A Monumental Birthday

This month I turned 23. I know.

One of the benefits of having a birthday close to New Years Day is, more often then not, I get the day off from school. Will was at school in the morning, but then he had a genius last minute idea. We headed into Washington, DC to see all the fabulous monuments. Bucket List!!!!

Prepare for picture overload. And no apologies for that. It's not my fault I got to spend my birthday in one of the most incredible cities in the world. I had to document it. For the good of humanity!

We boarded the metro in Vienna and our first stop was Arlington National Cemetery. In the interest of seeing as much as possible in one day, we only made two stops there--the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Kennedys.

The lady at the visitor's center said the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier started in ten minutes and it generally takes twenty minutes to walk there. Challenge accepted! We arrived with thirty seconds to spare. The whole ceremony took ten minutes. This was a refreshing change from the thirty minute Changings of the Guard I experience in London. America got it right.

Next we paid a visit to the Pentagon. No pictures from that stop because there were signs everywhere that said No Pictures, and we value our lives. Death by Pentagon sniper, simply for using a camera phone. No thanks. Instead, Will snapped a photo of the Pentagon metro stop. Compromise.

Next, we headed to a Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives location for lunch. Oohhs and Aahs, just north of the Mall. Oh. My. Gosh. The best food I have had in my life. Let me say that again. The BEST food I have had in my entire life. We will definitely be repeat customers! FIVE HUMONGOUS STARS!!

We ate up on the top level.

The previous paragraph may seem like a lot of buildup for just two pictures, but isn't a picture worth a thousand words? Actually, this may be one case where neither pictures nor words are enough. You just have to come eat the food. But I'll give words a shot:

In the picture above you, directly in front, is Will's lunch. Six massive BBQ wings swimming in sauce. This sauce is so good, he actually considered balling up the tin foil and taking it home with us so he could use every last drop. That little bowl is cheese and grits. Let's talk about grits. I may have been born in the South, but I was not raised on food like this and I have only had grits twice in my life. The first time, Will ordered them one time at Ihop and I had a bite. They were nasty. Tasted like watery bland nothing. So I was a little apprehensive about these grits, but they were dynamite. Creamy, rich, and with a hint of corn. It almost had the consistency of rice pudding. Wow. Finally, we reach the cornbread. We each had our own piece and they were both that big. It's shiny because it's warm and fresh and buttery. Clearly homemade, you could taste the corn. Yummmmm.

That was just Will's lunch. You can see my lunch in the background of the picture. I also got six wings, but I chose the buffalo sauce. When the server brought them he looked me in the eye and said "Now, I don't want you messing with my buffalo sauce. You hear me? I don't want you asking for no blue cheese, no ranch, nothing. You don't mess with my sauce. You try some and if you can't handle the heat, then I'll get you some ranch or something." Don't worry; I didn't mess with the buffalo sauce. After a speech like that, how could I? Even though they had some real heat to them, I didn't even ask for blue cheese. My face was bright red and my stuffy nose had cleared up by the end of the meal, but they tasted so good I didn't even care. I also had the mac and cheese. The same mac and cheese that has been named the best mac and cheese in DC twice. It was cheesy and delicious. And it had this background flavor that was almost tangy, like sour cream or mustard or something… I don't even know. I'll have to go back and eat it ten or fifty more times to figure it out.

In case you haven't caught on yet, it was the best Triple D place we have been to and I personally believe they should all be that incredible. If you're in the area, or even if you're not, get to Oohhs and Aahs. Wow.

After a very filling lunch, we hit the National Mall. At this point it began to sprinkle, but we pressed on, undeterred by freezing temps and cold rain.

The National Archives. Didn't stop there, but that's on the list for our next trip to DC.

Photo courtesy of Will Davis...

Yay Washington Monument!!

This was as close we could get. Will actually snapped this photo while half-climbing up the chain link fence surrounding the monument. We'll have to come back when all the scaffolding is gone.

After walking around the Mall and seeing all the joggers, I have a new bucket list item. Now that we live here, at some point I must run the Mall just like any of these other runners. Stay posted on that one.

This was as close as we got on this trip. Can you see the National Tree in the yard? 

After walking down the path from the Capitol to the Washington Monument and passing by the White House, we arrived at the World War II Memorial. It was massive. So massive, that I only took a few pictures. I was just enjoying the majesty of it all.

Will got in front of the Wall of Bronze Stars while I was trying to snap a photo. He says this is his Protest Pose. Whatever that means.

From WWII we moved onto Vietnam. I have been dying to see this memorial ever since I took AP Art History as a junior. Six years. This one was a long time coming. And it did not disappoint.

From here, we moved to the Lincoln Memorial. At this point it was raining pretty steadily, so forgive my messy hair.

This may have been my favorite stop of the day. The sculpture and building are just so massive and powerful. And what Abraham Lincoln represents really is incredible. Those words on the wall have real power behind them. It was awesome, in the truest sense of the word.

Whenever we visit a historical site, I release my inner nerd and tell Will absolutely everything he never wanted to know about the location, the people, etc. I guess someone overheard my chatter and though I knew a thing or two because while I was reading Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address on the wall (not pictured) a tourist grabbed my arm and asked if I knew who said all this. Taken aback, I said, "Lincoln. That guy." I pointed to the statue behind us and he said "Cool. Thanks." No problem buddy. Do you know where you are? Go America. The future is bright with guys like that around...

Looking up the Reflecting Pool to the Washington Monument in that last picture, it should be clear that it was very very wet. But I was not going home until we had seen all we came to see. Onward and upward to the Korean War Memorial!

I felt a special kinship with these guys in the ponchos. We were all getting wet together.

The shadows in this picture are some Korean tourists. It was kind of poetic to be at the memorial at the same time they were and watch them take pictures and experience the monument.

The last stop I wanted to make was the Jefferson Memorial. On the way we also stopped by the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.

This is a great phrase to describe Dr. King. And I love this picture with the Jefferson Memorial in the background.

We walked all the way around the Tidal Basin to get to the Jefferson Memorial. It's farther than it looks. Particularly when its raining and the cherry trees aren't in bloom.

Bad picture quality, but this is a fox.

 Another first for this trip, I saw my first living, breathing fox. He was big too. As we were coming up to the Jefferson Memorial he popped out of the bushes, scavenging for food. It was actually a bit nerve-wracking. Was he that close because people are no big deal or because he's sick? He got within just a few feet of us at one point and we took off, running to the steps of the Memorial. He stayed right with us for a while, before finally heading off to the edge of the water. Freaky.

By this point it was snowing. We rushed back to the metro and then drove two hours through driving snow to home and cheesecake.

It was probably the greatest birthday I have ever had. Thanks to Will for coming up with such an incredible idea! I am the luckiest girl, to live in Northern VA and to have a husband who is willing to traipse all over DC in the craziest weather because his wife is a crazy history nerd.

If you made it through this entire blog post, with all its pictures and stories, you deserve a reward. Go get yourself some soul food at Oohhs and Aahhs.

Theme Song: Born in the USA, Bruce Springsteen