To The Capitol

The first weekend of October, we headed to Washington D.C. for a few days. David is interested in oral surgery and has been working with an oral surgeon on some research. They submitted their research to be presented at the national oral surgery conference, and it was accepted. Another classmate of his worked on he project as well, so the wives all decided to make a trip of it! 

We flew in on Wednesday night and Alice did great on the flights. She was a champ the whole trip, which was an answer to many prayers. Our hotel was just a block south of the National Air and Space Museum on The Mall, and it was so fun. We were close to so many sites and loved our location. The biggest bummer of the whole trip was the weather! There was a hurricane off the east coast, so it was just rainy and windy the whole time. We still had a great time and if your going to experience any city in a hurricane, DC is a pretty good one considering much of our times was spent indoors at museums, the Capitol, etc. 

Thursday David and his classmate, Kyle, went to the conference. They enjoyed it and presented their poster to some other dentists. While they were gone, Kyle's wife Paulina and her friend Kaitlyn who lives there went to see some sites with me. We went to the National Gallery of Art, which I really loved and probably enjoyed the most of all the museums this trip. Afterwards we went to Shake Shack, which I was so excited to try since I had heard so many good things about it. It was good, but I was a little disappointed. The meat in the middle of the burger was a little pink, and I'm picky with any meat especially ground beef. I guess that's how they cook them all, because I noticed a sign after that said to tell them if you want it cooked all the way through. I was bummed, but still had a good experience. That afternoon, we walked around and went to the American History Museum. It was super neat to go through. Then for dinner, we met up with the boys and the oral surgeon and his family. We went to a place called Senart's Oyster Bar and Grill. I am in no way an oyster fan, but I ordered the salmon, which came with a cheesy-type risotto and it was one of the best salmon dishes I've ever had! I'm salivating just thinking about it. We had a blast and it was great to get together with everyone.

Friday was super busy, since we saved a lot of the sites to see with the guys. We started out by going to tour the U.S. Capitol. It was great and we even found a statue of Brigham Young! 

Alice is in the black wrap around David's chest! She loves snuggling up in it and slept during the whole tour. 

^^the Capitol ceiling

Paulina, Kyle, David and me

After the Capitol, we walked (yes walked- it took forever) to the Washington Monument. We went to the top, which was neat but a little bit of a letdown thanks to the hurricane. It was so rainy and cloudy we couldn't see much, but still had a great time. 

^^same expression

^^I love this picture! It was so windy and David was trying to keep Alice dry from the sideways rain. Alice looked so cute in her beanie. 

After that we went to eat at Good Stuff Eatery. If you go to DC, eat there! It was the best burger and fries ever. Much better than shake shack, in my opinion. We all couldn't stop talking about it all trip. And I still can't stop talking about it. 

That afternoon was spent at the National Air and Space Museum, the Library of Congress, and the Natural History Museum. That evening we went out to We The Pizza (so clever) and enjoyed hanging out with everyone. Then when we got back to the hotel and fed Alice/got her ready for bed, the fire alarm went off at 10 PM! Everyone had to evacuate and it was kinda a bummer, but people were just loving on Alice saying how cute and happy she was. What can I say, she loves all the commotion! 

Saturday we started by going to Arlington National Cemetery. I loved it, and thought it was one of the neatest places. It was so humbling to see some of the people that sacrificed their lives so we can live in a wonderful and free country. 

^^The changing of the guard

That afternoon, David and I went to the Newseum, while the others went to see some other sites. I love it and thought it was super neat. It tells the history of the U.S. through the news and the perspective of journalists. 

Here we are in front of a portion of the Berlin Wall:

After that, we went to the National Portrait Gallery, which was alright before meeting up with my good friend and former roommate, Jenna. We met on our study abroad in London and then lived together at BYU the following year. She and her husband live in D.C. and I knew I wanted to see her while visiting. Her husband was out of town, but her mom was visiting her, so we met up with the two of them and it was a blast. We ate at a place called Matchbox and it was delicious, but we had even more fun catching up and chatting for 2 hours. 

We flew out the next morning and were excited to get home to our own bed. It was a great trip and I am so glad David let me tag along!