Travelogue #1: Spring Break in DC

First of all, I love spring break. For those of us who went to BYU-related schools, spring break is something we have not been associated with for a long time. I think they missed the boat on this one: there is nothing more welcome (or necessary) in the middle of a long winter semester than a nice break from it all.

If spring break had worked out as I originally planned, I would be flying home from Italy on Monday with a suitcase full of Nutella, an extra few pounds (mmm...gelato!) and a dozen stories of crazy Italian casanovas. Or if my second idea had panned out, a Caribbean cruise, I would be getting home from a week of reading, swimming and eating with a nice golden tan (ok, that last part was a lie. i don't tan.). Option #3 (ultimately the chosen destination) was a week in our nation's capital. Now, that may sound a little funny, seeing as I live in Arlington and work in Washington D.C., but I got to spend a fabulous week with my mom and brother Michael seeing the sights and playing the tour guide. And they even followed me around to places I had never been!

Day 1: The Udvar-Hazy Center & Old Town Alexandria

Mom and Michael got here late Sunday evening, and after a longer-than-anticipated stop at my house to pack and chat with my roommates, we made it to the hotel and crashed. Their day of traveling meant that Monday morning (mercifully) was not an early morning. Unfortunately, I'm still programmed to wake up early and was out of bed by 7 am. In an attempt to make a very historical city more interesting for my 15-year-old brother, I had scouted out some things for us to do that weren't so history-related. Or at least more hands-on history. Our first stop was the Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum. The museum is housed in a hangar built especially for the Smithsonian, and anything smaller just wouldn't work.

My favorite exhibits:

• the space shuttle Enterprise
• the Enola Gay
• the SR-71 Blackbird

And yes, this may just be a picture of Michael and I pretending to be airplanes.

That evening, I took them down to Old Town Alexandria. For anyone that hasn't been there, it's a quaint section of Alexandria full of antique stores, restaurants, used bookstores and the like, situated on the Potomac River. Our first stop was Banana Republic. It was love at first sight. This was Michael's first experience in BR and it turns out that he's the one in the family who actually has style. I promised him a trip later in the week to the BR Outlet at Potomac Mills. We wandered from shop to shop and from restaurant to restaurant, looking for nothing in particular, but enjoying ourselves immensely, and ended up with a fabulous dinner at the Charthouse (See previous post).

Day 2: Gettysburg & Lancaster County

Last year when Mom and Paul came to visit me for Spring Break, we were completely confined to the city because I was still an intern and hadn't yet bought my car. This year, we were free to explore a little more, so we took off Tuesday morning and drove to Gettysburg. We hired a guide to drive my car around the park and give us the tour. Gettysburg always gets to me. 3 days. 51,000 casualties. Unfathomable. I'm also lucky that someone much more eloquent than myself already eulogized the Gettysburg dead. My favorite passage from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

refocuses the attention of the nation:

"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. "

Sadly, there are no pictures to document the second half of the day. From Gettysburg, we drove to Lancaster County, PA, famous for and dotted with small communities of Amish, places with names like Bird-in-Hand and Intercourse. Gotta love it. I think we must have gone into a dozen gift shops and roadside stands selling everything from hand-sewn quilts, pottery and woven rugs to trinkets and mugs making snide remarks about the name "Intercourse".

Day 3: Washington DC

Spy Museum and DC. I've been saying for about a year that I wanted to check out the International Spy Museum, so I used my family's visit as an excuse. There was far more information than any of us could take in, but it was fascinating! The upper floor displayed the art of spying - gadgets straight out of 007 movie. I half expected Mr. Bond himself to sneak out from behind the curtain! The second half of the museum was straight spy history - i was in heaven! (Yes, I am a history teacher)

We checked another item off my "To Do in DC" list that afternoon - paddleboating in the Tidal Basin! After about 30 seconds, Michael tried to plead exhaustion, but we kept at it for most of the hour. Sadly, at this point I had to ditch them and head back to my house. I'm moving to a new place next week and I had to clean/show my current room to a potential renter. Still hoping that everything works out for the best!

Day 4: Washington DC

This was our early day. We left the hotel at 6:20 so we could be in line to get tickets to go up the Washington Monument. After braving commuter traffic into the city, I dropped Mom and Michael off in line, then went home to drop off my car and sneak a power-nap before metro-ing back into the city to meet them. At some point during my napping, it had started raining, and everyone in line was soaked by the time I got there. *Note to self: buy an umbrella! Our Monument tickets were for later in the day, so we headed back to Virginia for some hot chocolate, and then to the Pentagon, where my wonderful friend Melissa showed us around. (thanks Melissa! we loved it!) I must say that I'm extremely impressed by anyone who knows their way around that place.

The afternoon included the view from the top (the Washington Monument tour), and the National Zoo (we had to see the pandas). And of course the promised trip to the Banana Republic outlet. Altogether a fabulous week. Unfortunately, their departure also marked my return to reality. School starts again on Monday...

p.s. Congrats to anyone who made it through all that. I didn't mean for it to get so long-winded.