Thursday, June 6, 2013

Blisters, Sunburn, and Delicious Food.

I didn't mean to wait until Thursday to post my trip recap, but getting back into the groove of things after a weekend away has proved to be much more difficult than I thought. While I had a fabulous time in DC this weekend, I am certainly still exhausted and am looking forward to having today off!

Friday morning we set off for NYC! We hopped on a commuter train and made our way to Penn Station to catch our Amtrak train to DC. I had never traveled via Amtrak before and have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised. While Penn Station isn't the nicest of facilities, the train was a whole different story. The wide seats were MUCH more comfortable than any airline I've ever flown on, and the free wifi and multiple outlets at each seat made this trip more than bearable. The 3 1/2 ride flew by, and before I knew it, we were meeting my little (sorority) sister at Union Station. Thankfully, she was there to walk us through using the Metro, and getting us to our hotel (we stayed at the Crowne Plaza (Hamilton Hotel) which was absolutely amazing!!). We checked in and didn't waste a minute before heading out to sight see.

Before dinner on Friday we stopped by the White House;


And Ford's Theatre;

And finally met up with other friends at Matchbox in Chinatown. We ordered fruity cocktails and spent a few hours catching up and enjoying each other's company with delicious pizza. I had a yummy chicken pesto and mozzarella pizza which I still cannot stop thinking about. Being from New York I consider myself quite the pizza snob -- and this far surpassed anything I've ever had!


We stopped for ice cream before heading back to our hotel. We knew that we needed to get a good night's sleep since we had a full day ahead of us on Saturday.

That morning, we started off the day with iced coffee (thankfully there was a Starbucks conveniently located in our hotel lobby) and our first solo trip on the Metro. From the station, over the course of the day, we walked 7.3 miles, and (after forgetting to put on the sunscreen I purchased the night before) I ended the day with sunburns and blisters ALL OVER my feet.


We started off at the Lincoln Memorial;

Headed to the World War II Memorial;

And over to the Jefferson Memorial, and then uptown to meet my (sorority) big sister for lunch! Our concierge had recommended a place called Wicked Waffle on I street. He had us hooked when he mentioned that all of the sandwiches were served on Belgian Waffles. Um, hello, that is amazing! I hadn't seen my big in f.o.r.e.v.e.r (like 3ish years), and it was beyond fabulous to catch up! The three of us then walked to the Air and Space Museum to wander around there for a while. We were all exhausted, hot, and sunburnt (well, I was), so after only about an hour we called it a day.

(You can start to see the redness of my sunburn. What you can't see, is the burn where my cross body bag was. It's a real cute burn line now...)

We were exhausted, and really just needed a nap here...

P and I headed back to our hotel for a much needed nap before dinner. I of course also needed a shower and some aloe. Later that evening we headed to DuPont Circle for dinner at Front Page Grille. The five of us had a great time eating, drinking, and enjoying the awesome throwback 90's music that played over the speakers. The food and drinks were both very reasonable (especially for a restaurant in a big city) and the atmosphere was great.

I love just these girls!!!

We went to another bar, and by 1:30 I was exhausted. P and I walked my little to the Metro and then passed out. I don't think my head had hit the pillow before I was asleep. When I woke up on Sunday morning, I was sunburnt, my feet were blistered, and I was just kind of cranky. I'm sure P can attest to the fact that I wasn't super pleasant all day, but I still did have a great day with him.

We started off going to brunch at The Tombs in Georgetown. I don't think that I was ready for the long walk, the humidity, or the hills, but doing all that walking certainly left me feeling better about my decision to have Eggs Benedict for my meal. Since it was raining when we were finished, we took a cab to the Zoo and wandered around for a few hours before realizing that I was tired and cranky and needed a nap. The weather wasn't cooperating too much, so I don't think either one of us was too upset to head back to the hotel and nap before dinner.

When we woke up from our naps, it was a total downpour out, and we sprinted through the rain to Maddy's Bar and Grille for a quick dinner. It was early to bed since we had an early Amtrak train on Monday morning. We got back to the city and jumped on a train back to my house so that I could make it to work on time.

The weekend was utterly fabulous, and I definitely would love to go back and visit soon!
Where are your favorite places in DC?

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