East Coast Adventures

At the end of July, Michael and I got to spend 5 days on the East Coast with my family. This was my first time going anywhere near the Atlantic. Mike had also just finished a book that took place in Washington D.C., so we were really excited we got the opportunity to go.

Friday, we flew into philadelphia, and drove to D.C. Upon arriving in D.C. we stopped at this incredible restaurant called The Hamilton. It was named after Alexander Hamilton, and was one hoppin  restaurant. I had oysters and the cheese plate. These were the best oysters I have had in my life. Simply amazing. Mike had the Hamilton burger, along with my dad and sister. It had an egg, bacon, and cheese on it. They loved it. After we walked around and saw the treasury and other monuments, which looked cool all lit up at night.

On Saturday, we visited: The U.S. Capitol Building, The Library of Congress, We the Pizza, the Air & space museum, the Smithsonian, and all the buildings along the way.  We walked over 8 miles on Saturday while we ran around town. Touring the Capitol building was really cool, and we spent almost 2 hours inside. We also ran into our good friends Christina and Harold, from our ward, at the Capitol building. What a small world. At We the Pizza, I had an amazing buffalo chicken pizza.  We stayed at the Hiton Garden Inn on 14th street. Saturday night Mike and I decided to eat dinner there. It was home cooking, I had the chicken fried steak, and he had the beef stroganoff. 

After dinner, we went and saw the White house and Eisenhower building.

Sunday, we went to the Arlington National Cemetery, Lincoln Memorial, WW1 and WW2 memorials, the Washington Monument. We also went to the Archives building to see the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and Constitution. We took the tour at the Arlington National Cemetery, and got to see where JFK was buried, and the tomb of the unknown soldier. We also took the Metro, which was my first time being on an underground public transportation. Getting too and from the Archives Building, we took a taxi. There was 5 of us, and only 4 seats in the taxi, however we all crammed in and made ourselves fit!  The weather in D.C. was very hot. It was almost 100 each day, and very muggy. Nights were cooler however, once the sun went down. Sunday night, we drove by the Jefferson Memorial on our way back to Philadelphia.

This last picture is at Arlington National Cemetery at the tomb of the unknown soldier, during changing of the guards.

The main reason for going to Philadelphia, was because on Monday Lizzey wanted to attend a concert of an Icelandic group called Sigur Ros. After we got in Sunday night, we found a lounge in the hotel that had AMAZING desserts. Our favorite was the ice cream cookie dessert. We got to watch the Olympics each night in the lounge while eating delicious desserts.

During the day on Monday, we explored Philly. We saw the Liberty Bell, toured Liberty Hall, and went and got Philly cheesesteaks from this place called Ginos. They were amazing. Instead of attending the concert, Mike and I ate dinner at the hotel, went swimming, and then back to the lounge for Olympics and dessert. 

Tuesday Afternoon we flew home. I really enjoyed this vacation. I thought the East Coast was very interesting and quite different than Texas... obviously. The clothes, the food, it was fun to try to see how much they differed.