More From Washington, D.C.

I know this is nowhere near dressage or endurance related, but traveling is my second favorite thing to do after riding. This is the last DC post, I promise!

We saw and did so many things while in DC. We're goers and doers so we don't usually hang out in the hotel relaxing. Sometimes I wish we could, but neither of us can sit still for very long. 

Most days, we got up early and had breakfast on the run while we explored the city. We usually got back to the room in the late afternoon with just enough time for a quick freshen up before we were off to dinner and more "stuff."

First night in DC - White House

The Cherry Blossom Festival was in full swing. There were probably close to a million people out on the Mall over the weekend. I have never been in such a crowd in my life. This shot doesn't show the hoards of people, but it does show the aftermath. We came back to this spot later in the week and were pleased to see the grass litter free.

This is the top of the White House. The little glassed area to our right is a guard "shack." It was a little creepy knowing that he was watching us take pictures of HIM watching US!

The White House during the day. If you look closely you can see the guard on the roof to the left.

The Library of Congress

The Main Reading Room at the Library of Congress - they filmed parts of National Treasure (with Nicholas Cage) in this room.

Every square inch of the Library is decorated with some piece of artwork that is both symbolic and beautiful. This is one of the painted ceilings.

The lecture in the Supreme Court was a highlight of the trip. It was utterly fascinating to sit in front of those nine chairs and hear about what those justices do.

Watching the Changing of the Guard at Arlington National Cemetery was a very moving experience. I would highly recommend it.

The Lincoln Memorial was quite impressive.

Since it was POURNG rain, we had the Vietnam War Memorial completely to ourselves. It was a little eerie seeing that black wall with no one else there. I love this shot of my husband standing at the wall with his reflection staring back. (He's not a hunchback; that's his backpack.)

It took us four tries to get to the Jefferson Memorial! It was either too crowded, raining, or too far. We did finally make it, and the walk was worth it.

The columns from the "round" part of the Jefferson Memorial.

The World War II Memorial was one of my favorite places. It was just so vibrant and beautiful. Each state and territory is represented on the pillars you see across the fountain.

We went to the ballet at the Kennedy Center. The Washington monument is visible to the left, and the Lincoln Memorial to the right.

This is my favorite photo from the whole trip: us in front of the Capitol Building after our congressional tour.

On our last night in the city, we went to a Nationals/Cardinals baseball game. Hubby got us great tickets!!!!!

The crowd is just starting to roll in.

We saw a lot of the Metro. It was much cheaper than taxis and usually quicker.

I took a zillion more photos of many other places, but you get the idea. Some places didn't allow photos (like the National Archives) and other places were so crowded that getting good photos was hard (the Smithsonian). 

We had sunburn days, rainy days, and "polar vortex" days. The weather in California isn't quite that volatile! We also ate at MANY awesome restaurants. We never had a bad meal; everything was absolutely delicious. I loved the public transportation, something we sorely lack here in California, but Hubby found it depressing.

We were also surprised at how friendly everyone was. Tourist, resident, waiter, it didn't matter. Everyone was friendly and helpful. We find that many people outside of California find Californians to be rude, so we try very hard to change that perception. Maybe that's why we found everyone to be so polite. :0)

Looking forward to our next vacation …