Week 1 in D.C

Within 24 hours after landing from Thailand, we made it to Washington D.C. where I spend my time touring all day long while Neil works :)

TUESDAY

I started off with a run on the first day and headed in the direction of the Lincoln Memorial. The weather was nice and the view even better. Running is a good way to get to know the city, too!

WEDNESDAY

By the second day I had mastered the Metro.

 And I headed to the National Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.

 I visited the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts where I got a private tour.

 The ceiling of the Opera Theater.

 President's suite.

 I visited my first Smithsonian - the Renwick Museum. It mostly consists of arts and crafts and decor. I knew Neil would mind missing out on this one :)

 This piece is called "Game Fish" and is made up entirely of game pieces - dominoes, dice, monopoly pieces, etc.

THURSDAY

Neil was off for the 4th and I had a touring buddy. 

We headed to the Spy Museum.

 Aston Martin from the James Bond movie.

 Neil tried his hand at disarming a nuclear bomb...it only took two tries.

We headed across the street to the Museum of Art.

FRIDAY

The next day I visited the U.S Botanical Gardens.

 Where I ran into Thai memories :)

 Right across the street was the Library of Congress. It is a beautiful place!

 This is the actual library reading room.

 I had a book with me so I had to read here of course!

The Bible of Mainz and The Gutenberg Bible were on display too.

The next day I headed to the Hirshwin Museum of Modern Art, another Smithsonian. 

 SATURDAY

We headed to the Museum of Natural History.

 The Hope Diamond - 45 carats!

  We happened to run across the Post Office Pavillion.

 You take an elevator up to the 12th floor to a great view of all of D.C.

SUNDAY

We visited the Holocaust Museum. No pictures allowed.

 We are about two blocks away from the Kennedy Center so we headed down there for one of their daily free concerts. The show was a Beat boxer who was very entertaining.

We have done so much this week. Its hard to believe we still have 4 weeks left!

Independence Day in D.C.

I got to check off another item on my bucket list.

We spent the 4th of July in Washington D.C! We went to watch at the Lincoln Memorial!

 How cool is that?

 We started walking around 8:15 thinking that we were going to have to fight through a crowd just to stand the entire time but we found a nice field with just a few people. These pictures do not do ANY justice to the magnitude of the show. It was the biggest, loudest, fireworks show I have ever seen! It felt as you could reach out and touch them. It was as if, you were in a planetarium or something. It felt like every series was the finale....until the finale occured! There was no mistaking it. They even spelled out U - S - A in fireworks!

 

FYI - The Washington Monument is under construction right now.

A good time was had by all and it is an Independence Day I will never forget.

So thankful!

Thailand Day 4: Phuket

The next few days were spent in Phuket, an island south of Bangkok. We stayed at the Adaman White Beach Resort. I found it researching online and purchased through Hotels.com and it did not disappoint!  There will be a post about hotel reviews in the future but for now, just enjoy the view

 

 

 

 Another anniversary picture since we were not sure if we would get the other one back.

Lots of time to catch up on reading.

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult was great!

Two Kisses for Maddie was a tear jerker.