D.C. in a Day
Hello everyone!
Happy Wednesday! I hope you are having a great week as we make our way through August. This month is flying by between work commitments, family time, and summer traditions. I am doing my best to soak it all in, enjoy the slow days of summer, and check things off my summer bucket list. It has been a busy few weeks, I’ve enjoyed baseball games, zoos, and summer treats!
Today’s post is all about travel as I am recapping a day trip my fiancé and I took last month. You may recall, he likes to plan these crazy 24 hour trips. Some of our past trips include NYC, Montreal, Toronto, and Orlando, all trips done in 24 hours or less. These trips leave us tired and spent, but in the best way possible. My fiancé does all the planning and surprises me the morning of with an EARLY wake up time. This summer, he planned a day in our nation’s capital, Washington D.C.! We have both been there in the past with our own families, but never together, so it would be a first for us.
Here’s a look at what all the day entailed.
Up early for a long day ahead.
Our wakeup time was 1:30 to leave by 2:00 a.m. We drove five and a half hours to make it to the Washington area around 7:30 a.m.
Ready for a day in the city!
We parked at a Metro station just outside the city and took the metro in, getting into D.C. by 8:00 a.m.
We hit the ground running. Our first stop was the White House. Since it was so early, it wasn’t too crowded or hot yet, but that would change as the day went on.
The White House
After the White House, we made our way to the National Mall where we saw many famous sights and monuments.
The Washington Monument
The World War II Memorial
The MLK monument
The Lincoln monument
The Vietnam Memorial
We then took an Uber to see the Capital, which was incredible to see it up close. We checked out the Visitor’s Center which was free and no line and had some interesting exhibits about recent Inaugurations.
The capital
We checked out the U.S. Supreme Court which was under renovations for the upcoming 250th celebration next year.
And Supreme Court
Then we made our way back to the Capital for lunch and to cool off, it was very hot and humid, so we took advantage of every opportunity to cool down.
After lunch, we checked out the Library of Congress which was cool to see people researching and studying.
The Library of Congress
We then took the Metro up to the Zoo for the afternoon, which was free. That was one of our favorite parts about D.C., everything was very walkable and public transportation friendly and free. The only things we paid for during our time in D.C. was food and gas. So easy to enjoy things without worrying about breaking the bank.
My boyfriend and I love zoos and animals and we were very excited to enjoy the zoo.
It was very expansive and there were so many unique animals and exhibits to check out.
Our personal favorites were the Giant Pandas and the Elephants. I loved seeing the pandas up close.
We spent about two hours at the zoo and saw everything we wanted to see. The zoo was very well laid out with different exhibits, pathways, food and drink stands, and animals. Families could easily spend a whole day there.
After the zoo, we met up with my brother for dinner who recently moved to the D.C. area. We all split a NYC style pizza which was so good. It was great to sit outside (in much cooler conditions) and visit and enjoy some time sitting after all of our time on our feet and walking.
After a relaxing dinner, we made our way back to the Metro and home. We got back around 12:30 a.m., so we were up for just about 24 hours (my boyfriend more than me since I may have dozed in the car for a bit…oops)
Here’s a look at our final stats of the day for steps and miles walked. We certainly put the work in.
We both love to travel and enjoy seeing new places together even if it means pushing ourselves to the limit.
Where will we end up next? The world is our oyster.
Thanks so much for following along in today’s travel journal.
Have a great rest of your week and I’ll see you back here on Friday!
