I'm Back~~~~trip to Washington, DC

Well, we just got back about 2am this morning and I am so exhausted that I literally have just woke up and now drinking my fully leaded coffee so that I can wake up enough to share some pics with you. First, our new camera is.....well........so not like my last one and I couldn't get the best pics I wanted to but I did flash a few!

Whew! Where do I start? Well, we left Hartsfield Airport on Tuesday and I thought I had planned the flight so that we would get to Washington before peak evening traffic. This did work out well and we were at the hotel by 3ish. The weather was cloudy, misty rain and a bit gloomy but we proceeded on to plan out the rest of our week. We were so excited and found out soon that public transit was going to be the most economical way to get around Washington.

As I have been to Washington only once before and really only went shopping and to the Smithsonian, I had some places in mind to see.

Now, I'm not a history buff, but I'll tell you that this trip was so inspiring. We were surrounded by buildings rich in history and I think the Lincoln memorial was one of the most awe-inspiring ones.

Now, back to Tuesday.......well, we headed off to Union station by public transit and this was supposed to have alot of shops and places to eat. We took some pics of the inside of the station and actually learned more about the history on Friday night during our tour.

While the Bodyguard was scoping out the profiles of people, I went to the bookstore, Ann Taylor, etc. I didn't get anything there but just alot of windowshopping. Then we moseyed back onto the train and got a little confused at the metro station how to transfer over to another one......but anyway......made it back to the hotel.

On Wednesday, we woke up and knew this was one of the main days to be adventurous because I had to attend the work seminar on Thurs, Fri and Sat. So, I told him I wanted to find this "In Stitches" stitching store and that surely Alexandria would be close.........Hahahahaha. To make a long story short we got lost on several occasions but during those times we made a fun time of it.

On the way to Alexandria, we stopped at Arlington Cemetary. I wanted to see where Jackie Kennedy was buried. We were absolutely stunned by this place...its reverence, its vastness, its historical treasure. We walked so much our legs ached, but we finally found Jackie and John's grave site and took some pics. The Cherry Blossoms were at there peak and this was absolutely beautiful. We went up to the Robert E. Lee House and walked through it and incidentally the house reminded me of a sampler house I'm working on called The Sarah Bottomly Sampler by the Scarlet Letter. We then walked back to the bus stop at Arlington and went to the train, onward to Alexandria with a mission to find the stitching shop.

We got off at Alexandria and were so hungry as it was 3ish by this time and kind of confused where we were. But we looked straight ahead and saw a small dutch cafe and knew this was the place we wanted to eat. The food was great. We then took a bus which seemed like it took forever.....to the street where the stitching shop was supposed to be. We got there about 4:20p so I hurried over and then drooled over all the samplers in it and threads. Bodyguard went to McDonalds and waited patiently while I shopped. He is always, always so patient when we go on trips so I was having so much fun. We definitely had an adventure from the hotel to the stitching shop.

I got a magnifying mirror that hangs with a string so I could see better when stitching on the trip, some Thread Heaven thread conditioner, a "Hero" military project, and a Ewe and Eye small sampler with threads and linen. I also got a very small wooden lavender needle holder which is so cute.

We headed back to the hotel by bus again, then the train. We were so exhausted and arrived about 8:30p so we went to the pub at the hotel and got delectable crabfish and shrimp gumbo with a raspberry martini. This is not something I usually take with Dramamine but I did because I was so nauseated by the riding in the bus, let's say I slept well that night.

When I got to the room and thumbed through the USA Today paper I saw where the White House was threatened, a target on Tuesday due to political issues with the Taliban so then I became a little afraid. We knew the President was in London at this time so maybe we were ok.

Thursday, the seminar was a complete day until 5p including a luncheon which discussed family planning issues.

Thursday night we met some old friends of the Bodyguard at Pentagon City. We talked over dinner for about 2 hours. He had not seen them in 20 years and this was the first time I met them. They were such nice folks too. Jeff and Doris were living near the military station there and caught us up on what had happened over the years.

On Friday, I went again to the seminar but starting to get extremely exhausted. That evening we went on the Washington Tour which was designed especially for the seminar participants. The tour guide was a lovely lady about 70 who knew every last detail of Washington history.

The tour was 5 hours and we did cover so much, I couldn't believe it. Alot of the tour was on foot, which I didn't realize and it was so windy and cold, sometimes it was hard to enjoy the sites or hear her speak. In the midst of the tour, they dropped us off at Union Station to eat dinner. We went by many, many historical buildings, the White House, the Capitol, walked in front of the Capitol and the White House, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean memorial, the Vietnam wall, the nurses memorial, the Blair House, the church where the Kennedys got married, and on and on.

Saturday, I went to the conference which was only half-day and then we hurried over by train again to the Smithsonian. I wanted to see the First Lady dresses again. I can't tell you enough how the crowds were so tight. Now, I have been to Disneyworld during peak times of the year and had not seen crowds of this caliber! The train was so crowded that you literally had to hold a breath before you stopped to get off at the next site. I vowed never to go on Cherry Blossom weekend again. Evidently the Cherry Blossom parade was yesterday and I can't describe how many people were there! The line at the Smithsonian was very long and we really only got to see the First Ladies section but there was construction so all the dresses were not displayed, a big dissapointment. We had to walk several stations down the road to get on one where we could actually move through the crowds to get back to the hotel. We finally made it back and waited on another bus to take us to the airport. I didn't realize when purchasing plane tickets that I had selected Dulles airport for the way back and oh, my, we had a 1 hour ride on a very bumpy bus to the airport. Then we ate at Cinnabon, went through security and and on and on until we arrived home at 2 am.

I did do alot of stitching in the late evenings and even took it into the conference while listening. I will post a pic later today of my progress.......off for another cup of Joe!

Jennifer