Weekend in DC

This past weekend, my daughter received her MBA from Georgetown University.   My sister, BIL, older daughter and and Carolyn’s dad and step mom were with us which gave the weekend a real vacation feel.  We were very fortunate that the weather was on the cool and dry side.  In fact, with the exception of down pours on Thursday night and a few sprinkles on Friday night, the weather was wonderful.

 The Graduation was held indoors and followed by a reception for grads and families at the university.  It was great to meet some of my daughter’s friends.  Later our family group had a fabulous dinner at La Chaumiere Restaurant in Georgetown, where most of us ordered the soft-shelled crab special.   After dinner we had drinks at small boutique hotel’s rooftop bar that had some pretty neat views of Georgetown and DC.  We also made it to the rooftop bar at the W Hotel, just down the street from the white house.  This bar has amazing views of the Washington Monument. 

Saturday morning we had our long-awaited white house tour which, aside from seeing my sweet girl receive her degree, was the highlight of the weekend.  After waiting four months for the tickets to come through, I just wanted to linger and take everything in.  Unfortunately, picture taking is not allowed inside but my sister and I both wished there was a garden tour because what we could see of the gardens through the windows was enchanting.  There are small seating areas and planting that you never see in pictures.  Each of the rooms we toured had a beautiful flower arrangement that complimented the room’s color scheme and decor. We were told that the white house employs 35 florists that create these amazing arrangements based on the seasons .   The arrangements we saw contained many different rose colors and varieties, as well as peonies, ranunculus, foliage and some exotic lily species, but there was also some spirea and hydrangea blossoms that probably came right from the white house shrubbery.   Several tall vases in the dining room were covered with English ivy leaves just overlapped in a spiral fashion.  

After the white house tour on Saturday morning, we walked all of the major monuments until we couldn’t walk anymore then it was a cab ride to BSF in Foggy Bottom for delicious burgers, shakes and sweet potato fries, and a trip to the National Cathedral which was cut short when my sister realized that she had left her iPhone in the cab we’d taken earlier.   Fortunately, we did get the phone back later that night thanks to a very kind cab driver. 

  Sunday morning we were up early to get tickets for the newly re-opened Washington Monument.  The views from the top give you a true perspective of the scale of Washington DC and how the city is laid out.   We spotted a few things from up there that we missed on the ground but the best view was of the white house and Capital.  On the elevator ride down the lights are turned off so that you can see the construction details of the tower and the dedication plaques on the inside walls.   Eventually the stairwell will be opened in the 755 ft. obelisk for guided walking tours.  The monument had been closed for repairs since 2009 or 2010, after an earthquake caused structural damage.  It’s only been reopened since April of this year.