ABB #3 - Day 1 & 2

{original date: 5/27/10-5/28/10}

Where to begin on our ABB #3? Our ABB's just get better and better! I love that we planned our wedding the day before Jonny's birthday, and that my birthday is after right after his. 3 days of pure bliss. I love that we look forward to our ABB every year and can't wait to plan out our adventure. This year we went to Washington DC! The trip was last minute planned due to not deciding where to go. Year #1- Park City, year #2- Moab, where to go next. We new we wanted to go out of state, had buddy passes from my Mom who gave them to Jonny as a graduation present- but where to go? After graduation and moving, and waiting for our jobs to come thru we knew we wouldn't have a lot to spend, and needed to go somewhere on the cheaper side. What's not cheap about free tours all day? Enter DC! We flew out on Jonny's birthday- he turned 27 on the 27th! He was so excited about that! Only happens once in your life- hope yours didn't pass. We got to DC about 9pm at night. Took a bus from the airport to the train station which would get us to Union Station. We looked up Union Station and mapped out our hotel (thanks Priceline.com- sweet room for 1/2 the price!) and figured it was only a few blocks, we'll just walk. When we got to the hotel we thought- good thing we made it here alive! What were we thinking? 2 tourist with lots of luggage wandering around DC at around 10pm at night- ya we were real smart. But we made it there safely, and I about died when I saw our hotel- so nice! We stayed at 'The Liaison'.

We were so tired when we got there, and starving! We ordered some Domino's Pizza, and after about an hour wait, our tab came out to be nearly $40. Where is a $5 pizza when you need one?
The next morning we woke up, got ready and geared up for a day of walking, sight seeing, and so much fun! Our day was packed! We had a list of things we wanted to do each day, and what we needed to go get tickets for etc. First thing we did was go thru the Mall and over to the Washington Monument. The line was already forever long and it didn't even open for another hour for tickets. So Jonny and I decided to split up so we could go get tickets for other things, and rush back here to get in line. At first I have to admit I was so nervous about this. Neither of us are very good at directions, and the thought of splitting up in a new city was not panning out well in my head. But we made it back to each other safely! We ended up waiting in line for the W.M., but as the day progressed and our ticket time grew closer we realized we weren't going to see much at the top with all the clouds, so we opted for another day to go up, and sadly never made it.
One of my tickets to get was the Bureau of Engraving and Printing tickets. We could have done this tour 10 times, it was so neat and so interesting and who doesn't love money? And boy did we see a lot of it! This is in the entry way of the museum waiting for your ticket time and a tour guide to lead you.
Learned so much about money, and the history of it and how it's made and distributed etc! For example, money is called 'notes's. Didn't know that. And so many more interesting facts- for sure look it up or better yet- go!



Ever wonder what 1 million dollars looks like in '10 dollar notes'?
Wala! It's crazy alot!


This is really where you can see the height difference from Jonny to me.

Next stop: Holocaust Museum. This was the tickets I was in charge of. Although I did find the right building, I didn't find the right side of the building. I must have looked so lost, a nice street security officer gave me 2 tickets he keeps stashed in his hat for times like this I am assuming. It was so nice! This tour really moved us. We just couldn't believe our history. When you walk in, they ask you to grab a passport, and that is who you will be the rest of the tour. They are all different and represent one person.
This tour took us the longest. There is so much to see and look at and ponder. Looking around and watching people was so amazing. Everyone was in silence and in awe of what they were seeing. Some of the artifacts/movies/pictures and stories were too much to take and you had to walk on by and try not to think of the horror these people went through. How lucky we are to be free in the country to live the way we want. This museum is very hard to go thru, but highly recommended.
Ok this is where I regret not getting this post up sooner than I did. Many pictures on here I don't remember what building they were, we only saw like 100! So forgive me in my lack of knowledge.
Double Decker bus! How fun are they! And the best way to get around a big city by far! No taxi's for us! We got a 2 day pass, and it worked out perfectly to see all of DC and get a little bit of background on what you were looking at by a tour guide shouting it from a microphone on the bus. And it was great for those 'far away' places we wanted to see. They have the tour bus stops on every corner and in between and they came around every 1/2 hour so it was so nice! And you must sit on the top part of it!

First stop on our tour bus- the White House! This is the best picture I could get with the 1 minute they stop to let you look at it. And you actually don't get close at all. There is a huge lawn between you and the street. We went over Memorial Weekend, and since we've never been before I don't know how crowded it usually is, but it was sure crowded that weekend. And lots of events going on.












To show how windy it gets being on the upper part of the fun bus!

Ah my 2nd love- shoes! I saw a shoe store, my favorite shoe store- Aldo's, from afar from the top and quickly convinced Jonny that we needed to get off at the next stop. No purchases made, but for sure worth my while.

These men were everywhere! They are like little ants crawling all over DC! But they are so nice and so helpful to all the poor lost people wandering around having no idea where to go.




You can barely see me in the bottom right, but here in am in front of the capitol building.
Now for the lame part. Sweet Jonny set up a photography class for us to take while we were there at the Botanical Gardens no less. I was so stoked about this! How thoughtful is he? Very. We we go there and patiently waited at the beautiful gardens for this highly anticipated class to start. Got inside, got seated with our camera in hand and sat there while this guy showed us pictures on a slide show of pictures that he took in his career. We were so mad and so disappointed. We ended up skipping out early- we want our money back.
For Janell. She is a Burning Man fanatic- and this is the symbol for it. Couldn't pass it up with out taking a picture for them. Love them.



That's it for day #1 & #2 in Washington DC. After our lame 'photography' class we walked around the Mall for a bit and headed back to our hotel room. Can't wait for day #2.