My DC Trip Part 2--Memories and a Thrill of a Lifetime

Happy Monday!

Today I’m going to share part 2 of my DC trip. As I told you last week, I had a fantastic time and so enjoyed seeing the city and the cherry blossoms. I arrived in DC on a Thursday morning and after dropping my luggage off and stopping for a little lunch, the walking tour of the city began. During my 5 days in DC, my brother and I walked, walked and walked some more, visited all the major attractions and we also experienced something that was totally unexpected and thrilling. Here’s my trip in pictures (lots of them) and words.

My brother’s new employer!

One of the first buildings I saw in DC was the World Bank Building. It is an amazing structure that just glistened in the sun. There was so sort of world banking conference going on so the security around the building was pretty tight and very obvious.

As we walked the streets, I was in awe of all the amazing architecture and craftsmanship of the buildings. I didn’t know what most of these building were but assumed they were government offices of some sort.

This building below looks like it was plucked from straight from Europe. Seeing a building like this with such beautiful color, carvings and stone work sitting next to an all glass structure was kind of cool. DC definitely has a distinct style to it.

This was the door to one of the art museums in the city.

This building spanned a couple of blocks and was just stunning.

The brick color, patina details and gold dome really made this bank building stand out.

This building looked like a place a King and Queen would live, not office buildings.

Here’s the Red Cross headquarters building.

And I had to take a photo of the Department of Treasury building for the hubs (his employer).

As we passed the building we noticed a group holding a meeting outside in the beautiful weather. Kind of a funny scene to see at such a key government building.

There are so many amazing statues and monuments throughout the city. Visiting DC is definitely a first hand history lesson.

A beautiful street view I captured of the capitol building.

I got to see the Watergate building.

And we visited the JFK Center for the Performing Arts. Amazing. I can’t believe that there is a FREE event for the public every night of the year. We saw a great dance performance on the history of hip-hop dancing.

State flags hung inside the JFK center.

We stumbled upon this tranquil sight on a bustling DC street. Someone had left this flower on the community chess board.

I sought out a flea market in Georgetown and we hit it up. I scored a beautiful vintage necklace.

We dined at some great restaurants including this cute Italian spot

and world-famous Georgia Brown’s, known for their amazing southern food.

I wanted to stop and eat here at Grill Cheese DC but every time we went by there was a line of at least 30 people outside. You never get too old for comfort food.

And I checked out the World Wildlife Federation building which is across the street from my brother’s new apartment.

As we toured more of the national monuments, we stopped at the Vietnam Memorial. This granite wall has the names of 58,000 soldiers that fought in the Vietnam war. As we moved along the wall we saw items that family members and other military veterans left as a sign of remembrance and respect. Over the years things like love letters, photos and even a motorcycle have been left at the wall. The park service keeps all the items and has then on display in a museum.

There are a couple of books at the memorial with the soldiers names listed and I checked to see if there were any Dozier’s.

The most amazing statues of soldiers surround the wall. These are cast in iron and have true to life detail.

Our next stop was the Lincoln Memorial. You see this building from far away and don’t realize how large it is until you are up on it.

At the top of the steps is an engraved dedication to Martin Luther King, Jr. This is the exact spot where he delivered the I Have a Dream Speech. What an amazing sight to see and an amazing piece of history.

From the top of the stairs you look across the street at the reflecting pool and the National Monument. It’s an amazing sight to think about all the people who filled that space for Dr. King’s speech.

And I couldn’t help but think about the scene from Forest Gump that took place in this same place:)

A short distance away was the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. Another amazing structure.

“Out of the Mountain of Despair, A Stone of Hope”

I was wishing that my mom and dad could have been there seeing this memorial with me.

On the second day of my trip we set out to see the White House. It is such a surreal feeling to see it in person.

I visited DC one other time, when I was in junior high school, but seeing the White House as an adult takes on a whole new perspective.

After stopping at the front gate for a few pictures and to listen to all the wacko protestors out front (freedom of speech in action) we made our way around to the back of the White House.

The building is beautiful and so are the grounds. The landscaping is meticulously detailed to frame and show off the building.

You can see some of the security surrounding the building and I’m sure there was much more that we couldn’t see. I was imaging the Mr. and Mrs. of the house sitting out on the balcony enjoying a glass if ice tea 🙂

We also saw the vegetable garden that Michelle Obama planted.

And then it happened…the thrill of a lifetime!

As my brother and I were walking way he said to me “wouldn’t it be cool to see the Presidential helicopter fly in?” And literally before I could say yes, we heard something in the air. We both looked up and in the distance we saw what we thought was an airplane.

As it got a bit closer we recognized it as a helicopter.

And as it got even closer we saw that it said United States of America on the outside. Holy COW!!! It was a Presidential helicopter and it was landing at the White House.

You can only image that the scene at the back of the White House got crazy. People, myself included were running towards the fence that lined the White House grounds and there must have been 200+ cameras in the air snapping photos.

Here I am waving at the helicopter.

The helicopter flew directly over my head and I can’t even begin to tell you how big and how loud it was. I was jumping up and down and had a smile from ear to ear. This is not a sight you get to witness every day.

Boy was it incredible to see that helicopter maneuver and land on the White House grounds.

As the helicopter was landing the crowd around the fence swelled

and just that quick the heavily armed police moved in and cleared the area. We were across the street, behind another fence and were able to stay and take pictures.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The President landing at the White House! The way the helicopter lands you can’t see anything on the far side between the White House and the helicopter but I could see movement.

The helicopter sat for about 5 minutes and then lifted and took off.

Amazing huh? We’ll I do have to let you know that the President wasn’t in the helicopter like I had hoped. According to the police officer that was standing guard, the pilots were practicing takeoffs and landings. Yes, I was a bit disappointed but none the less it was an amazing sight to see and who knows, the police could have told me a story as a deflection and the POTUS could have actually been in the helicopter 🙂

If you want to see more photos and video of my trip you can find them on the ConfettiStyle Facebook page.

This trip will go down in my books as one of the best ever. The city was great, the weather was fantastic, I (almost) got to see the President and most importantly I got to hang our with my big brother! Memories to last a lift time!