Washington, D.C.

The first weekend of December, I had the opportunity to go visit my childhood best friend, Toby, in her new city, Washington, D.C.! I got there on Friday the 2nd and left first thing in the morning on Monday the 5th. It was so nice to spend some time with Toby and she was the ultimate host and tour guide showing me around the city! My first night there, we just went to dinner and caught up some, we were both tired so we hit the hay early but the rest of our trip was filled with activities. The main days we really jam packed everything in were Saturday and Sunday! Here's the break down:

Saturday, December 3rd - Toby decided that I needed to experience The Metro to really get the full DC experience, so we took it from her place to our first museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

The NMAAHC is a Smithsonian museum and fairly new, just opening a couple months ago in September. Tickets are extremely hard to come by but luckily one of Toby's friend's Megan, was able to get some and ever so kindly shared with us. (Thanks Megan, you rock!) We met up with Megan and some other pals at the museum and it was an incredible experience.

The museum is definitely something that every person needs to see at some point in their life. And when it comes to things you can see in the museum, the opportunities are endless. There is so much history and information that it is almost impossible to see it all. We were fortunately able to not have any pressing time restrictions during our visit, that being said it took us a little over three hours to just walk through the bottom of the museum. We couldn't even get to the other top floors and see all that was there. There is so much emotion and respect that lives in the walls of the museum and it was definitely a humbling and educational experience that I will remember throughout the rest of my life. I am very very glad we got the chance to see it.

After the museum, we went and got lunch at Ted's Bulletin. Let me just say, we were so hungry I forgot to get pictures but it was SO GOOD. We ate a cinnamon roll that was as big as our heads. No really, on the menu it is called "Cinnamon Roll as Big as Ya Head." I got the "Mark on an off Day" which was 2 eggs, sausage and hash browns and Toby got the "Walk of Shame Breakfast Burrito." Both were dang good and let me just say that I will go back to DC solely to eat their sausage patty again because it was the best I ever had. By the end of the trip, Toby was probably sick of me talking about it.

Later that night, we bundled up and did a walking tour of The National Mall. First stop was the Christmas tree.

Then of course, we stopped by and said hey to Obama. We traveled around to the back of the White House too, which actually Toby told me there technically isn't a front or a back because that would be rude to let people in the "back door," but it was the back nonetheless. We chatted with a Secret Service dude for about twenty minutes and he let us in on some top secret Washington information... (the Lincoln Memorial at night is filled with teenagers making out.) Some pretty heavy stuff, eh?

Seeing the monuments all lit up at night really allowed you to look at them with a sort of reverence. The lack of people and the weight of the monuments standing out amongst the dark really makes you think about what they stand for. 

Sunday, December 4th - We headed to our second museum on Sunday, the Newseum. The Newseum was so insanely cool and as a mass communication major, I was lucky to have a friend who picked out this museum for me to see. Just our front, there is newspapers from each state with "Today's Front Pages." So any day that you go, they will have that day's papers! How cool is that?!

The Newseum features some really cool exhibitions, some I was expecting and others were a pleasant surprise. To start, there is a section of the museum with Pulitzer Prize pictures and the stories behind them. As many can imagine, they are incredibly moving and emotional images that are truly worth seeing and contemplating. Other exhibits included First Dogs (the President's dogs throughout the years), pieces of the Berlin Wall and even an exhibit dedicated to this past election and the First Amendment. 

Toby and I were really moved by the September 11th exhibit and seeing the day through a journalist's eyes. The pictures below display a part of the antenna from one of the Twin Towers which broadcasted most television stations throughout New York and the headliners from newspapers all around the world capturing the terrorist attack. 

The Newseum offered plenty of fun stuff for kids to do and see as well. We may have even had a little fun pretending we were news anchors. We also were able to do a virtual reality simulation where you felt like you were sky diving!

Also featured were more than 500 years worth of newspapers. You could pick any year in the past and find top headlining newspapers from that period in time. 

The Newseum also offers a great view of the city!

Across the street, we made our way over to the National Gallery of Art to snap a pic with a big blue chicken! This is art, people!!

To wrap up our Sunday out on the town, Toby drove me to Union Market where we got some yummy empanadas and strawberry lemonade. We split a grilled cheese, took some pics and headed to shop around at Georgetown!

I had so much fun visiting my best friend in a beautiful city rich in history and culture! There is seriously an endless amount of things to do and see. Thank you so much Toby for letting me share a bed with you for so long and giving me the ultimate tour. I will definitely be visiting you and DC again in the future and hitting up all the places we didn't get a chance to get to!