we recently booked a trip to Hawaii for the end of April, and we have two trips booked for our good friends upcoming nuptials – a bachelorette party in Charleston and the wedding in Maine.
When Ken had a work trip to DC that just happened to be on a Thursday we decided to extend it by a couple days and have me meet him on Thursday evening. My flight ended up getting delayed so I didn’t get to the hotel until about 8pm. We stayed at the Courtyard Washington Convention Center. It was great – the location was perfect, the room was clean and nice, and the staff was super welcoming. It was steps away from shopping and dining, and we ended up walking everywhere but to and from the airport.
Speaking of airports – for some reason I had it in my head that we should fly into Dulles instead of Reagan. Wrong choice. Take it from me, if you’re planning a trip to DC and you’re going right into the city, fly in and out of Reagan if you can. Unless there is a significant cost difference {more than $100} I’ll never make that mistake again.
Ok, back to the fun stuff. The restaurant next to our hotel, Gordon Biersch Brewery, was perfect for Thursday night. We split a steak and had a couple drinks and called it a night early since we had a super full day planned for Friday.
The next morning we actually slept in until 8am. It felt amazing and we still had a couple hours before any of the museums opened. We got ready and walked to a cute local coffee shop that we had walked past the night before, Bakers & Baristas. Nine out of ten mornings I need both of those and this was no exception. We split an egg sandwich and a blueberry muffin and took two large coffees to go.
If you weren’t there with us you might have thought the weather was warmer but it was 40 degrees and very windy. I was pleasantly surprised that the cherry blossoms were blooming!
Our first stop was the National Archives to see Ken’s favorite document, the Constitution. Who has a favorite document you might ask? Yes, my husband does. This is the one place that there are no cameras allowed inside so if you haven’t seen it before you’ll just have to imagine the Constitution in all it’s glory. I’ll give you a moment.
Ken thought the Washington monument was underwhelming. I appreciated the symbolism, you could see it from anywhere you were in the district.
Next we headed to the White House. While I’ve seen it in person before I’m always surprised at how small it actually is. I wish we could have gotten right up there but it felt very patriotic to be that close to such an iconic building.
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After the White House we grabbed a quick lunch at Cosi and then took an Uber to the Lincoln Memorial. By that point the wind was picking up and we had already walked 7 miles so the $6 Uber seemed like a worthwhile investment.
The Lincoln Memorial was the busiest place we visited, maybe because it was early afternoon or maybe everyone just loves Honest Abe.
We walked another couple miles and then called another Uber to take us to the Supreme Court. I wasn’t as excited as Ken to go there but it ended up being both of our favorites.
So. Much. Marble. 
There is a marble spiral staircase that runs through the entire building. I’ve never seen anything like it!
Really all of the details in this building are just amazing.
Our final stop was the Capitol building.
There’s a little Liz in the top right if you look closely.
We wrapped up the evening by enjoying happy hour at a cute little Italian restaurant, Carmine’s. If you go make sure you order the chicken wings!
Our flight was at noon on Saturday so we sat down to a quick breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien before we left for the airport. Can we get one of these in Detroit, please?
Ken was so confused when they brought bowls for our coffee. I told him it was French, obviously.
Shoutout to my two-week gel mani. Still going strong!
Thanks so much for being so great, DC! We can’t wait to visit again someday although I vowed several times to never be a class trip chaperone. I do not have that kind of patience!
Have you been to DC? What’s your favorite thing to do, eat, see there? I’d love to hear!
PS my coat, hat, lipstick (color is closest to Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in red square), boots, denim, and sunglasses