A lot of people have asked if I went to Washington, D.C., for work purposes, but this was strictly for fun — and fun it was. When I started planning the trip back in January, I called Fifth District Congressional District Rep. Virginia Foxx’s office to see if I could get in for a White House tour. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to go on that tour because it was already booked up in advance. But that’s OK, my workout buddy — a friend from church, Jessica Slate — and I covered a lot of ground and got to see a lot of D.C.
Our adventure started out early Thursday morning when I picked Jessica up at her house at 2 a.m. We headed to Greensboro where we were to catch the Amtrak train at 4 a.m. Unfortunately, there was a vehicle fire on the side of the highway at Rural Hall and we sat still for about 20 minutes. So when we got to the train station, we got up to the platform just as the train pulled into the station.
By the time we arrived at Union Station, we had only gotten a couple hours sleep. Once we arrived in D.C., I got another hour-and-a-half of sleep before we headed out to the Capitol to hopefully see the last vote on the health care bill. I was in Congress when it passed the first time back in November, so it seemed kind of ironic that they were voting on it again during this visit.
We visited Foxx’s office to get gallery passes to get into Congress. She was already in a meeting at the Capitol, so we didn’t get to meet her until later in the day. We got to watch about two hours of debate in Congress and even Mrs. Foxx spoke passionately against the passage of the bill. My friend had never been inside Congress before and I could sense her excitement.
We got to go in to see the Senate for the first time. We just missed seeing a quorum, which is a vote where every member has to be present, but we met a nice guide who told us about the history of the room and answered all of our questions.
The next day, we headed out to visit Arlington National Cemetery where my friend from my high school days, Christian Hinkle, plays “Taps” at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We got to watch the changing of the guard and he played “Taps” for two different wreath laying ceremonies.
Christian arranged for us to go on a tour where the soldiers train to be on guard duty at the tomb. We learned that only about one out of 15 soldiers makes it through the program. After that behind-the-scenes tour, he drove us through the cemetery to look at different points of interest. We even saw a horse-drawn caisson while there. Our final destination in the cemetery was the Kennedy grave sites with the eternal flame.
From there I said good-bye to my friend and we walked out across the Arlington Memorial Bridge. It was breezy and cold that day, so by the time we got to the Lincoln Monument, we were feeling wind-whipped and hungry. Although I carried a guidebook with a map in my bag, I let Jessica lead the quest for lunch. I have never had any luck with finding food in D.C.
In the matter of a few blocks, we came upon a place that I knew was perfect. It was called the Founding Farmers, on Pennsylvania Avenue near 19th Street. It was the best lunch I have ever had.
From there we walked by the Blair House and then to the White House. We were threatening to climb the fence, but feeling like we would be shot by the guards, we decided against that idea. We headed off to Lafayette Park where we stumbled upon some hungry and very friendly squirrels. Jessica had packed trail mix in her backpack that day, so she offered up some nuts to our little furry friends. We quickly learned that these were city squirrels, not your garden variety Surry County squirrels. They were very polite squirrels and I got a very good comic reel of photographs of Jessica feeding the little guys. By the end we were both laughing hysterically. Who knew feeding the squirrels could be so much fun?
After our big squirrel adventure, we moved on to a hotel I had always wanted to visit, The W. It was such a cool, hip place to hang out. There were red leather sofas and zebra stripped tables. There was a DJ in the lobby playing cool tunes. I later learned that rooms start out at about $350 a night in the posh resort hotel. We had fun people-watching for a little while and if it hadn’t been for our sneakers, we would have felt right at home.
From there we headed down a street in Penn Quarter, which was a shopping Mecca. We found an H&M store, which Jessica told me only are located in large cities. We got some good deals shopping and then headed back to our accommodations.
Later that night, we discovered a neat little old English-type pub around the corner where we could grab a late night bite to eat. The weird thing about this place was that while the setting was old English, the music was extremely loud techno-funk. I know I’m getting a little old, but I really do enjoy the ambiance of a good old English pub and the music was totally throwing off the vibe.
On Saturday, we ventured out to see the cherry tree blossoms, but we got an excellent surprise when we came out of the Metro tunnel to find that the National Mall from the Washington Monument to the Capitol was jammed packed with kites. It was such an awesome sight. Unfortunately, it didn’t have the same effect in photographs as it did in person.
The crowds for the Cherry Blossom Festival were mind-blowing, but we picked out a spot on the edge of the Tidal Basin and took some time just to take it all in. Next we headed over toward the World War II monument, which is one of the most visually stunning monuments there. I got a little teary eyed thinking of the day I visited there last on the Triad Flight of Honor back in October.
Saturday was a clear and sunny day, but it was a bit cool still. So we warmed up by walking the length of the reflecting pool down to the Lincoln Memorial. This was by far Jessica’s favorite sight of the day. We took in the Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam Wall before heading back.
No doubt there is a lot of walking to do in our nation’s capital. We used the Metro system as much as possible and I have done it so many times now, I actually feel comfortable figuring out which trains go where. I still don’t like the noise the trains make when they sound like they are about ready to crash.
On our last night on the town, we got all dressed up and headed out to find a fancy restaurant to have our last meal in town. We ended up at Tosca, a very cool Italian place where I’m really, really sure the waiter makes about 10 times my salary. Dinner was amazing, the service was outstanding and the whole experience was one that I will never forget.
Early Sunday morning, we headed out to Union Station to catch our train home. Little did we realize that unlike the trip up that took only five hours, the trip back took seven long hours. So many people have asked about our trip on Amtrak, that I’ve decided to make that into a whole separate column. Check back next week.
Now that I’m home, I’m feeling blessed that I had the chance to get away, make some great memories with a wonderful friend and to have learned even more about our nation’s capital. But, getting away always reminds me that there’s no place like home.
Mondee Tilley is a staff reporter with The Mount Airy News. She can be reached at mtilley@mtairynews.com or at 719-1930.
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