Washington DC Visit October 2015

Good Afternoon!

I am seemingly behind on posting or at least as far as what I thought I had already posted. I wrote last week about our trip to Annapolis, Maryland and I thought I had also posted about the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia but apparently the latter never happened! I think I will come back later this week with that one as well as our trip this weekend to Colonial Williamsburg!

So if you were around last week you know that we went to Annapolis, Maryland and I believe I mentioned on Halloween Day we went to Washington, DC. We have been to DC before and toured around the monuments and all that good stuff, and just a few weeks ago we went into downtown DC just to go to the Gap and we did a little walking around.

If you are planning a trip to DC you should know that it really is walking friendly but there is SO MUCH to see! If you only have a few days in DC than I highly recommend spending one day using a trolley tour to make the most of your time. We used Old Town Trolley because that's the trolley company we tend to use in all places that we visit. All of the tour guides that we had were absolutely fantastic and not only is this a great time saver but you also get a ton of additional history about many buildings throughout the DC area and all the random statues and their significance.

Once you purchase your trolley tour ticket you can get on and off the trolley at your leisure at all the designated stops and spend as much time as you like at each place. I believe the trolley picks up and drops off every half hour. If you choose to only visit the places you stop on the trolley tour you will see a ton!

If you have never been to DC before, whether you are an American or not it is absolutely worth seeing! The history is amazing, there is so much to see and learn. I have been twice now to all the monuments and learned the history and I cant wait to go back again. Jason and I are planning this winter to take advantage of all the museums there and of course the Smithsonian! Visiting DC is absolutely time and money well spent!

Here are some pictures I took on our tour this most recent visit!

The buildings throughout the city are absolutely beautiful, and fall is a really wonderful time to visit! 

DC train station. 

The Capitol as you can see if surrounded my scaffolding, it has been like this since 2011 when it sustained structural damage from an earthquake, at this point they are saying it will not be completed until early 2017. 

View of the Washington Monument from the steps of the Capitol. 

One side of the Jefferson Memorial. 

U.S Marine Corps War Memorial - Iwo Jima Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial

The Reflecting Pool & Washington Monument from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

The Lincoln Memorial, Lincoln himself! This statue is 19 feet I believe, its massive. 

During our time out in DC we noticed a TON of veterans out and about with care givers and such. It turns out they were there for a tribute at the Korean War Memorial. Most of the veterans we were seeing were from that war and were there for the tribute. It was wonderful to see all of these brave souls and thank them for their service. My grandfather served in the Korean War for the Americans, although he couldn't have been there obviously, I felt he was in spirit. 

The Korean War Memorial is absolutely amazing. 

I feel we visited at the perfect time, the weather was absolutely perfect and the area was in full autumn wonder! The colors were absolutely amazing! 

Entrance into the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. 

The White House. 

A not so fabulous Panoramic of the World War II Memorial. Jason and I have pictures we took here years ago, it was really nice to go back. 

I think the pictures speak for themselves, DC is absolutely a trip to make! I don't think you have to be an American to appreciate all it has to offer. There are a ton of places to eat there, lots of shops, basically anything you would hope for in a city you can find in DC as well as all the historical monuments and museums. All of the museums linked to the Smithsonian are also free which is pretty amazing! Everything is open 364 days a year as well, minus Christmas Day! 

If you are planning a trip to DC and have any questions I would be happy to help, as I said I highly recommend the trolley tour to maximize what you would see if you don't have a lot of time. 

I hope you all had a great weekend, thank you so much for stopping by! Although last week we had one day in the 80s our weather seems to have taken a turn and we are looking to get into some real November weather! I am currently in wool socks, a massive sweater and drinking a hot tea! 

And on that note if you are anywhere close to a Trader Joe's go and get yourself some Vanilla Cinnamon black tea, its in a blue box (I'll see if I can include a picture) because its basically like drinking a piece of cake, and it smells amazing too!! You're welcome!! 

Looks like you can purchase the tea HERE on Amazon if you don't have a Trader Joe's near by!

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Have a great day!!! 

Annapolis Maryland!

Good Afternoon,

Two days in a row.. that's basically a record around here lately. Truth be told I am forcing myself to write this post and mostly because this blog started as a way to keep family and friends updated on our life because we are always so far away but also so I have a record of our lives, in print.. so I can go back and remember all the amazing adventures we have had together. No its not all about that around here but somewhat and I don't want to look back one day and wish that I had written about something and didn't. Lets be honest my memory is crap so the odds of me remembering every little thing is extremely unlikely.. so here I am.

Last Friday Jason got off work early and we headed to Annapolis, Maryland which is somewhere we have never been. When you think about Annapolis you probably think about the United States Naval Academy which is located there, but what you probably don't think about is the beautiful cobblestone streets, the old homes and being right on the ocean! This place is BEAUTIFUL and I already cant wait to get back!

We didn't really have a plan in going, we just wanted to tour around, definitely see the Naval Academy and have dinner. Word to the wise, find underground parking, type that into your GPS before heading out and make that your destination. Annapolis is full of super small streets with absolutely no parking, don't bother messing around it with.. honestly!

We toured around for quite some time, taking in all the sites and just enjoying the absolutely beautiful scenery!

 I apologize for the darkness of these pictures, I was having camera issues but as you can see I fixed them after this last pictures and things look a lot better. 

The waterfront here is absolutely beautiful, is is quite expansive with a great boardwalk to enjoy. Walking along the water took us right up to the United States Naval Academy which we were really excited to see. We like to do a lot of historical things and we knew this campus was old and would be absolutely incredible. 

In order to get on the grounds you do have to go through security, it wasn't airport security or anything just show them your picture ID and go through a metal detector. The grounds are absolutely beautiful, the buildings are old and breath taking. You can read more about the campus HERE. I highly recommend taking a look at the information. 

This field was MASSIVE!!!!

The campus is amazing and absolutely worth exploring, it was an amazing fall outing with a history lesson all in one. The campus was bustling with students wearing their "beat army" shirts which was hilarious. I think this would be an amazing place to go to school that's for sure. 

After our tour the wind was really howling and we were all really hungry so we decided to grab dinner. There are many MANY places to choose from when it comes to food and drinks in the area but we decided on The Federal House Bar & Grille which was established in 1830, the place was a fabulous mix of old and historic with new and modern twist! The food was fabulous and very reasonably priced! 

After dinner we were stuffed and decided to head to the truck as it was dark anyways. The drive home was a lot better than the drive there.. city traffic, I tell ya! Overall it was a great place and totally worth visiting, although we saw a lot I definitely cant wait to go back and explore a little more, or just spend a quite afternoon enjoying the scenery! 

If you every get a chance to visit Annapolis Maryland than I highly recommend you do so! 

I am off to make my hubby a big birthday dinner, Jason doesn't care much for eating out and we did a bunch of that this past weekend so I am making all his favorites for dinner and then we are curling up on the couch to watch the CMA's. Were so old, aren't we? 

I hope you are all having a great day, thank you as always for stopping by!!