So after sleeping longer than I expected to, the day started in a dark hotel room. But soon after we set out. We breezed through a few places as we were finding out feet. But we hit what I call “Monument Row” or something. We walked The Mall then saw the Washington Monument, The WWII Memorial, The Reflecting Pool, and the Lincoln Memorial. There were tons of people there taking pictures of Big Ole Linc. I took a picture of people taking pictures of people by Linc. It made me wonder how many digital cameras are in the DC area at any given time. TONS! You see tons of point and shoot cameras, and then plenty of SLR’s too.

Also while up at the Lincoln Memorial I was struck by how many different people there were there. I wished there was some sort of bubble or indicator over each person’s head to tell where they’re from. Some are obviously not from the US, but others look like they could be locals but are definitely not speaking English. There was one point when I bet at least a fourth, maybe a third of the people around me were not Americans. I guess they have a big interest in Lincoln and all things USA.

We moved on to the Vietnam Memorial, then started walking up Constitution Avenue. It says it’s a Snow Evacuation Route…but snow was far from anyone’s mind. It was HOT! We witnessed a wreck (nothing bad) as we turned up 17th St. to head towards La Casa Blanca.

We actually got to see The Prez. I’ll put the details in a further post, but suffice to say that it was unexpected and sort of weird all at the same time. If it really was him in that limo, he seemed really happy to see us standing there on the street corner. And all the foreigners around me were really happy too. You’d think royalty was passing by, which to them…I guess he is pretty close. Love him or hate him, he’s one of the, if not THE, most powerful men in the world.

So then we pass on to check out the Hotel Washington with an outstanding view of the DC Skyline from it’s rooftop restaurant. Then we hit the White House Visitors’ Center. Then stand outside Ford’s Theater (which wouldn’t be famous w/o a certain murder happening there) before realizing we were wiped out and needed to go back to the hotel.

After watching a little US Open in the room, getting cleaned up and rested, we… …headed out for dinner. Our newest friends, the Russells, stopped by to pick us up and we were off to supper. We decided to try Five Guys Burgers (wiki) on David’s recommendation. I wasn’t disappointed at all. And we actually went to the Georgetown area. After eating an incredible burger we got some ice cream at Thomas Sweet Ice Cream. Again, good stuff.

And let me say that Georgetown is a very cool area. You can tell that it’s artsy (fartsy?) and very trendy. Very nice row houses that look to be nice to live in…but no yard to play in. But a 1700 sq ft row house is prob about $4Million, so I’ll not be living there unless … no, I’ll never be living there. Georgetown University is there too, we didn’t stop by…but might still make the trip before the vacation is over. But you could see a ton of students enjoying the night life.

Before returning to the hotel we stopped by the National Cathedral. The night had turned cool and breezy, a nice change from the heavy sun of mid afternoon. It was a great feel to the evening. On the ride home David and Missy drove us by a handful of the monuments to see them in their “night time” lighting. Lots different, but just as cool, as seeing them in the day time.

It was a FULL day, but a good day.