24 Hours in D.C.

This past week I had the opportunity to go to Washington, D.C., to speak at a conference for work.  Before 2014 I had never been to our nation's capitol, but I have been three times since 2014 and twice in the last 6 months. I consider myself an expert at Metro travel at this point despite the fact that I feel compelled to check my Metro map app at every stop to see how many stops I have left.

Can you spot the Capitol?

I even tried my hardest to blend in with the locals this trip. Since it was just an overnight trip I opted to take everything I needed (dinosaur laptop that weighs as much as a box of rocks included) in just a backpack - black of course so I would not stand out - that I purchased the morning of my trip...I literally ran to Walmart at 7:15AM and bought it.

Little did I know the one thing that would have solidified my "local" status would have been my running clothes and shoes which were both left at home since it was just one night.  I don't think I have EVER seen so many people out running as I did the night I was there. I guess everyone has a lot of stress to burn off!

I got to my hotel around 6 that night, and headed out to do a little sightseeing. I stayed at InterContinental The Willard, and it was AMAZING.  I felt like a little country bumpkin walking through it...despite my blend-in-with-the-D.C.-crowd backpack. I mean this was the back door entry.....

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I was told that the Indian Head of State stayed there the day before and security was outrageous; I am still trying to figure out how I lucked in to getting to stay there. Oh and did I mention it's a block away from a house you may have heard of at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Yeah this house was right next door.

Because I'm not one to turn down a chance to see some sights I made the most of the daylight I had left to walk around the National Mall.  I started with the Ellipse, a grassy expanse just south of the South Lawn of the White House, continued on to the Washington Monument, took a detour toward the Capitol before realized I was going the opposite direction so I back tracked and made it to the far side of the WWII Monument where I could get a clear view of the Lincoln Memorial and then called it a night.  It doesn't seem like the all of the memorials and monuments are that far from each other, but you'll walk a good 10 mins between each one.

I did the entire mall on my first trip so I admired the Lincoln Memorial from afar.  I really wanted to go see the Korean War Memorial, which is probably my favorite one, but it was a good 20 minute walk from where I was and I still had to walk back to my hotel and grab dinner before it got dark.

One thing that really stood out to me this trip was the crazy number of people who were playing softball games right in the middle of the national mall. There must be a huge league of Hill Staffers and Interns because there were games being played on every open space of grass. Anyone who wasn't playing softball was running or biking.  Seriously, if you weren't, it was obvious you were a tourist.

Just a softball game in the shadow of the White House....nbd

I made it back to my hotel with just a bit of daylight remaining and scarfed down a burrito desnudo (burrito bowl) from a taco joint called District Taco right down the street.....it was delicious.

I was up early the next morning, but not for fun.  I had to go straight to my conference that was held at the National Press Club (which is also apparently a very important place).  As much as I wanted to sneak away to do more sightseeing, the day was full so I had to stay there. We finished up that afternoon and I headed straight to the airport to come home.  As much as I would have enjoyed having another night to explore the city, I was glad to be home with Eric and the pups 36 hours after I left them.

We have quite the weekend planned that is going to involve our newest "toy." I am sure I will come home with at least 100 stories about how this goes.....I know they'll be way too good not to share!