D.C. Day 1

On the metro, heading to Dupont Circle.

Today was fairly eventful.  From sweating our butts off to getting rained on, walking our feet sore to consignment shop finds, we had a blast!  Emily, Amber, & I started off the day by riding the metro in to Dupont Circle while mom picked up the rest of the gang from the airport.  We walked up and down the street, stopping to browse at Loft and then heading to a yummy froyo place for a cold snack (since it was very hot & humid).

Froyo!

My new dress from Secondí.

Emily & Amber in Secondí.

We thought Kyle would love this dress.
Fortunately, he did not.

We found a cool consignment shop called Secondí which had awesome finds.  I wish we had something like this in Toledo.  I mean, we do have second-hand shops...they just don't have the quality of this place.  Marc Jacobs, Fendi, J.Crew, Banana Republic, Gucci, Prada, Coach, Kate Spade...everything in the store was top quality.  I fell in love with a Loft dress that was in perfect condition + it fit me perfectly, and Amber bought it for me as a belated birthday present.  Have I ever mentioned how much I love late birthday presents?  You don't get much for your birthday...and then they trickle in afterwards.  Mine this year: awesome apron from Anthro, sewing machine, & now a dress!  Woot woot!

Walking around Dupont Circle.

Our home in Dupot Circle. ;)

After our second-hand adventure, I finally convinced Emily & Amber that we should check out the Textile Museum - because why not?  On the way there, it was so hot and we were so sweaty...so as we were just a couple blocks away I said that we shouldn't go unless it's free admission.  When I checked on my phone, I found out that an $8 donation is recommended...and that it's not open on Mondays.  C'mon!  So we turned back around and headed to Starbucks for a quick refresher (of A/C...and a cold beverage).

We think we were outside the Chinese embassy.
We are 100% not sure.

Starbucks!

With our chilled drinks in hand, we headed back to the metro to get to the area near the National Mall (where we were going to meet the gang whenever they arrived) for lunch at Potbelly.  The first time I ever ate at Potbelly, I was in D.C.  For some reason, I have always associated Potbelly with D.C...the same way I associate smoothies with my pre-flight airport routine.  While waiting to check out, the cashier was telling Amber about a cupcake truck that goes all over D.C. and has really awesome cupcakes.  Unfortunately, the truck had already stopped working for the day...but we are hopeful we will find one somewhere in the city over the next few days!

Leaving Dupont Circle

While we were waiting for the rest of the group to get to the National Mall, we sat down and watched a medical emergency.  Yup.  Watched.  Don't worry, I assessed the situation from across the street before deciding to park my rear on the sidewalk.  I'm not heartless!  I figured since the police were involved, they knew just about as much as I did for emergency medical training (CPR) and they had already called an ambulance.

Sitting on our butts across from the emergency.

Police + runner + woman on the ground.

I was right!  They had called an ambulance.  And it showed up!

Police + EMTs + runner + woman on ground.

One thing I noticed was that there were FBI cars everywhere.  I started thinking "whoa, maybe this was something major!" but then I got on my phone and realized that the building in front of us was the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Doh.

Walking to the National Mall.

We spent the rest of the afternoon/evening with my cousin (Bridget), her husband (Andy), their baby (Kinley), and my aunt (Cindy) & my cousin (McCain), seeing different monuments.  This crew flew in from the Dallas/Fort Worth area and will be spending the next week adventuring in D.C. & N.Y.C. with us!  Tons of fun for everyone.  It took us several hours, but we fit in: Washington Monument, World War II Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, and the Vietnam Memorial.  While walking from the Washington Monument to the World War II Memorial, we got a nice gust of cold air (it was 90+ degrees outside) and realized it was about to rain.  And rain it did!  Luckily it wasn't a complete downpour, because we had nothing to shield us from the cold rain.  I mean, it felt good because it was cold...but really uncomfortable because it was cold.  Know what I mean?  Amber got this awesome picture of me + rain:

And now here's some pictures from our monument-going:

The wind was intense.  Titanic pose.

World War II Memorial
Right after the rain - it's amazing how
the sky cleared up so quickly!

World War II Memorial
Medics

World War II Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Bridget, Kinley, & Emily

Lincoln Memorial

Washington Monument from the Lincoln Memorial
Due to construction, the reflection pool is dried up and inaccessible.

Unfortunately, at the end of our grand monument tour, everyone was very sore and tired.  So instead of the walk back to the metro taking 20 minutes, it took an hour.  Which of course made everyone even more sore and tired.  When we arrived home at 10pm, we were all sweaty and exhausted.  Dr. Darling's remedy: showers & sleep.

Heading home on the metro.