a day in DC

I guess you can have somethin' nice. This past Saturday, Mark and I took a day trip to Washington, DC.

Here was the deal: I had Thursday off due to a snow day. I spent the day feverishly cleaning, grocery planning, doing laundry and ironing (gag, cough, gag). The results? tired wife. bored weiner dog. happy husband...and a weekend on the horizon free of domestic duties !! AND since the new house that we now live in doesn't require regular maintenance or remodeling--we were FREE to do what we want to do on Saturday !

We did a little research and decided to take the metro into the city and wing it from there. The metro is cheap and the museums are free so it was up our alley--not to mention, I wouldn't describe Mark or I as particularly patient people (like that alliteration?) when it comes to traffic or driving in cities. Saturday AM we laced up our sneakers, dropped the wiener off with Uncle Seth and Aunt Katy and cousin Beagle Bailey, and headed to DC. The GPS took us to the Branch Ave station where we easily parked our park in the snowy parking lot (for free on the weekends!), bought $9/ea day passes for the metro and hopped on.

We decided that since we live near DC, we will come often enough to do the sites slowly. Not to mention it was FREEZING (literally, about 34 degrees and snow everywhere) so we wanted to do something inside. We hopped of the metro at Federal Station and popped up right by one of the buildings named for Ronald Reagan. What a great man...anyways...we decided to go see the Museum of American History. We are Americans and thought it would be personal and cool. After a half hearted purse search by a tired security guard, we made our way in.

What to see first? Mark was instantly drawn to huge steam engines and light bulbs made by Thomas Edison. I wanted to see Julia Childs kitchen and a whole display of American First Lady Inaugural dresses. So, we compromised. We saw both. For hours and hours, we looked around displays about 1950's bomb shelters, pop culture, the American President, the US military, the Civil War, and the list goes on. It was great! After a brief hiatus for lunch- at Potbelly Sandwich shop http://www.potbelly.com/Home/Default.aspx we made our way back to the same museum for more. We saw the actual:

• flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner
• Lincoln's top hat
• Michelle Obama's inaugural ball gown and Jimmy Choo shoes
• the chairs that Grant and Lee sat in at Appomatox Court house
• Julia Childs kitchen
• Edisons journal
• the gold nugget found at Sutters Mill that started the gold rush
• George Washingtons a)hair, b) field telescope, c) general's coat

and more. Wouldn't want to tell you everything, Go SEE it for YOURSELF!!!

We got kicked out of the museum at 5:30--I was trying to steal the Jimmy Choo's--just kidding, the museum closed and we had to find somewhere to get out of the cold and grab something to eat. After a quick bit of research on Yelp! and Urbanspoon, we decided on Logan Circle. A quick Metro ride later we popped up on 14th. A cold, snowy, windy walk later we made our way to Logans Tavern (after a failed attempt at Churchkey http://www.churchkeydc.com/) ...it was good. We weren't too hungry after our potbelly sandwiches so we went for a light dinner. Appetizer was fried green tomatoes with peach relish *YUM* , then we shared a spinach salad with candied nuts and orange vinagrette, and each had a cup of soup- Clam Chowder for Mark and Crab Bisque for me.

A quick stop by KKD (Krispy Kreme Donuts) for Mark to get his fix and a half dozen donuts (they don't sell them here in MD), we were headed back to Branch Ave via the greenline train. About an hour and a half later we were home with Roscoe. Toured, Tired, Thrilled...it was definitely something nice.