adventure- days 1,2,3&4

we're finally on spring break. just getting to it was an adventure full of late nights (all nights), libraries, paper formatting, and frustration. 
for the week of break, elise and i flew to washington dc to hang out with her dad and spend time in a city i've never been to.
saturday- day 1
we got to lax with so much time to people watch. it was great, we loved it. our flight was to nashville, we had a quick little layover, and on to dc. reagan, not dulles. love it. i couldn't handle dulles again, as much as i loved the africa trip. 
anyway. everything went perfectly until we got off our plane in nashville and noticed we had a 3 hour delay. it was actually great because we had time to get dinner. 
but after a few hours, starbucks, and a cookie, we were ready to get on. and they cancelled our flight.
so, we did what everyone does when they have a cancelled flight. we called our dads! love them. we ended up taking a shuttle to a hotel. it was kinda fun! we had a night in nashville. something unexpected!

our balcony view!

sunday-day 2 
we got off no problem in the morning.

waiting for our plane...again!

our flight was fast. we were in washington dc in no time! and we were greeted right outside the gates by elise's dad. so, so lovely to be welcomed so warmly even though i was across the country from home! he had a full day of activities scheduled for us and didn't let the late start stop him from getting them all done. before lunch we had a crash course of washington dc. i was instantly enthralled with the city. it's beautiful, historic, and bustling!
we had a delicious lunch after our quick tour, then went to old town alexandria. precious. my mom would seriously love it. beautiful row houses, all done in brick. love it. we took a boat ferry from alexandria to georgetown, which i think is my biggest love of dc. it's so fun, has such great shopping, and has delicious restaurants. including georgetown cupcakes, where dc cupcakes (of tlc) is filmed..

georgetown cupcakes' door.

we also got drinks and sat on the edge of the potomac. 

life doesn't get much better than this!

on our way home we walked through george washington's church. so legit! i wish you could do this kind of thing in california.

kinda hard to see. but so cool!

monday-day 3
another day full of washington dc highlights! 
we started the morning at arlington national cemetery. it was really cool (i guess?) to see the thousands of graves. i didn't really like when they had their little babies buried with them. it made me sad they died so young. elise really loved watching the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier.

there were rows and rows of these!

it was a day full of walking, which made me feel less touristy. we walked across a bridge (maybe an important one?) and visited most important things. the washington monument, the lincoln monument, the korean war monument, the world war II monument. i might have forgotten one. but it was really good to see all of the important things in real life, as opposed to pictures or movies. i loved it. 

oh abe. thank you!

way too tall for all of this to fit in one picture!

then we went to the holocaust museum. that was rough. there's one in la, so i kind of knew what i was getting myself into. but this one was much more in depth. at least than what i remembered. we've been learning a little about the holocaust in one of my classes, and it was nice to have background, and put pictures to events we've been talking about. 
to end our day, we went through the smithsonian's air and space museum. loved it so much. i'm convinced i'm going to be a pilot. maybe a sniper pilot. but mr.aebischer loved talking with me about airplanes. and bones. so that was fun. and i'm serious about flying.

my new mode of transportation.

tuesday- day 4
elise and i were out on our own today. it was hilarious. after having a rough time catching the bus, we finally got it together and bussed/metroed downtown. we walked around. a lot. we went to ford's theatre, and saw the outside of where president lincoln was shot. then we walked past the national archive place, but the line was way, way too long. then we went to the white house and played where's waldo, but with snipers. so fun! 
we kept walking, saw lots of important buildings, and ended at the smithsonian american history museum. we loved the wing of first ladies. some of their dresses for inaugural balls were seriously out of control. 

dorthy's shoes!

tonight we went to a coffee shop in old town alexandria (i think) called buzz. so legit. they even had gluten free cupcakes. perfect!


thats that. the beginning of our adventure. i'm loving every minute!