DC

Each year I get to go on a business trip for work.  It is a lot of work leading up to it and at the event but it is something I enjoy doing.  I enjoy teaching and meeting our clients and seeing my coworkers.  I've been to various locations over the years (Florida, San Diego, Arizona, Florida, Arizona, Florida...wait, do I see a pattern developing??).  This year, our conference was in Washington DC.

The first time I went to DC, I was in 8th grade.  A group of students went with our history teacher (and some chaperons, but I seriously could only name the history teacher if you pressed me for names) - a rather impressive man that left a great impression on me.  I remember at the time how big of a deal it was for me to be going on this trip.  My parents wanted to make sure I was able to go and they were as excited about me going as I was.  It was the very first time I'd ever flown before.  I remember knowing at the time that Mom and Dad were giving me something they never had but I don't think it really hit home until I was flying in to DC this time and the reality of how much my parents had done, over the years, to give me more than they had really sunk in.  That, coupled with the reminder of how much I miss Mom and the amazing colors of the tree tops as we got closer and began descending, made for an emotional and thankful beginning to the trip. 

Thanks to my dad, I've always loved history.  He is a big history buff and has passed down his love and appreciation to me (even though I give him tremendous amounts of grief about seeing Custer's Battlefield 8 times - no, I'm not joking people).  I relished every aspect of that first trip to DC and appreciated where I was and what I was seeing.  This trip was similar with only a small change - I wished with all my heart that Roger, the girls and my dad had been there with me.  I think it would be so much fun and so very cool for the girls to get to see DC with their Pawpa.  Somehow, we'll make it happen.

For most of our conference trips, we don't ever get to venture too far from our hotel.  (The Gaylord National Harbor on this particular trip) 

We have one evening during the trip where we are free to do our own thing and that usually involves a group dinner.  This year, they offered a tour of DC so Kelly and I decided to participate.  It was a little chilly  (ok, cold to this die hard Texas girl), what with it being November, night and Washington DC and all; but it was a lot of fun. Here are some of the pictures I took on our stops.  The tour was a (sing it with me now) 3 hour tour and we got to see a lot of the monuments all lit up.  It seemed like every building, statue, corner, everything was a monument or played a key role in our history.  We joked that if we stood in one place too long we might become a historical monument.

Very cool thing about the Capital building - Kelly's husband has a flag that was flown over the capital.  I had forgotten until she reminded me that evening during our tour. 

Kel & I in front of the White House (our tour was on election night too) 

World War II Memorial

On one of the walls at the WWII Memorial, there are 4,048 gold stars.  Each star represents 100 Americans who died in the war.  It was an overwhelming display of the price of our freedom when we were told the significance of the number of stars.  (I snagged a few pictures of the stars because any time I see cool stars, I think of my sister-in-law - she loves stars!)

Next up on our tour was the Korean War Memorial.  This one made an impact on me when I was a teen and saw it in the daylight but there is nothing like seeing those larger-than-life-sized statues at night.   

We took quite a bit of time at the Lincoln Memorial (we had to climb those steps!).  This one is definitely at the top of my favorites list. 

As we were walking back to the bus, our tour guide mentioned this was the area from the scene in "Forest Gump".  Naturally, I had to try to get a great picture of it. 

We also saw the Vietnam Memorial, Marine Corp Memorial (aka Iwo Jima Memorial) (thought of you, Luke!), Arlington National Cemetery and countless others.  Kelly said our tour was like a "look what you could have seen if you'd taken the half a day tour - tour" and I think she was right.  We saw a very small sampling of everything we could have seen.  I'm certain you (ok, maybe not you but my dad and I) could spend a couple of weeks enjoying all the history in DC and still not feel like we've seen it all!