Visiting Washington DC has always been on our radar but until recently has only been something we’ve driven through on the way to or from our yearly trips to Florida. Each pass through is usually accompanied with some bewilderment of the monuments that we can see from the road, with some longing to actually visit them someday and spend a weekend doing some sightseeing and museum hopping. When one of Elise’s favorite artists was performing at the newly revitalized Lincoln Theater on Valentine’s Day, it gave us the opportunity to make such a trip happen.

United States Capitol
I snapped this pic of the Capitol while walking down Pennsylvania Avenue on the way to the Smithsonian. It’s crazy that you can happen upon a view like this at just about any turn while walking around the streets of DC.

National Museum of Natural History
The National Museum of Natural History had some great exhibits for both of us from Dinos and Mammals to Human Origins and the Genome. Inexplicably Elise chose to have her picture taken next to a triceratops, a notably lesser dinosaur than my T-Rex.

The Lincoln Theater
We debated on going straight to the Museum of American History afterwards but decided to leave that for the next day. After dinner we headed to the Lincoln Theater for Jennifer Nettles first show of her solo tour. I’ve taken Elise to a couple of Sugarland shows now and this one definitely had a completely different vibe than those in the past. Her latest album, That Girl, is much less upbeat than in her Sugarland days and the solo concert reflects that with ballads like “Falling” and “A Good Time to Cry”, although things did pick up when she offered snippets of “All I Want to Do,” “Baby Girl,” “Something More” and a few covers from the 70s mixed in.

National Museum of American History

The Museum of American History offered more great exhibits, including the flag that Inspired the Star Spangled Banner, America on the Move, Power Machinery, and FOOD: Transforming the American Table.

The White House
Having spent the past couple of days in DC and not actually seeing The White House, after leaving the Museum of American History we drove around until we could actually find the building. A few wrong turns here and there and we ended up at our destination. The resulting picture, at the top of this post, is my favorite picture of the trip.

Washington Monument
Lastly, on the way out of town I was able to snap one more picture of the Washington Monument to go along with the one I took from our hotel’s heated rooftop bar (through a sheet of plastic, I apologize).

Stay tuned for my next post on DC Food and Drink.