Day Eight - Washington D.C. (Tuesday)

Tuesday we had to check out of our hotel in D.C. so we went and parked over at Annie's Aunt and Uncle's house in Arlington.

First stop: Arlington National Cemetery

I would have liked to do some more exploring of the cemetery, but it was incredibly hot and humid again this day and Annie was still not feeling 100% so I didn't want to wear her out too much because we had already done a lot of walking the last 7 days.

The gates going into the Cemetery

This is the Women's Memorial

It was hard to get a really good shot of all the tombstones, but it was a very moving sight.

Next stop: Crossing the bridge to get to the Lincoln Memorial

Crossing the bridge to go to the Lincoln Memorial

An army helicopter that flew over while we were crossing the bridge.

The walk to get to the Lincoln Memorial from Arlington Cemetery seemed like it took forever, especially in the heat. It looked so much closer when we started walking.

Korean War Memorial

Outside the Lincoln Memorial

Honest Abe

Me and Lincoln

It was truly amazing to see such awesome monuments that are truly works of art.

On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial looking across the Reflecting Pool to the Washington Monument.

Heading back to the Metro at Arlington Cemetery

Next stop: Georgetown

This is a little cupcake shop that our good friend Renee told us about when she took her trip to D.C. back in May. It's also the little cupcake shop where we got these delicious little pieces of heaven.

My favorite ones were the vanilla with vanilla frosting (the white cupcake with the blue flower) and the Lave fudge (the chocolate cupcake with the white frosting and chocolate star at the top) they were oh so delicious. And if I could find a recipe to duplicate those cupcakes I would be one very happy girl. Guess I just need to go back to Georgetown. :) If you love cupcakes and are ever in D.C. I would highly, highly recommend you stop and enjoy one of these delicious little treats.

Next stop: Connecticut Ave. for dinner with Annie's sister Stephanie, her husband Michael, and their two kids Hunter and Sabryn, and her Aunt Martha and Uncle Paul.

This is where we had dinner and it was to die for. One of the best steaks I've ever had and I could have been content to have at least 3 or 4 of the custard and berries that we had for dessert. MmmmMmmmMmmm. Finally a restaurant that I can recommend. We had a great time with Annie's sister and Brother-in-law and her Aunt and Uncle. There was great conversation, great food, and great company. It was a perfect evening to end a great trip.

After dinner, Annie and I had to drive an hour back to our hotel in Baltimore because we had an early morning flight. It turned out to be very convenient cause it was literally right down the street from the car rental place, and we didn't even know that when we booked the hotel. Overall we drove 1,123 miles and who knows how many miles we walked. The nice thing about the car though was that we had rented a Prius hybrid, so we only spent about $60 tops on gas!

Day Seven - Washington D.C. (Monday)

Monday morning we headed to Washington D.C. and checked into our hotel, then headed out to the National Mall to see some more of the sights. It was pretty hot this day, and I was now wishing that we had a little more cloud coverage like we had in Boston, just without the rain.

First stop: Smithsonian Castle

We just walked inside briefly, most of the sight seeing we did was outside.

Botanic Garden

Ulysses S. Grant Memorial

Fountain outside the Capital

U.S. Capital

Washington Monument from the Capital

Idaho Press Tribune at the Newseum

National Archives

Looking across the street from the National Archives

The back of the National Archives

We were going to go in the National Archives, but once we went around to the front and saw the huge line that we would have to wait in, we turned around and continued our sight seeing.

Portrait Gallery

We went to the Spy Museum which was just across the street from the Portrait Gallery, we thought it was going to be more interesting than it was, but there were a few cool things in there.

National Building Museum

National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial

There are more than 15,ooo names of officers inscribed on the wall who have been killed in the line of duty.

Mark A Stall - BPD officer that was shot and killed in the line of duty

For dinner we went to this Italian restaurant called Il Mulino and lets just say it was quite the experience. They give you complimentary appetizers before you even get the menu, but I didn't know that's how it worked, so I of course asked the waiter for our menus after we had been sitting there for 15 minutes and he had to explain about the appetizers. The food was pretty overpriced for the most part, and it wasn't the most delicious thing in the world either. Needless to say, we were pretty disappointed.

These next few pictures are just some buildings that we passed by as we were walking back to the hotel.