From One End of DC to the Other

     I recently got back from a trip to Alexandria, Virginia with my family. My sister lives down there so we went to visit her, as well as make a few day-trips to Washington D.C. We left last Thursday and stayed until Monday. The car ride was a long 9 hours, but it was worth getting to see my sister and nice being in the city for a change. We spent our first day at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, looking at all the exhibits until it was nearly closing time. We took the metro back to Alexandria and joined my sister and her boyfriend for dinner at a delicious, authentic Greek restaurant. The next day we all spent at the Smithsonian National Zoo...my favorite animal was the panda! Afterwords, we ate yummy thin crust pizza on the sidewalk at a street-side Italian restaurant. The last day, we walked all around D.C. to see the Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, and the Korean War Memorial. That night, we drove to National Harbor, ate at an amazing Mexican restaurant, and finished off with Ben & Jerry's.

Friday

 Museum

Roaming around a bit before going to the Smithsonian.

Cute, antique Valentines!

The original Barbie and G.I. Joe.

Julia Child's kitchen.

My favorite exhibit!

I love the sunglasses above and the beaded purse on the far right.

Grace Coolidge's velvet-trimmed flapper dress.

This is such a sweet painting of Rosalynn and Amy Carter.

Some sketches of past First Ladies' inaugural gowns.

Michelle Obama's inaugural gown...my absolute favorite.

Jason Wu designed with such detail that it made her dress the best in history by far!

Mammie Eisenhower had her name embossed in her inaugural heels!

This was another one of my favorites.

Dorthy's ruby red slippers.

Nastia Luikin's Olympic leotard.

Kermit the frog.

Simba's mask from The Lion King on Broadway...the one show I've been dying to see all my life!

Enjoying dinner at a Greek restaurant back in Alexandria.

My dish was one of the ancient Greek recipes on the menu.

Saturday

Zoo

We stopped at a cafe for lunch on our way to the zoo.

My croissant sandwich.

The cheetah was the only animal we were able to see for a while.

My favorite! This guy was munching away on his leaves!

The elephant was shy and only let us see his back-side!

This little gorilla was posing for us!

My sister and I.

My sister, her boyfriend, and my mom.

A komodo dragon!

Jellyfish.

The tiger and lion were being lazy and just chilled in the same spot the whole time!

Sipping my Italian lemon soda at the Italian restaurant we ate dinner at.

My mom and brother.

Sunday

Sightseeing

At the Washington Monument.

My dad and little sister on our way to the WWII Memorial.

At the WWII Memorial.

My sister and brother.

My mom and dad.

The view from the Lincoln Monument.

Inside the monument.

At the Korean War Memorial.

We never walked to the Jefferson Monument because we were too tired to go much further, so we settled for this view across from the Washington Channel.

We didn't actually walk to the White House or Capitol building either, but by that time we were satisfied with what our zoom lenses could do!

Walking the streets in National Harbor.

This little boutique look really cute, but they were closed so we had to sick with window shopping! It was probably the for the best, or we might have missed our table across the street!

My dinner...I forget what it was called, but it was delicious steak, sausage, and vegetable pieces on top of spicy rice. For appetizers, they served us BEYOND WONDERFUL guacamole with homemade tortillas.

We got Ben & Jerry's after dinner and my little sister and I liked their cash register screen!