Brzycki family: Trip to DC - Our Adventure Begins

Friday, May 9, 2014

Trip to DC - Our Adventure Begins

Dan and I decided we wanted to take a trip over a long weekend and we decided on Washington DC. Dan had never been there, it was something we talked about doing when he was younger but never did, and I had only been once in high school and I remember more about hanging out with my friends, then actually seeing DC!

So we decided we would go as a combination Mother's Day/Dan's birthday gift.

On Thursday evening, May 9th, I drove out to Dan's apartment after work. We then left Friday morning, taking the T from Waban into Logan. We then flew from Logan to Reagan National Airport. The direct flight from Logan was less expensive than taking a train and they had flights to/from about every hour, so it was also very convenient.

Leaving Waban

We had a short list of those things we definitely wanted to do/see. Obviously, the various monuments and Dan secured tickets for tours at the Bureau of Printing and Engraving for Friday and a Capitol tour on Saturday. Our only other plan was The Pentagon and Arlington Cemetery on Sunday. Otherwise, our schedule was pretty flexible which we both liked.

Arriving at Reagan National Airport

When we arrived at Reagan Airport, we took the Metro to our hotel. We stayed at the Hampton Inn on H street--a block from the Metro and 2 blocks from the White House. Good price, easy access to everything, and continental breakfast included. Once we checked our bags, we headed out to begin our adventure of DC.

First stop was the White House. We then walked across The Ellipse to the Washington Monument. We then had time to kill before our tour at the Bureau of Printing and Engraving so we walked up to Federal Triangle and found a nice restaurant, Aria's, to sit and have a nice lunch at. Did I mention that it was like 85 degrees? After lunch we then made our way to the Bureau of Printing and Engraving. When we first decided to go to DC, this was on our "must do" list and we weren't disappointed. It was very interesting.

We then headed down towards the Tidal Basis. We thought about paddle boats, but it was hot out and the Basin was MUCH bigger than I had thought. In fact, DC was much larger than it looked on maps. I thought we could easily walk here and there. And we did, but distances were much greater than originally thought.

So we skipped the paddle boats and instead walked over to the Jefferson Monument. While there, we sat and watched the Presidential helicopter take off from the White House. We hung out and did some people watching, watched planes landing at Reagan, and hoped to see the helicopter return with the President that didn't happen.

We then headed back towards our hotel stopping at the World War II Memorial on our way. One thing we learned quickly is that there are no places to eat around the White House/National Mall (unless you want an ice cream from a truck). So we continued our walk north through Foggy Bottom and happened upon a pizza joint (Custom Fuel) just a block from our hotel. There we picked up two custom, personal-sized brick oven pizzas and took those back to our hotel room. After all the traveling and walking around on Day 1, we were exhausted and so had our pizza and crashed early that evening.