The Long Weekend

Sorry it's been a while since my last post! School has really picked up and we had our first midterm last Wednesday (Pathophysiology). Naturally, I used the four day weekend before our midterm to take a trip down south to visit one of my best friends in DC!

Sitting in Adult and Elder class listening to Professor Ea describe pressure ulcers. Awesome stuff if you're into grotesque horror movies! 

Lovely aren't they??

I woke up really early in Times Square and watched the sunrise as I made my way to Megabus (a bus that goes back and forth between NYC & DC).

These were so tempting but I refrained...

The bus was an hour late due to a "pile up in the tunnel" which meant I could've slept in. But hey! it's all part of the experience i guess.. It was a freezing morning but luckily I had some interesting conversation with the strangers standing in line with me and eventually I managed to sleep on the 4-hour ride.

It was so good to see Stefanie!! We went wandering around the city, made all the more convenient by the fact that she lives right down the street from the Lincoln Memorial and all of the other monuments. 

Georgetown was my favorite. In a lot of ways it reminded me of London. There are tons of brick walk-ups and cute little stores with preppy patrons meandering down the streets. 

 

It was pretty cold out but it made for some beautiful scenery.

I couldn't get the scenes from Forrest Gump out of my head. For that reason, I was feeling really nostalgic for the '70's, hippies, peace, love.. the works.

 

 Stef was telling me that our friends Eily & Eddie brought pennies with them to the Lincoln Memorial, placed them in different spots & watched people's reactions while they picked them up from the ground. Sort of candid camera Lincoln-style, wished I had thought of that!

Proud of the nurses who volunteered their services during the war.

Stef and I decided that the Korean War Memorial was one of our favorites, pretty realistic and powerful.

 

There were a ton of geese flying around in V's. Pretty majestic creatures if you ask me. Although I thought they were supposed to migrate South for the winter, no? 

Being in our nation's capital definitely made me feel proud to be an American and made me feel really grateful to live in such a beautiful nation. Having the freedom to pursue whatever dreams it is we have for ourselves is truly a blessing.

Stef and I were feeling especially like proud Californians :)

I was sort of nonplused with the World War II Memorial. The fountains are turned off during the winter so that the water won't freeze.

This encapsulated stroller-looking contraption seemed like an incredibly fun way to see the sights..

Horeseback would've been cool too:

We went over to Obama's house to check out the front lawn. I was surprised at how small the house seemed, TV makes everything look bigger.. 

We checked out the Smithsonian Craft Museum which had some beautiful paintings.

Isn't Georgetown adorable?!

Stef and I stopped into Martin's Tavern for some eggs, sausage, pancakes & clam chowder, weird combo but sometimes it just feels right. This was the spot where JFK proposed to Jackie.

 

Drinks also happened..

Then we made our way over to Georgetown Cupcakes since I had to see what all of the fuss was about. Long line, but the promise of a good cupcake kept me hanging in there.

Katherine and Sophie weren't around, my dreams were crushed.

 

Cupcakessssssss

 

After some debate over a strawberry champagne cupcake or a salted caramel one,I was boring and opted for the red velvet. It's my go-to cupcake flavor of choice and I figured I could do a serious assessment of how it compared to the other great red velvets I've had in the past.  

Moist, buttery frosting, nice looking swirl, edible heart decoration, it got a thumbs up! 

There was iceskating near the river.

Such a goober pose, haha.

There happened to be a Climate Change protest going on while we wandered by the Washington Monument. It was kinda fun watching everyone get all riled up! I was tempted to join in but we had to get to the American History Museum. That, and I had no idea what they were so riled up about. Need to educate.

 

The most enjoyable exhibit was all about food of course. It took you through all of the different American food trends in the last century.

 

We saw Julia Child's kitchen which then had me thinking about Julie & Julia. I guess everything in my mind relates back to one movie or another!

 Nice and easy -Bright and gay- that's the CALIFORNIA WAY of Entertaining!

I also really enjoyed an exhibit featuring all of the first lady's inaugural ball gowns. It just amazes me how labor intensive it must have been to sew on each one of those little flower/beading dilly-do's..

Nancy Regan's was my favorite, I'd love to have an occasion to wear this little number to:

In my opinion Hillary had the best taste in White House china:

Jewelsssssss

You can barely see it in the photo but this was the first ever flag created:

Overall DC was a very different ball of wax than NYC. I'm not sure what I was expecting but I think that maybe because it was winter and freezing outside that it felt like there weren't that many people around. It was really nice to have the open space and to be able to breathe in the fresh air and scenery. It's also always great to get to catch up with old friends. I enjoyed getting to meet Stef's roommate Christina and we had plenty of girl talk and food which are a couple of my favorite things!

Also, for some reason I'm always really impressed with myself when I manage to make it to an unfamiliar destination without any major dilemmas like getting stranded with no food, shelter or water (not dramatic or anything). So the fact that I made it to DC with these things still intact was a success in and of itself! Hooray! It was a great weekend and I'm so appreciative that Stefanie was such a great host. I got some much needed relaxation time in.

I'll leave you with a picture of the Space Mountain ride DC folks refer to as the "subway". 

Ciao mon ami!

Pipes