Road Trip Day 6: A Walk Through DC Part 2

On our final full day of vacation, we knew we had to do it up right. So, we slept in a bit, ate a big breakfast at Lincoln's Waffle House {where it is rumored that many Presidents have eaten...there's no way that's true} but it was delicious and we had a waiter who literally stood in front of us at the counter and met our every dining need: coffee was always full, no want for a napkin, check handed at the right moment--not too early, but we needn't ask for it. Fantastic service.

This was Sara's first time in DC, so she had a long list of sights she wanted to see. Cathi and I had been before, so we were ready to accommodate Sara's tourist dreams! The only place I wanted to see was Ford's Theatre, where Lincoln was assassinated.

We walked in at the perfect time: the next tour was just beginning and tickets are free! However, the tour is 90 minutes. Seriously? Fortunately, the first part is self-guided, so we quickly made our way through and then up the back stairs to take a photo of the balcony. 

We did overhear a piece of the presentation in which he said, "Lincoln loved to go to the theatre since it was the rare occasion when he was able to hear the people laughing and enjoying themselves, as opposed to the rest of his day-to-day when he heard about the problems of the country."

From there, we decided to start at one end of the stretch of important buildings and work our way across town. Beginning first at the Capitol Building. {Man, the number of grumbling comments this instagram photo received...give it a rest.}

As we arrived, it started to sprinkle, so we took cover under a tree next to a pond in front of the building. {My time is Kenya has caused me to believe that a sprinkle can become a downpour within minutes, so I always run for cover.} We walked through a group of middle school kids {150 of them, at least} taking an organized-by-height group photo and finally found our way to the next stop.

The White House Backyard

Cathi had some work deadlines she had to meet that afternoon, so she had stayed behind for the morning. We stopped for coffee and to check in with her and then decided to have some lunch. Lucky for me, there was a Pret A Manger up the street--my favorite!

After lunch we saw the front of the White House {I prefer the back yard}, the Washington Monument, the World War II Memorial {where there was a group of Veterans touring the grounds, which made it so much more moving}, and the Reflecting Pool {you know, from Forrest Gump.}

We opted not to go back inside the Lincoln Memorial, since I had at least 50 pictures from the night before.

As we walked down the Pool we saw this fox running the path. He circled and came back around and was just too close, and too beautiful, to go un-photographed.

Our final stop was the Martin Luther King Memorial. Throughout this trip, I was consistently in awe of how great an impact he had on our country. I'm hoping our 2014 road trip will have quite a few MLKJ-related stops.

For our final--and Birthday week kick-off--dinner, Herman {our friendliest concierge} recommended Farmers Fishers Bakers in Georgetown. We had an appetizer of cheese, bread and garlic {my absolute favorite meal} followed by amazing cheeseburgers, and capped with a huge slice of chocolate cake and, of course, some singing.

The next morning, after a dark taxi ride to the airport, we were greeted by curbside check-in. The guy helped us moved our bags and began to check us in, but when he got to me, he said, "Well, this is strange. It says here you're on the no-fly list and there is a warrant for your arrest." We were shocked. He told me to please move over and put my hands on the counter as he pulled out his walkie-talkie and said, "I have Allison Hibbard here and it says to notify you." He looks back and me and says, "Believe me, I'm as scared as you are." The three of us all looked at each other, unsure of what to do next. And then he says, "Well, are you all fooled?" We breathed a sigh of relief and began to laugh with him. He told us it's his favorite trick to pull on people--that the walkie-talkie power just went straight to his head. He also said that earlier that week when he'd done the same to a man, who ended up throwing his wallet at him after he was told it was a joke. What a memorable pre-sunrise airport experience!

We landed in Long Beach at 8:30am and each headed off to work--vacation was officially over. {Well, mostly for them, since it was birthday week for me!}

Second Annual Road Trip was a huge success. We're already talking about next year's trip, hopefully to the South!