Washington DC - Friday

Friday, we went to Georgetown!

Walking around these historic neighborhoods, the old churches, and along the waterfront of the Potomac River was so cool. There is such a sense of history in this section of DC.  So many houses and row homes had plaques on their sides - indicating they had a story to tell, that they'd be there for a long, long time.

I saw things I knew once had a purpose, but were no longer used.

This was, by far, one of the most fascinating neighborhoods I've had the pleasure of walking around.

Washington DC - Thursday

On Thursday, my conference organizers hosted an "end of the conference" evening of entertainment.  It sounds like we went to a circus or something, but really it was a tour - Monuments by Moonlight.  I was excited to see all the monuments but was kind of bummed for two main reasons - it would be dark so I wouldn't get many good pictures and because it was a bus tour, I knew we weren't going to stop at each monument which I really wanted to do. It ended up being a really good tour and I really enjoyed myself and everything I got to see.

I had to get one picture in of my hotel - The Hilton Mark Center.  I was somewhere in the middle on the 15th floor.

Side view of the Lincoln Memorial, which was the first monument we stopped at.  Before this, we had driven by the White House, the Jefferson Memorial, Washington Monument, and the WWII Memorial. Doesn't the sky look creepy?!

Front view of the Lincoln Memorial (sorry for the not-so-good picture quality).

The names of the states are engraved on the top...if you can zoom in...Oregon was right out in front!

Mr. Honest Abe - larger than life.

Abe and me...the person taking the picture couldn't quite get him focused.  :o)

Something to meditate on while in his place.

The Korean War Memorial...the lifesize images of soldiers in formation was really something.

There was also a Nurse's Memorial for those who served in WWII (I think).  Someone put carnations in one of the fallen soldier's hand (the nurse was holding a fallen soldier).

This book lists all the names of those who died or are missing still from the Vietnam War. So many pages, multiple columns per page...

There are so many names on this wall...

...someone's brother, son, sister, husband, wife...it's just so sad.

A fuzzy picture of the Washington Monument from outside the Lincoln Memorial.  See the Capitol in the background?  It's all in a straight line - Capitol, Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial.

We also saw the Marine Corp Monument (the statue of the men raising the flag at Iwo Jima).

AND.

FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER.

I saw fireflies!!!!!!

We are really starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel with our main floor remodel.  All the "big" stuff seems to be done and we're now working on the little finishing things like grouting, installing trim, caulking, sealing the stone and grout lines, painting and putting things back together. Mark hates finishing projects - I love them.  So, I have been the one pushing and motivating us to get this done. (Mark is gung-ho about the big stuff.) Our deadline of having everything done before my parents come up is thankfully still very realistic!  

Here's some of what we've been up to:

We installed the tub backsplash. (This picture is pre-grout....and cleaning.)

Mark plumbed in the bathroom sinks and I installed the sink backsplash.

And before we knew it, we had a real working bathroom!

The rugs on the ground are from our hallway - they were just here because we don't have a rug(s) for in front of the sink yet.

This is totally off topic, but do you see those clear plastic thingies holding up the mirrors? I DESPISE those things...no idea why, but Mark is going to glue the mirrors to the wall so they will look better (to me anyway).

It is a 100% working bathroom, but that doesn't mean it's 100% done.  We still have to:

• install the cabinet hardware
• fix my mirrors
• redo the window trim
• paint the trim
• paint the walls
• decorate

All I can say is that you know you've been remodeling for a long time when on the first night you can use a bathroom sink again, you braindeadedly go to the tub faucet to wash your face and brush your teeth.  :o)  Yeah, I did that.   

Washington DC - Monday

I spent Monday on the Capitol side of the mall. I saw the Capitol, Union Station, the Botanical Garden, the Senate Buildings, the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court building. Monday was also Flag Day, so I tried to get a lot of pictures of flags as I walked around.

{lights? nope! cameras.}

You can't help but feel very patriotic walking around Washington DC, especially on Flag Day!