Our weekend getaway to Washington, D.C.

Last week/weekend, Luke and I took Thursday and Friday off from work and drove down to Washington, D.C. for a long weekend with some friends. This was sort of a Sara's birthday/our friends' anniversary/we all need a weekend away from life kind of trip and it was exactly what Luke and I needed!!

{View from our hotel room}

I had forgotten how beautiful DC is! It had been over 10 years since I'd last visited and Luke had never been. In addition to being saturated in our country's history and American pride, DC is an awesome city for your professionals to live/work in and it has a really fun restaurant/coffee shop/bar scene. We stayed at the Washington Hilton and I would totally recommend this hotel to anyone!

{I love the cherry blossoms in the spring!}

We stayed three nights, but didn't get into town until closer to dinner time on Thursday. Knowing that Friday and Saturday would be our only two full days in Washington, D.C., we spent all day Friday visiting touristy sites. We took the metro over to the Arlington National Cemetery, where we watched the changing of the guard. We also walked through the National Mall and Memorial Parks (Washington, Lincoln, Vietnam, WW2, etc) and even made a quick stop into the National Museum of Natural History. We did a TON of walking on that first day and I'm pretty sure we all felt like our knees/ankles/feet we're going to fall off! 

We also ate some really amazing food that day. I have to admit that my pub onion soup at lunch was by far my favorite!

{Warm doughnuts with caramel and chocolate dipping sause after dinner on Friday night. SO YUM!}

On Saturday, the four of us tackled the Smithsonian National Zoo and it was amazing! DC's zoo is free to the public, but this does not mean it is mediocre in the least. It is actually a very nice place and we had the best time walking around out in the sunshine feeling like kids again! We ate over-priced chicken fingers and french fries for lunch and, of course, Luke had to have Dippin' Dots, ha! Zoo food at it's finest. 

After the zoo and a ton more walking, we decided to start walking back towards our hotel so that we could rest up and get ready for a fun last night in DC, but of course, the girls had to make a quick stop into Lou Lou Boutique, the cutest little shop just a couple of blocks from our hotel. Our sweet boys suffered through and I'm so glad we stopped! I picked up a couple pairs of earrings and a beautiful, spring-inspired infinity scarf for my birthday. :)

For dinner on Saturday night, the four of us walked down to Tortilla Coast, a popular Mexican food restaurant in DC. It was like HEAVEN for these displaced Texas kids just dying for fajitas, enchiladas, and margaritas! We toasted to birthdays, anniversaries, and a great weekend in Washington, D.C.

Waking up early on Sunday morning so that we could get back to Jersey and pick up our furbabies from the doggy boarding place was a rough wake-up call (a little too much fun? nahhh!), but we were excited to get home and relax the rest of the weekend. As we were driving home, Luke and I could not stop talking about how much fun we had and ranking our favorite places we visited. I think that is a sign of a successful, long weekend getaway!  Our 2nd anniversary is quickly approaching and I'm already thinking about a weekend trip to...? Any suggestions??

Until next time DC! :)