Heading to the District

We have a friend in Washington DC, and she refers to it as "the district," so I thought I'd call it that, and talk like a local. 

First, let me say that it was so cool yesterday that we rode with the windows rolled up all day and the vents open. Thank goodness for cool fronts!

We slept so well last night that we overslept this morning.  We had wanted to be on the road by 8, but instead woke up at 7;45. Oops.  We really needed the sleep though, and I want to be well rested going to DC, because there's so much to see.  

We ran into thru-hikers at breakfast!  Brightside and Ascender are their trail names.   She has just graduated college, and he was having to head back to college in August, so they are just hiking as far north as NY.  

After checking out, we got on the road to head to DC, and couldn't wait to see Elise and Daniel. She was going to meet us at the house we were going to stay at, and hopefully we'd get to see Daniel later in the afternoon, as he was working. 

Daniel is about to begin his third year at Duke Law School, and this summer was hired as a summer associate at Gibson Dunn, a firm here in DC.   Elise was able to work on her social psych PhD work wherever she needed to, so she was able to spend the ten weeks here with him as well.   Lucky for us, Elise will be able to take time to be our tour guide, as we've never been to DC.  

As we headed north on I-81 out of Daleville, we noticed the ridge of mountains to the east that paralleled us the entire way, and it was all along that ridge that we had hiked two years ago, from Front Royal, all the way through Shenandoah Nat'l Park.   Here's the ridge line:

 It may not look like much, but it sure does when you are up on top!

Soon, we reached DC, and found our home for the next week:

Cute as can be!  And we have the top floor to ourselves.  We found it on www.airbnb.  If you have not checked it out, you should.  The couple who owns it also welcomes dogs, so while we are sightseeing. Saleen can hang out with Lea, the owner, and her dog and two cats.  Kind of a perfect set up for our situation.  Plus she's in a very nice neighborhood, so no worries with the car. 

Oh, my brother asked for more car photos, so:

Before we could even get unloaded, there was Elise on the front porch!  It was so good to hug her!!!   She created a sight-seeing plan for the week, and we got Saleen introduced  to Zozo, the resident dog, and headed off to the Metro to see our first sights!  Since the Metro is walking distance from the house, and the traffic here is rather, well, congested, we are able to just park the car for the week. 

First, the son-in-law!  He broke free from his work to say hello. 

Then, we had to wave to the first family in front of their home, and saw the sites all up and down the National Mall:  the Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, and loved walking along the reflection pool.  With the cool front, it was a cool, cool, breezy day!

Then we stopped by to get Daniel after work at their apartment, and walked down to a nearby restaurant, the Mad Hatter, to eat.  It was all wonderful, and even though our feet were so very tired, we had such a good day.