Just 5 Days In The Capital City

I wish I could work a "Wicked" reference into all of my post titles. It's probaby a little late, but I wanted to (finally) give a summary of our Washington, D.C. trip we took at the end of March. We tried to plan our trip around the cherry blossoms, but most of them had bloomed the week before. In fact, this was one of the few late bloomers we saw around the Jefferson Memorial.

But overall, we had a very fun trip. We unintentionally split up our days into themes, which actually ended up being kind of cool because a lot of what we were seeing fit together.

Day 1: D.C. Highlights

Washington Monument

Our flight out of Omaha left early in the morning, so we arrived to D.C. around noon. We took the metro to our hotel, the Washington Hilton, to drop our stuff off and then took the metro over to the Capitol. Now, because I lived there for a summer five years ago, I thought we would be fine without a map and I could "feel" my way to places. Let's just say that didn't work, and we ended up taking the loooong way to the Capitol, rather than the direct way.

We started at the Capitol and then walked the mall, intending to stop at the monuments as we went. But before we got there, we decided to detour to the Archives, because the line was relatively short. In addition to the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, etc. there was a very cool exhibit on Ben Franklin AND we also saw Laura Ingalls Wilder memorabilia: the homestead claim Pa filed in South Dakota.

We then resumed our monument tour, minus the Lincoln because it looked really crowded, we both had already seen it, and the reflecting pool was under construction. After looking for ages, we finally found the Jefferson, MLK, and FDR. I still think FDR is my favorite one.

We stayed in Dupont Circle, and for dinner we had Greek food at one of the restaurants I had always wanted to go to during my internship. It was definitely worth the wait.

Day 2: American History

One of the main things I HAD to do when we were in D.C. was tour the White House. We went through our representative back in February to schedule it, and our tour was set for 12:30. We went to the White House Visitor's Center before, which had displays of furniture, china, and other White House artifacts before getting in line. The line for the White House was one of the longest we had to wait in, and I have to say I was not as impressed as I thought I would be. We got to see a few of the rooms, but there was no guided tour or real information on the rooms while you were in there. We did see the first dog while waiting in line though, so that was worth it.

After the White House, we headed to the American History museum. Unfortunately, the pop culture and sports exhibits were closed, but we did get to see the Star Spangled Banner and the First Lady exhibit.

By this time, we were so overwhelmed by all of the people, so we went and had a drink before checking out the Portrait Gallery. This is my favorite art museum. There was also an exhibit on the art of video games, and I think that was Nathan's favorite.

We had dinner at Zola, nearby, a recommendation from a friend. It.Was. Amazing.

Day 3: Art & Journalism

Top Floor of the Newseum

The other attraction I had to see while we were there was the Newseum. You have to pay to get in, but it is, in my opinion, way worth the cost. We spent a ton of time in here, as we were both journalism majors. But what was so interesting was that there was so much history in the museum: Significant history, like part of the Berlin Wall, the top of the tower from the World Trade Center, the door from Watergate, and then everyday history that becomes significant: cameras, wallets, cell phones from 9/11 vicitms, newspapers and magazines, Pulitzer Prize-winning photos.

We also got to see some unique exhibits at the National Gallery of Art. One of the big ones was Colorful Realm: Japanese Bird-And-Flower Paintings by Itō Jakuchū (1716–1800), which was on display outside of Japan for the first time. We also got to see sculptures (Nathan's favorite) and Impressionst paintings (my favorite).

Even though we had already walked a ton, we decided to head over to Georgetown to look at the campus and grab dinner.

Day 4: Nature

We started our "nature" morning out at the zoo, looking at all of the animals, and of course, the pandas. Then we stopped at the aquarium. This was interesting because it featured the sea life you would see in different ecosystems, but it was a little disappointing because there was not a lot there.

The Natural History museum was by far the busiest museum we had been to yet. But we did get to see the fossils, the hope diamond, and a really cool exhibit about forensic anthropology, which I loved because it was like the show "Bones" in real life.

My wonderful cousins hosted us for dinner that night, which was a ton of fun.

Day 5: The Unexpected

National Botanic Gardens

Our last day in D.C. was spent touring the places that aren't as popular. We stopped by the Library of Congress to see the reading room and the art that makes the building so interesting. There was also an exhibit of Thomas Jefferson's library. Next, we stopped at the National Botanic Gardens, Nathan's favorite. And finally, we went to the Building Museum. One of the most interesting exhibits here was the different designs that were considered for all of the monuments, or how different D.C. could look if these were accepted rather than the ones we know today.

Overall, I have to say it was one of my favorite trips we've been on.