Boozing + eating - DC style.

For our last full day in DC (check out our Sunday and Monday), we did less sight-seeing and more eating and drinking.  It was pretty cold coming off some 80-degree weather on Tuesday morning.  It was 37 at 9-something in the morning.  Our friend dropped us off at the metro, so we didn't have to deal with parking in the city.  We decided to start our day in a few museums until the weather warmed a bit.

We started off at the Holocaust Memorial Museum.  Since you can spend forever in a museum and the lines were insane (because for some weird reason you have to physically get tickets, even though they're free, for the permanent exhibits), we opted to just check out some of the stuff we could get into without tickets.  It was still really impactful, and I learned more new stuff about Hitler.

D then wanted to check out the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.  I could have taken that one or left it.  We did watch the Hubble 3D IMAX show there which was pretty interesting.

[Fun fact: The Wright Brothers experimented on their gliders and created their first plane in Kitty Hawk, NC where I ran my first half marathon!]

The museum is actually really cool, but it's huge.  We mostly got through the space portion before we realized it was almost 2.  I need food by that time in the day.

After a lot of walking and some failed attempts at restaurants that were closed, we finally made it over to Pizza Paradiso in Georgetown.

 [Quality Kolsch after a lot of walking and going way too long without beer for a vacation]

[Crostini with goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, basil, and proscuitto]

D and I had a few beers a piece, and we also noshed on some pizza.  Oh and remember that my vegetarian rules allow for me to eat meat if I'm on vacation.  I promise this (and a cuban that D made a spur of the moment decision for) was the only meat I ate.  I try not to limit D too much if we're splitting something on a vacation.  And it was worth it.  That appetizer was amazing!

We fueled up with espressos and chai lattes, and headed back to the closed spots we missed out on earlier.  Thank goodness we did.

First we hit up The Black Squirrel for beers.  D made lots of beer conversation with the owners and met a guy from South Carolina.  The Squirrel was cool; lots of craft beer selection as well.

But Smoke and Barrel is where it's at!

 [In fitting form, D started his order with beer + bourbon]

 [After a beer or two, I just had to order the chai spice Manhattan!]

[And if you think their beer and bourbon is good, their food is even better just as good!]

I swoon over a restaurant that has good vegetarian options, so a BBQ restaurant that has vegetarian options?!  I'm sold. It was fucking delicious too!  I got the smoked BBQ tofu tacos (um $5 for three tacos and a side on Tuesdays?!  We hit the jackpot!) and jalapeño grits.  D got the brisket tacos with a side of the garlic and cream cheese mashed potatoes.  It was just amazing.  You can order the tacos traditional with salsa and sour cream or the way we ordered them with slaw, pickles and BBQ sauce.  The atmosphere there was really chill too.  I will be visiting Smoke and Barrel on every future trip to DC!

We made a boozy walk back to the metro where our friend graciously picked us up.  Overall, I was happy with what all we were able to fit in seeing in two days in DC.  I'm definitely looking forward to going back.  Next time, I'm going to see if I can convince Whitney to meet up with her new stalker me since I'm pretty confident she can show me a good time in DC.

Let's meet up with Lincoln.

After leaving the Washington Monument in DC, we trekked over to the Lincoln Memorial.  The walk (even walking against the insane wind) is really beautiful.  We couldn't have asked for a prettier day.  On the way to see Lincoln, we passed by the Korean War Veterans Memorial.

 [The memorial was really well done and moving]

[Maybe I look a little too happy to be in front of a war memorial?]

I must say, it is really beneficial to read up on the meanings behind the memorials.  Nps.gov says,

"Nineteen stainless steel sculptures stand silently under the watchful eye of a sea of faces upon a granite wall—reminders of the human cost of defending freedom. These elements all bear witness to the patriotism, devotion to duty, and courage of Korean War veterans."

Knowing more of the meaning behind the memorial really makes it come together for me.  We continued the trek to the Lincoln Memorial.

I said this was my favorite memorial, but honestly we didn't get to see too many more.  We missed out on the FDR memorial.  There is just something so beautiful and moving about the Lincoln Memorial though.

 [Lincoln]

 [Renovations on the Reflection Pool so it was empty]

My regret is that we didn't get to see the memorial at night.  That's on our list next time we head to DC.  After leaving the memorial, we walked back in a different direction and got to see some other cool sites.

 [Willow tree on the water]

 [Amazing instagram picture D took of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall]

[Terrible picture of the White House, but that's about as close as we got]

We walked back to the car, and headed back to Virginia for dinner with our friends.  We ate at Sunflower Vegetarian Restaurant in Falls Church, VA.  In 2010, it was actually voted for the best of DC vegetarian restaurants.  I was really pleased, and it was delicious!  We ended the night with sour beers at Churchkey in DC.

I wish we wouldn't have been so full because they have a kick ass menu there that I would have loved to try.  They hand-make their tater tots and have some cool vegetarian options.  If you're into beer, they have an amazing selection of rare and unique beers.  They keep beer styles organized in different refrigerators with temperatures that don't compromise the quality.  Churchkey is on my list as a place I need to spend much more time at next time I'm in DC.  

On Tuesday, we got to spend a full day in DC exploring.  I'll pop in with more on that tomorrow!

I think I can see the President from here.

After watching the Hunger Games (did I mention we saw it in IMAX?!), we headed to Washington, DC.  DC is only about 4 hours from Raleigh, so we got in town about 9 Sunday night.  We stayed with some friends and headed to have dinner and drinks at Mad Fox Brewing Company.

[Pretzel bites + a pilsner]

Max Fox is actually in Falls Church, VA about a mile from where we were staying.  They brew their own beer and foster a pretty cool atmosphere in the place.  They had a solid food menu as well.  It's definitely worth checking out if you head about 7 or 8 miles outside the DC area.

We I took Monday to sleep in a bit while D got up early to do some work.  The weather was projected to be around 60 and pretty sunny.

I opted for this flowy blouse from Target (which I am in love with by the way) with my dark skinnies.  I paired it all with my Toms, which don't match but were well worth the decision.   

After our later start and fueling up at Starbucks, we spent additional time trying to figure out how to get into the city.  Since we drove to VA, we could easily drive into DC.  There was also a metro station about a mile from where we were staying.  After much debate and driving around, we decided to just drive into DC.  We got a spot on the same block as the Smithsonian Museum of American History, so we figured it was the perfect place to start.

Museums can take up a significant amount of time, and I certainly don't want to bore you with a million pictures from a museum.  Here are a few of my favorite things I saw at the Smithsonian.

[Top R to L: The Star Spangled Banner Exhibition, old pins used for propaganda; Bottom R to L: More propaganda (which coincidently I can still relate to), the presidents exhibition, revolutionary lighthouse light]

There was so much to see and do in the Smithsonian that we just did not even get to see it all.  The museum is free though, so it's worth a walk-through even if it is quick.  After leaving the museum, the weather was windy (20+ mph winds!) but beautiful and sunny.  We braved the wind and walked out to the Washington Monument.

[Yeah, that's a tiny D in the bottom middle]

The park areas around the monument are gorgeous and open.  Due to the windy conditions, there were lots of people out and about flying kites and picnicking.  

 [If I lived in DC, I would totally be hanging out here!  That's a view of the Lincoln Memorial as well]

[View of the Capitol Building from the Washington Monument]

Tomorrow I'll update on our favorite monument and how we spent the rest of our first day in DC.