D.C. sleeps alone tonight

n o r t h  c a r o l i n a

we left my aunt's house and drove to North Carolina and went to a few thrift stores. we met up with a friend and went to QT, ate dinner and hung out.
 

v i r g i n i a

after our short time in NC we left for Virginia and stayed at a hotel in Richmond.

the next day we took the metro into Washington D.C. we had both never been there before and we knew we wouldn't have enough time to do everything we wanted but we were still excited to see it. we went to the National Mall and walked to the Capitol Building first.

 

we saw the Washington Monument next. each monument is separated by large grass fields and there were a ton of people everywhere. I am not sure if it is always that busy or if it was because it was memorial day weekend.

 we went to the White House and there were people lined up outside the gate to take pictures. we were there only 5 minutes when the security guards began yelling for everyone to keep moving on the sidewalk past the gates. I think it was because someone was entering the White House but it was too far away to see.

we walked around taking everything in.

there was a country band playing in front of the Lincoln Memorial and so there were people all over the steps. if we were there longer we would have gone back when it wasn't so crowded.

 

 

we went to the National Archives and saw the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution and other important historical documents. the oldest document we saw was the Magna Carta from 1297. we also went to the American history museum next. all of the museums are free there and we wanted to take advantage of it.

 I had to wear my vintage Capitol Records sweater in front of the Capitol :)

 they had a memorial celebration at the Capitol that evening and the lawn was full of people.

that night we walked along King Street in old town Alexandria looking at all the cute shops.
the next day was memorial day and we went back to the National mall. we went to the Jefferson Memorial and a few more museums.

 

it actually wasn't too crazy being there on Memorial day. they had parades on the streets around the National mall and most of the crowds were lined up watching. we went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and then took the metro back to our car. D.C. was one of Jason's favorite places and he was drooling at all the history and museums. I feel like we saw a lot in our short time there but we could have easily spent a whole week there.