Washington D.C. Trip

While we were living in Singapore, we made some really wonderful friends whom we have not been able to see since we moved back.  With everything settled down from the move and starting our new roles at work, we decided to take a trip to D.C. to see some of the sites and visit with our friends.  John and Kathy were kind enough to host us for the long weekend.  We also had the opportunity to have a meal with Mike and Shelly while they were in town as well as Sonia and Alok before they move to Houston.

Lucky for us, the cherry blossoms had just come to bloom which is something we have always wanted to see.  We had hoped to make it to Japan for their cherry blossom festival but since we missed that one, D.C. would have to do.  We went out on an overcast and chilly Friday morning to take in the beauty of the blossoms.  It was relatively busy but nothing compared to what it would be the following day.  We are so thankful we went on Friday.

Learning about Roosevelt

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial

John and Kathy with Caroline

Outside of the Library of Congress 

Inside the Library of Congress. We loved the old carvings, painting, and architecture. 

Books from Thomas Jefferson's collection

 On Saturday, we decided to check out a couple more tourist attractions.  Caroline is more and more interested in animals so we thought the National Museum of Natural History would be a good one for her.  We went relatively early so we beat most of the crowds.  By the time we finished, we could barely breath so we headed outside to enjoy the wonderful weather.  It was the most crowded our friends have ever seen D.C. to be.  Beautiful weather, cherry blossoms blooming, and the last weekend of the Cherry Blossom Festival and parade made for some enormous crowds.  We had to take advantage of being in D.C. while we were there so we continued on.

Washington Monument early before too many people descended upon it.

Caroline loved seeing all the animals and exhibits 

The Washington Monument 

We wanted to go see the White House but were kept far away by the Secret Service.  Turns our we were there when some guy committed suicide at the Capital Building.  Everything was on lockdown for a bit so they made us go much further out to watch.  There was a protest going on at the only place where we could see the White House so I had to take pictures holding the camera over my head and just praying for a decent shot.

We wanted to visit the Lincoln Memorial but when we got there we saw this:

Where did all these people come from?!?! 

So we decided to skip the Lincoln Memorial this trip and headed back to the house.

We found a peaceful park a few blocks away.

 We wanted to go to the Kennedy Center and listen to a Youth Jazz Ensemble so we went over to the Pentagon Memorial to burn a little time.

Each bench represents a person who died.

On our last day with John and Kathy, we had to do one of our favorite activities together: a morning walk and breakfast.  There was a wonderful walking path through a park near their house that we went.  These little yellow flowers happened to be blooming the weekend we were there as well so it was absolutely gorgeous.

Derek and Caroline playing piano at John and Kathy's.  We need a piano!

We had a wonderful trip and cannot thank John and Kathy enough for being great hosts.  We really enjoyed our trip and look forward to seeing them again!