The first afternoon, before the reception Adam and I were able to tour the Smithsonian National History Museum, Adam enjoyed the sections on the different wars we've fought as a nation while I soaked up all the beauty of the First Ladies clothing and accessories along with the ruby red slippers worn in The Wizard of Oz, it was so fun! We also got to see a replica of Julia Child's kitchen which was neat to see inside.
That night we had a reception in the penthouse suite of our hotel, I've never been in a penthouse suite, let alone a suite with a full out living room, dinning room and other rooms that comfortably housed 300+ people, with a FABULOUS view of both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue!
Our hotel, the JW Marriot, was one block from the White House, so we were right in the middle of everything! President Obama was waiting to greet us when we came off the elevator and George Washington was working the crowd on the balcony! We had such fun!
Our first full day started off with meetings for Adam while I got to enjoy sleeping in and having my quiet time, oh how nice it is to not be interrupted, it really was such a treat! I ordered room service for lunch, then met up with Adam to do a bike tour of the National Mall. It was really fun! We got to see all the monuments and memorials and even got to see the "unofficial" Martin Luther King Memorial.
That evening we had dinner on the rooftop of the building adjacent to the Capital, which had a fantastic view. We had another lovely dinner and entertainment by the Capital Steps, a musical comedy group that "puts the mock in Democracy". It was pretty entertaining. Afterwards was an awards ceremony and Adam's hospital received the award for "Most Improved Clinical Outcomes" within the South East region, which was a great honor!
Friday, Adam had meetings all day long so I went with a couple other wives to tour the Holocaust Museum, which was unbelievable. The pictures and movie clips are terribly shocking and I was constantly left with the questions, "why" and "how" anything like that could have ever been done, what a tragedy, what an unfathomable atrocity! The piles of hair brushes and shoes made tears fill my eyes. After that, we headed up to Pennsylvania Avenue to climb the old Post Office Tower, since the Washington Monument was closed from the earthquake damage, it was the second highest point in the city, the view was spectacular! Then we decided to tour the Newseum, it had everything from Johannes Gutenburg's printing press and first copy of the Bible, to OJ's suit that he wore during the trial, but the exhibit that touched me the most was of the journalists who started recording when 9/11 started...it recorded their last moments and the last things that they ever saw. Hearing their spouses speak of the videos and the pain of those days and moments was heart breaking and really recreated the pain of that time.
That evening we got to have dinner in a spectacular location, the Donald W. Reynolds, National Portrait Museum, which houses portraits of Presidents and other famous people. It was a lovely evening, the atmosphere was over the top and the food was fabulous!
We had a great time in DC...but the highlight of my trip was getting to see our dear friends Paul and Lisa Lebo, who were our neighbors when we lived on post at Fort Benning. We were able to spend the night with their sweet family; what a treat it was to get to catch up and spend time with them, only wish it could've been longer!
Court, I am so jealous of your time! What a fun trip! Drew and I have been talking about wanting to do something similar sometime in the near future... I'll have to hit you up for good ideas. Love you and miss you! Hopefully we can catch up soon!
ReplyDeleteSo fun! I am so glad you guys had a great trip!
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