A wonderful weekend adventure

Please excuse my blog hiatus this weekend... Clay was in town! Too much to see and do to sit long enough to blog! But now that the weekend is over (sad day), I have much to share... in fact our travels may extend into a few posts.

I was a little scared on Thursday that the trip might fall through, and although the weather did impede a few of our adventures, the weekend was a success!

Friday was a busy, busy work day thanks to all our snow time, but it started off with great excitement. Clay mailed me a package to the office. The large box was covered with "Do not open until Friday." I was beaming from ear to ear when I opened the box to find (to my great surprise) a giant box from Johnston and Murphy! Yes, that's right, he bought me the boots I've been wanting since back in January. Boots that I never really thought I'd get. Um, did I mention they look so fabulous!

After picking Clay up from the airport and dropping off his luggage, we traveled to Old Town, which is apparently only a short trip by my perception, for a delicious dinner at O'Connells. This old pub has such a great personality! Stained glass windows, beautiful ceilings, old wood embellishments and mismatched chairs. We both loved it, and had food that hit the note for us! Here's the only picture from dinner, and I know I look like a dork, but it's kinda cute... too bad you can't see my feet (the boots are awesome!!).

Saturday morning we hopped on the metro and headed to the Capitol for our scheduled tour and some sightseeing. We arrived at the capitol to what seemed to be a theme of our weekend... waiting in line. It was BITTER cold as you will notice by my added layers throughout the pictures. Speaking of pictures, I've got lots, so I picked the highlights, but there are many more good scenery shots here.

The first of many incredibly beautiful ceilings. I got a little dizzy from taking pictures. We were so impressed with our tour guide that Clay (always the curious one) asked how the guy got his job and how long they gave him to study. We were both shocked when he said he only got two days. This kid knows a LOT of stuff for two days, and he said he hated history til he got the job.

 

We asked permission to leave the tour for a quick snapshot with the one and only John C. Calhoun, one of two of the South Carolina statues in the Capitol.

After our tour, we took the tunnel to the Libraries of Congress. To get a book from the library, you have to tell the librarian which book you want, and she then sends a runner to one of the many, many "reading rooms." Once they find the book, they put it on a conveyor belt that goes to the librarian via a bank teller tube. This whole process... retrieving one book... takes an hour. Talk about elite book reading.

We tried to get in the Supreme Court, but the giant doors don't have handles, and they aren't push/pull doors. It was a little baffling. :)

I guess pictures on the steps will have to suffice for this trip!

  

After this picture I added Clay's earband to my layers, and his toboggan came out! It was so incredibly cold!!

  

  

We're not so good at the self-portrait... but these are our first two attempts. Amber, can you put them together for us?!

  

After quite a day of sightseeing and walking, we joined Allison and her boyfriend Will for pizza and some brews at this hoppin' place in Eastern Market called "Matchbox." The Spicy Italian Meatball is highly recommended... however, beware the cost of the beer... it ain't cheap! Sorry no picture to insert.

  

We started a slippery morning on the West Mall at the Lincoln Memorial. We tracked our walk when we got home... over 6 miles, many of them on icy/snowy sidewalks. What an adventure?! Full of lots of almost spills.

  

The view from the Memorial steps is a breathtaking one. Thankfully someone was willing to take our picture here.

  

Next time we're going to do whatever it takes to get to the top of that monument!! Maybe then waiting in line will be a little warmer. :)

  

  

The back door of the White House.

  

  

Our super long and snowy trek around the Tidal Basin and the construction was well worth the beauty of the Jefferson Memorial. It was a beautiful way to end our sightseeing.

Oh, oh! I have to tell this story!! Saturday we went to the Air and Space Museum for just a bit, and we rode this fighter pilot simulator. Unfortunately, the pilot (I won't disclose which of us it was), kept us upside down 2/3 of the time. I was laughing so hard when we got done... the clerk asked me if I was crying when she opened the door. Needless to say... it was well worth the extra money AND the war would not be better off with the two of us as a fighter pilot team. :)