Washington DC Trip

In the summer of 2007, several of my college friends and roommates met in Boise for a little reunion.  Before they all left to head back home, I promised Tim, Corinne, and Drew that I would visit them in Virginia the following year... Well, the next year I ended up going on an Alaskan cruise with my family, so I pushed back my plans to visit until 2009.  Before I started making trip preparations in 2009, Boise State announced they would be playing Virginia Tech in the Washington Redskins stadium in the fall of 2010 - I just HAD to delay my trip one more year because how cool would it be to watch that game!?!  So I requested my vacation time an entire year in advance and made the trip happen.

I had such a wonderful 8 days visiting friends, cheering on my Broncos, and seeing the sights.  I took a red eye into DC (thanks to the whiny three-year-old on my row, I will NEVER do that again without ear plugs or noise canceling headphones!)... I landed in DC early Saturday morning and Tim and I immediately started our day.  We began with a trip to the Original Pancake House for breakfast.  I had gingerbread pancakes.  I think they may have been the best pancakes I've ever had.  Mmmmm.  They made me excited for fall.  And football.

In case you're wondering, I wore Boise State clothes pretty much the entire trip :-)

Next, we took the metro into downtown to see some of the monuments.  I asked someone to take a picture of Tim and me in front of the Washington Monument.  I could tell by the angle of the camera that he only got like an inch of the monument in the picture.  Seriously?  The monument was the entire point of the picture!

After our picture taker walked off, I asked someone else to get a picture.  As he handed the camera back to me, he informed me that the monument was coming straight out of my head.  Um, thanks???  I would have been more than happy to take a step sideways!  Oh well.

Next up was the World War II Memorial.  I thought this memorial was beautiful - it was definitely my favorite.  It was new since the last time I was in DC.  There was a pillar with a wreath for each state.

We then headed to the Lincoln Memorial.  I should probably mention that the entire day we saw TONS of blue and orange.  Boise State was definitely represented in DC.  I proudly said "Go Broncos" whenever I saw fellow fans :-)

Saturday evening, Tim and I went to a polo match!  I was excited to watch this sport, as it's definitely not something I can see out west.  It was interesting to watch (although we couldn't see that well and it seemed rather slow... at least compared to the football game we watched a couple days later!)  It was especially fun to meet up with Jen and her brother Morgan - they were also in DC to watch the game and visit a friend.  After the polo match, Tim and I wandered around Clarendon and Georgetown - DC sure has an exciting nightlife!  We met some Virginia Tech fans (one of which didn't want me to go inside a club because of my BSU shirt!) who admitted they were nervous for the game.  I was definitely nervous too...

The next morning, we visited the temple grounds before church.  The Washington DC temple sure is beautiful.  And the grounds were amazing too.  I would love to go inside... next time!

Monday was game day.  Tim and I proudly drove around with our Boise State car flags flapping in the wind.  We spent the morning in Old Town Alexandria.  My favorite part was watching this man play music with glasses of water - it was really incredible!  I should have taken video, but a picture will have to suffice.

And I absolutely loved the art gallery area (not really a gallery, but more a collection of little shops housing different artists).  I bought some cool coasters as a souvenir.  The stairs in the gallery area were my favorite:

That night was the game (of course!).  It was definitely the highlight of my trip.  I cheered so much, I sounded like a man for the next couple of days.  I am still smiling about the win.  In case you didn't see it, you should at least watch the final drive.  And if you did see it, it's definitely worth watching again (and again, and again)!  I loved how the top twitter words the next day were Kellen Moore, Boise State, etc.

Tim and I celebrated the Bronco win the next day by getting Georgetown Cupcakes.  I loved how Tim wanted to leave the Boise State flags up on his car :-)  And can you see my blue and orange fingernails in the picture below?  And my Boise State watch?  Anyway, I thought I was in heaven as I bit into the Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcake... I know, it doesn't sound very good, but I wished I had about 100 more.  Yes, it was that delicious.  We also got some to share with Corinne and Drew, since I would be heading to their house later that night!

I ended my time with Tim by driving by the White House (next time I'll have to schedule a tour way in advance!) and having lunch at the Founding Farmers restaurant - a restaurant where the food is locally grown and organic.  I had the salmon - SO good!

I spent the next few days with Corinne and Drew and their kids.  We had fun shopping and talking and catching up.  My last day in DC, Drew and I went to Mount Vernon.  It was such a neat experience visiting the home of our first president on the anniversary of 9/11.

The property was MUCH larger than I expected, and everything was just beautiful.  We saw everything from the gardens to the "Necessary" (toilet building that had enough room for three people at once!), the stable, the tomb, etc.  Drew and I liked this "Riding Chair" - it was kind of funny picturing President George Washington sitting on that chair!  Reminded us of Santa and his sleigh :-)  We also visited the Gristmill and Distillery and learned all about how George Washington made his money! 

On my flight home that night, there had to have been about 25-30 Boise State fans (at least!).  I loved how the flight attendant gave a special welcome to all the BSU fans.  Of course we cheered.  Then one person called out "Boise" and the rest of us responded with "State" - and we repeated this a few times.  I'm sure the other passengers were thrilled :-)  Thanks again to Tim, Corinne, and Drew for letting me stay with you - I had a lovely time!  Oh, and Go Broncos!