Touring DC Continued!

Before I start working all day, I wanted to make sure I got to explore the city!  Here are tidbits from my adventures:

Day 1-

Walked through the Supreme Court building and learned a little bit more about how the Supreme Court works and it's history.  Also took a tour of the capital from the infamous Vaughn Wehr (works in Senator Fisher's office).  She also helped me set up my itinerary for the week, I would have never gotten to see so much if it wasn't for her.  If anyone is planning on going to DC I definitely recommend contacting her, she gives AMAZING tours!  I never realized how big the capital is and how easy it is to get lost!  I am so glad my internship is not there!  

After touring the capital, I went to get a burger and shake from Good Stuff Eatery.  One of the best burgers and shakes I have ever had! (I didn't take a picture of my own but this looks pretty close!)

Once I scarfed down my lunch it was time to see the original Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights at the National Archives.  I was amazed how good those documents looked for how old they are!  I have papers I saved from high school that have already faded a lot worse!  Not only did the National Archives have these historical documents to view but also had a lot of other cool items from throughout history that were neat to see.  I know my mom would have loved to have seen Laura Ingalls Wilder's original family land grant document!  After this, I was able to walk around the National Mall before heading to see the Smithsonian Botanical Gardens.

I couldn't believe how many flowers they have here that I have never even heard of!  I was also surprised that I recognized a lot of the flowers and breeds from my floral design class that I took this past year.

At this point, I was all toured out and ready to relax.  Time for a baseball game!  The Washington Nationals played their rival from an hour away, the Baltimore Orioles!  I couldn't believe that I literally walked off of the metro and there were HUGE tailgates set up.  It was awesome to see, especially for a Tuesday night!  The atmosphere was really fun even though a storm was on its way and started sprinkling a little bit before the game was supposed to start.  There was a huge beer garden set up with a bunch of backyard games... Lincoln bars take note- this would be perfect for Husker game days!

As soon as I got inside the stadium the weather corrupted.  A serious storm cell had developed almost exactly around the stadium and it felt like we were in the middle of a hurricane!  The game was postponed but all of the fans were worried that we had all bought tickets to a game that was about to be cancelled.  Luckily, about an hour later the cell moved on and the game was set to go!  This was my very first MLB baseball game!  I have been to Husker baseball games and Lincoln Saltdogs games and even College World Series baseball games but never a pro baseball game.  It was A LOT of fun, especially watching the President's race!

....And this super fan!

Even though I had some barbecue at the game, after the Nationals came out with a dominant win I was ready for a snack.  So we headed to the famous Ben's Chili Bowl. Ben's Chili Bowl is a regular hot spot for Bill Cosby and a MUST SEE place on almost all of the tour guides.  I am not a chili fan at all (ewwwwww!!!!) and I was not very excited to go to this restaurant.  Here we are on the East Coast, close to all of this fresh seafood and neat places to eat and where am I going?  To get chili :(  But much to my surprise it was actually really good.  I think I liked it because of all of the nacho cheese and because the chili didn't have beans (YUCK!)

Looks so tasty doesn't it?!

Day 2-
I have always heard that the Holocaust Museum is one of the best in the country and growing up I had a special interest in this time period.  I have read tons and tons of books about this time period so I was interested in exploring the museum.  The museum took me all day to get through and definitely left an impression on me.  Trying to comprehend how many innocent people lost their lives during this dark period in our history is almost impossible.  I think everyone should go through this museum sometime in their life.  After spending the entire day reading sad and depressing stories, I needed something to cheer me up so I headed to Georgetown!  Working for Discovery (and TLC), I had to check out one of my company's biggest show's cupcake shop, Georgetown Cupcake!

I got the chocolate ganache and the oreo cupcake and let me tell you....mmmmm they were soooooo good!

After getting my cupcakes I was ready to shop!  We walked through the many, many neat shops in Georgetown before walking along the Harbour.  That night we ate at a restaurant called Farmers Fishers Bakers which is owned by the North Dakota Farmer's Union.  It was amazing!  I highly recommend it to anyone planning on traveling to the area and I plan on going to eat there again before I leave!

Day 3-

The Newseum has been voted as one of the top museums in the country, and I agree!  When you purchase a ticket to the Newseum your ticket is valid for two days and trust me you will need it!  We spent half a day at the Newseum before heading to the Library of Congress and then went back to the Newseum the next day to finish up.  There is a 4-D movie through time at the Newseum along with a lot of cool and interactive exhibits that will make it so you may want to even come back a third day!

The Library of Congress is another "must see" if you are in the area.  After visiting Monticello, it was really cool to see Thomas Jefferson's books that are on exhibit there along with the hundreds of other ancient and historical books.  The architecture is just as cool as the book collection, and our tour guide even showed us a painting in which the feet followed you across the room (similar to Mona Lisa's eyes!)

Unfortunately, the Washington Monument is closed due to work being done to it after being damaged from an earthquake so we went to the old Post Office building.  The views of the city were amazing!

After having a quick dinner, we walked to see all of the monuments at night.  The monuments look neat during the day but look totally different at night.  It was fun to step away from museums for a bit and just enjoy the rich culture of the city.

Day 4-
Like I mentioned before, I had to go back to the Newseum to get through everything before checking out other Smithsonian Museums around DC.  One of my favorite exhibits I got to see was the original flag that was sewn that inspired "The Star Spangled Banner".  I also really enjoyed walking through The First Lady exhibit which went through the history of the fashion trends of all of the First Ladies of the United States of America.  After a few hours I could not look at another exhibit or read any more so I set off to Alexandria!

I fell in love!  I loved this historical little town with a vast number of small specialty/boutique shops.  The architecture is so unique and historical and we even found some roads that are still made of uneven cobblestone!  Ate dinner at The Wharf, which had FANTASTIC fresh seafood.  I will never get sick of having fresh seafood I have decided :) Of course I had room for dessert to get some home-made ice cream and Pop's Ice Cream Shop.  At the end of the night, I took a ghost tour of Alexandria to get another look at the history of this cute town and have already planned my next trip to come back!

I never thought I would say this but I am officially exhausted and tired of being a tourist (at least for now!)  I am really looking forward to my official first day of my internship!