Washington D.C. - Day 1

Sorry I've been MIA for the past week. The Hubs & I went on a much needed mini-vacation! It was more of whirlwind than relaxing, but it was a vacation nonetheless. We spent 3 full days in Washington D.C., 1 day at Gettysburg & Dutch Country, and 1 day in Philadelphia. Neither of us had ever been to D.C. & the secret history nerd inside each of us was excited to see the sites & visit the museums.

One of my FAVORITE things about vacations to new places is finding new, yummy places to eat. Before we ever go on a trip, I spend a bit (okay, a lot) of time researching restaurants, asking friends for recommendations, etc. So while I share my trip with you all, I'm also going to share the yummy food we ate!

Disclaimer: DON'T JUDGE THE NUMBERS OF CALORIES WE MAY HAVE CONSUMED. Vacation calories don't count. Right?? And some of the pics are low quality because I took them with my iPhone as to not look like a total weirdo taking pics of my food.

On with the trip.

Arrival & Day 1

We arrived in DC around 9:00 PM on Wednesday. Once we got to our hotel via the Metro, we were starving. It just so happened that a D.C. mainstay was right across from our hotel. We thought this was an appropriate way to start the trip...


We got up early the next morning and began our trip with a visit to the Washington Monument. We took the elevator to the top & the views were amazing. You could see every monument & memorial across town.





We had a little bit of time before our next scheduled tour, so we made a quick trip to the National Air & Space Museum. We only had time to check out the "Air" part, but it was pretty cool.

By the time we were done there, we only had a few minutes to get to our next destination & still needed to grab lunch. In the Mall area of DC, there really aren't many obvious places to eat other than museum cafes or from street carts - which seemed a bit sketchy to us. We stumbled upon this cart...



And grabbed a quick fast-food-from-a-cart lunch. Not ideal, but we were in a hurry.

Next we visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. This is one place I think everyone should visit. The stories & accounts of what these people experienced is heart wrenching & will leaving a lasting impact on anyone who visits. Before you enter the exhibit, you are given a card that tells the story of a Holocaust victim. When inside you learn the detailed history of the events leading up to & during the Holocaust, as well as personal accounts from the victims. Unfortunately, you aren't allowed to take photos inside the museum, but I found this one online...



You can walk into the cattle car that is the exact same as the type used to transport the Jews to concentration camp.

They also exhibit huge piles of thousands of shoes, brushes, clothing & other personal items belonging to the Jews that were killed in concentration camps. The Hubs & I spent over 2 hours in this museum and could have spent more if our schedule permitted.

By this point we had walked several miles & our little feet were a bit tired, so we headed back to the hotel to rest & get cleaned up for our dinner at the famous Old Ebbitt Grill.



We choose this restaurant because it was recommended by multiple people. The food was good, but people come more for its history & ambiance. We started with some delicious calamari & a house salad with cucumber, tomatoes & basil vinaigrette.



For our main course, The Hubs & I both had the Trout Parmesan. It was a parmesan crusted rainbow trout, flash fried, topped with hollandaise sauce, roasted potatoes and broccoli. So good & rich! (I forgot to take a picture, but found this one on Food Network. Apparently the recipe is on there, too).



There was no hope for dessert. We weren't even able to finish our fish. One of these days The Hubs & I will learn to share dishes instead of ordering too much food & over eating...and worst of all, not have room for dessert.

After dinner we waddled our cholesterol filled arteries back to the hotel for a good nights rest before another busy day!

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