Let's go on an Adventure: National Zoo, Cathedral, Fords Theater, Baseball & Georgetown (Days 1 and 2)

Are you craving adventure?  Don't feel bad. .. this enneagram 7 can't wait to pack a bag, jump on a plane and go some place she's never been! 

COVID numbers seem to be dropping and I am itching to for a grand adventure, so I am going to take you all on a little one over the course of the next month or so as I go down memory lane.  Let's travel back to 2019, when face masks were not something we had to think about and there weren't travel restrictions (ugh!).  

This summer will mark the 2 year anniversary of our Washington D.C - Baltimore - Philadelphia adventure.  We had so much fun and saw so much that we have very little regret from the trip, except maybe a day where we just rested.  But, really when we are some place new I have no desire to spend it in the hotel room.  I want to be out on the street walking around (My hubby can vouch for this. . . it drives him crazy!).  I always feel like I am missing out on something.  

This trip took 9 days, including 2 days to travel by plane (it takes awhile to fly from California to D.C.).  We spent most of our time in D.C. and then 1 day in Baltimore, and 2 days in Philadelphia.  This post will definitely be broken up into several posts because there is just so much to do!
  

We didn't get into Washington D.C. until around 10:00 at night.  We flew into The Washington Dulles Airport, which was a great experience! We found all of our luggage and found our Uber for the 30ish minute drive into D.C.  Our hotel, the Capitol Hilton, was easy to find and just 2 short blocks from the White House building.  (It's even a hot spot for past Innagural Balls!).  Our room was perfect for the 4 of to camp out this week.  We even paid a little extra for a mini fridge so we could keep sparkling water and some breakfast things cold.  

But, back to getting into D.C. at 10.  We were hungry, we felt like it was 7 and so we headed out to walk a few blocks to the nearest Shake Shack (my absolute favorite) since it was fairly close and still open.  Washington D.C. is very active at night (party, party!) and so we surprisingly had to wait in line to order!  Along the way, we passed the Longfellow statue, which was really cool.  One of my favorite poems is the midnight ride of Paul Revere. . . he wrote it!  So, at 10:00, my kids had a quick history lesson and Weston even posed in front of it for me.  You would never have guessed that it was almost midnight and we had been traveling all day. . . We were all pumped to be in Washington D.C.  

After a good night's sleep, we woke up to a gorgeous day and headed out.  Our first mission, was some snacks and breakfasty things at Whole Foods.  We walked there and ubered back to the hotel. On the way we found these statues and talked about political parties.  

We also enjoyed the absolutely beautiful architecture.  Modern buildings placed strategically between old homes, many that may have dated back to our countries beginnings.  It's really amazing to look at! 

After taking the food back to our room, we headed out for our next stop.  We went to Ford's theater, took the tour (so many awesome things in the museum part) and then sat in the actual theater (that has been redone since Abraham was shot) that the assassination took place.  We walked across the street to see the home in which he actually died, but chose not to take the tour.  We were hungry, hot, and needed a quick break.  So, we went in search of food.  

We found the coolest pizza place just around the corner from Ford's Theater.  &Pizza was a quick style pizza, where the are long and skinny, but so many different toppings and recipes to chose from.  Jon even was introduced to Mike's Hot honey and well. . . .we ended up ordering our own bottle because it is just amazing on pizza!  

From there we wandered towards the FBI building and then on to the National Archives.  This was something Ethan was really excited about, he loves the National Treasure movies!  There were so many documents to look at, including a copy of the Magna Carta.  It was all so fascinating!  

By the time we left, it was time to head to the Nationals vs. KC Royals game we had tickets for.  We love fitting in sporting events when we travel.  Ethan even started collected all the stadium pins while we were on this trip.  The  stadium was beautiful and had a great view.  However, it was our first day in the hot, humid environment, so we left after the 5th inning.  We had laughed about an area at the stadium that was closed due to inclimate weather when it was sunny and beautiful (we don't get a lot of "weather" where we live).  We ubered back to our hotel for a few minutes before heading out to go find a restaurant to eat for dinner. . .

 

We were up in our room for 10-15 minutes at the most and came down to a torrential downpour, thunder and lightning.  We just stood there, laughed, and enjoyed it.  Needless to say, we ordered Chipotle from around the corner via door dash! 

The next morning, we woke up to a sunny day and warmer weather than before! Our first stop was the Smithsonian National Zoo.  We enjoyed the Pandas and loved all of their different homes.  I think my favorite was the naked mole rats. . . they were so adorable! There are only 3 zoos in the U.S.  so that was super fun, plus the pandas are super relatable and seemed to love a good nap!  We enjoyed lunch at the zoo.  It was pretty basic zoo food, but Ethan said he loved his hot dog. . . he may have just been starving!

After the zoo, we ubered (we did a lot of ubering around!) over to the National Cathedral, which was just amazing!  There was even a choir practicing, which sounded so beautiful.  We probably could have wandered around the grounds and the church for hours.  They are even building a replica out of legos. . . we keep getting updates via email about the progress.  You can donate money and a lego piece or two will be added to help raise money for it.  They are not messing around with this Lego replica. . . it takes up almost a whole room!  Just to the back of the cathedral is a smaller, old church with a gorgeous gazebo and a view of D.C. that cannot be matched!  Look for the grassy area with a tall cross and you'll have a wonderful view! 

Can you believe, that day 2 is still not finished?  After this, we headed over to Georgetown to explore.  We waited in a little line (maybe 15 minutes?) at Georgetown Cupcakes. . . remember that show?  This stop was on our bucket list of things to do!  We bought some cupcakes and found a place to share them.  They were so good!  Totally worth the stop!  

 

 

Georgetown is the cutest little town outside of D.C! It was probably one of my favorite places to visit. . . probably because there were some really neat shops.  The buildings are old, the details were wonderful, the shops were both mainstream and local!  Jon started getting a headache partway through the afternoon, so we decided to stop and get a coke and rest for a bit (thank goodness for Chipotle!).  We walked the waterfront, played on a labyrinth and just enjoyed our time.  It was so much quieter there and so beautiful!  I could have stayed there for a full day just walking around (read: shopping. . . ha ha).  Before we left, we had bought macarons from Olivia Macarons, ate dinner at Good Stuff Eatery (this was our favorite new food spot of the whole trip!) and coffee at Baked and Wired (we would have totally gotten cupcakes, but we already had enough food!)  Needless to say, everything we ate was loved!  

We did so much in the first two days, that I think it's safe to leave you here for a little bit. Days 3 & 4 will be coming soon!  

Here's a quick At a Glance guide to all we did:

Day 1:

• Grocery shopping
• Ford's Theater
• &Pizza
• National Archives
• Nationals Game

Day 2:

• National Zoo
• National Cathedral
• Georgetown
• Good Stuff Eatery
• Olivia Macarons
• Baked and Wired 

Main Form of Transportation:  Uber, Lift, and our feet.  

Hotel: Capitol Hilton