Kyoo 169 - DC Five

And for the final days of my DC trip:

That's right. Enough said.


Just kidding. Ok, again, out of order, lots of pictures! This is my view from my perch in the Charlotte airport. Again, I cannot say enough how much I love this airport! It's every traveler's dream. I sat here for hours watching the planes come and go, listening to the live piano music, sitting next to a tree, and enjoying super fast Internet. And mouthwash in the bathrooms. I LOVE this airport.


And I was pretty proud of the fact that I got all my stuff shoved into a little carry-on suitcase and backpack. The backpack looks like it's stuffed but that's just cause there's a big pillow stuffed in it. Ok, so it is stuffed, but really, I packed light. That's saying a lot for me. And it was soooo nice to have that pillow on the plane.


Imitating a statue.


Morgan and I wandered into a Barnes and Noble on our way back to the hotel Monday night and stayed for quite a while reading books from the comedy section and laughing our eyes dry.


The Old Post Office Pavillion! We played around in here for a little while and did some souvenir shopping. And ate greek food (documented below).


Just kidding, there's more. Here, we have quite the frieze dedicated to "Cereals". Gotta love the US Department of Agriculture. There was more to it but the focal point clearly is two naked (men???) supporting a shield for "Cereals". I didn't see the other sides of the building but my curiosity certainly is piqued. What's on those other sides? Shields for beans, carrots, and milk? The fact that there's only 4 sides on this building is kind of restricting if they were trying to represent all the food groups.

It's raining!!! I love rain.


Also from our (short) visit to the USDA, here's me taking off my belt. Well, Morgan's belt. I forgot mine at home and she was ever so kind to let me borrow her one and only for the whole trip. Anywho, my dad works for the USDA so naturally he was attracted to their advertised visitor's center. So, we go in the building, they make me go through this whole ordeal to get in where I have to take off my belt and empty my purse and more fun stuff, and when we get there, the visitor's center is nothing more than a small room with pictures of crops on the wall. I got into the Archives building to see the Declaration of Independence easier! I guess better safe than sorry, right?


My dad was in his conference on this day so Morgan and I set off to explore as much of DC as we could cram into one day. We played around at the botanical gardens for a while and had quite the time filming Steve Irwin-like episodes of the many plants we discovered. The Lipstick plant was definitely one of our favorite names. Along with Fruffles, Princess Astrid, and the Golden Polypody. Hehe. Pody. Like potty.

*covering mouth to stifle giggles*


Morgan relaxing by the reflecting pool of the Capitol. Kind of a fun place to hang. Especially with the ducks!!!


The museum of journalism. Or something like that. I can't remember the exact name. But outside of the museum they post the front page of every capital city's main newspaper. So here's us with Nebraska's Lincoln Journal Star! The same paper I delivered with my mom for a while way back when. Fond memories.


And, for Miss Swan, the Canadian Embassy!!! I went to a lot of effort to get video footage of the moment and, when I went to upload it that night, I realized that I didn't push the 'record' button through all of it. But, it was going to be good. I was playing "O Canada" on my phone and getting some cool angles of the building and the flag. But, alas, I guess it was not to be. I'm sure you can picture the looks I was getting from passer-bys though! Miss Swan, I did try.


It's an airplane coffin! Part of me thought it was kind of cool and the other part of me was a little disturbed.


We ate greek food for dinner at the Old Post Office. I wish I could upload the video from this but Morgie has it. It's up on her facebook if you're really interested. The slimy green thing I'm holding (I think it was called dolmas) was weird. Not horrible but certainly different. And the gyro was amazing!

We also spent a good chunk of time in the Holocaust Memorial Museum and that was a huge eye-opener. It's very in-depth. You're definitely exposed to stuff they can't put in textbooks. I still can't fully comprehend it. We walked out of there pretty sober.

On our final day in DC, Morgie and I ran the National Mall. It was awesome! We started at the Washington Monument, headed up to say hi to the Lincoln Memorial, wove our way over to the Jefferson Memorial (gorgeous!), and then on over to the Capital and back to the White House area. It was quite a run! Especially for fat old me. But I made it. We finished with big bowls of oatmeal from our favorite restaurant on the trip: Brown Bag! They had an oatmeal bar that still has me on an oatmeal kick. I love oatmeal right now.

It was kind of hard to say bye to my dad and Morgan. We were separated abruptly at security and got sent off into different terminals without realizing that we couldn't reach each other from the separate terminals. My gate was one away from being in their terminal too! So, I just had to say goodbye over the phone instead of giving them a hug. But, Thanksgiving isn't too far away so I'll get to see them soon. And I'll be up in Provo in a couple weeks with USAA and will get to spend time with Morgie!

And that rounds out my DC trip! Fun times.

Have a great day :)