Washington, D.C.: Day 1

Ryan has been working for the last 2 years on getting his CPCU for Insurance (like a CPA for accountants). He read 8 text books (seriously--cover to cover!), took and passed 8 lengthy exams, and Liberty Mutual rewarded him (and me!) BIG TIME for all his hard work and dedication. They flew us all-expenses paid (I know, disgusting!) for 5 nights to Washington, D.C.! It was a conference for Insurance guys and gals across the country to come to and for the families to tag along. We opted for the kiddos NOT to come with us,  so we cannot say thank you enough to our parents for trading off the kiddos for 6 days so we could have one of the best vacations ever! And thanks to our neighbors Stan and Dianne for keeping our 4-legged child! :)

Before I continue, let me warn you. This is going to be overly detailed. I know nobody wants to know every detail of this trip, but I want to document while it's fresh on my mind so I can remember everything we did! So if you want to take this journey with me, read on... :)

We flew out of Chattanooga after dropping the kiddos off and were SO EXCITED for a few days just the 2 of us! It was a super short direct flight--1 1/2 hours! Now everytime we travel from Knoxville to Chattanooga we can say, "Hey, we could be in Washington, D.C. by now!" :)

Our hotel was near a quaint little eating spot that had outdoor seating called "Open City." Let me just stop here and say the weather was UNBELIEVABLE. So we ate outside Thursday night, and had such a great experience we went back Friday morning! Ryan wanted to document his Eggs Benedict with Salmon and Avacado. :)

Friday was my 30th Birthday! What a way to spend my b'day, huh!?

We started the day walking around the National Mall.

Washington Monument:

I haven't been to D.C. since my Junior Year of High School, and I totally remember taking this picture. I'll have to dig it back up to compare. :)

Let me please talk about the best App to get on any trip. It's called Autostitch, and thanks to Ryan's buddy Lon, we knew about it before we left. We used it the entire trip. You take separate pictures and it "stitches" the pictures together like a panoramic picture. Holy cow, how cool is this!?

My sad attempt:

World War II Memorial:

We found out that many designs for this memorial were rejected because it blocked the view from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial. So that is why it is so open in the middle.

Autostitch:

Washington Monument from WWII:

Ryan's Grandfather Bruce served in WWII and went in right after D-Day, so this picture was important to him!

 Lincoln Memorial from WWII Memorial:

 

Lincoln Memorial:

 Washington Monument and Reflecting Pool from Lincoln Memorial:

Spot where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his "I have a dream" speech. So amazing to stand here!!

(You can see "I have a dream" etched in the steps.)

Since it was just the 2 of us we did a lot of self portraits or just 1 of us in the pictures!

Natural History Museum:

This pic was for our elephant-lover Henley Jane!

I was so excited for this museum because of Night at the Museum starring this guy!

They had a photography exhibit--obviously my favorite! And Ryan's, too!

There was an insect and arachnid section--sponsored by Orkin! Haha!!

View from 2nd floor:

 

They had a gem exhibit with some unbelievable diamonds. I am not a diamond girl, but there were some girls "Ooh"ing and "Aahh"ing the whole time! :) Apparently the world's largest diamond is here.

They had a display from the recent trapped miners from October of 2010. I remember watching these men being rescued one by one when I was up throughout the night with 1-week-old Henley Jane. This is a checklist of all their names--it looks to me like someone checked each name off as they came to the surface! It was in a glass case but didn't have an explanation:

Whale exhibit:

I am standing in front of a GIANT SQUID!

 The glare was hard to get a good pic, but it is HUGE!

This is a ginormous snake (Titanoboa) they found fossils of. It's eating an alligator, people!!! It said one huge meal could last them A YEAR.

 

We ended the day eating at a fancy smancy restaurant called Bourbon Steak in the Four Seasons hotel!

The Manager had a birthday card for me when we got to the restaurant (wow!) and a fun dessert with a candle. What a 30th birthday!

After dinner, we stopped at a Starbucks with wifi to video chat with the kiddos. This was Henley's pitiful reaction when she saw us!

Lots more to come later this week!