As we do most years, in a sort of deranged reverse migration, we left sunny warm Arizona to locate a proper winter-weather Christmas. Our destination this year: Washington DC.
As we stepped out of the airport, I reveled in those first few moments of gloriously cold, Christmasy weather. I thought "ahhhhh, this is what Christmas should feel like." Then, when the first icy blast of wind struck approximately 26 seconds later, I realized we had made a terrible, terrible mistake. I tried to get the family to proceed calmly back into the terminal and get on the next plane returning to Phoenix but they just wouldn't see reason. There was nothing for it but to bundle up and carry on bravely with the original plan.
I'm glad we did. First we got to see our good friends, Paul and Lisa and their kids. We have never skipped a beat with Paul and Lisa even after years of not seeing each other, so I wasn't surprised that the kids hit it off too. Within 30 seconds of meeting, our kids disappeared into the house with their kids and other than mealtimes and school hours we didn't see them again for 2 days.
We also had a great time traipsing around DC. There were no lines to speak of and it was very educational for the children. For example, we saw money being printed at the Beaureau of Printing and Engraving. [Can you believe they wouldn't let me take any pictures inside even though I pinky swore that I wouldn't use them to counterfeit and even though I went to lawschool with President Obama? Where has the trust gone, people?]
We learned important facts about our nation's currency such as the amount the kids would be worth in stacked $100 bills.
We learned the stark financial truth that the Bureau will only accept genuine cold, hard cash when it sells you an imitation quarter.
We learned that hoodies actually have uses other than as fashion accessories.
That the Washington Monument staff can pack approximately 87 people into a small elevator. But, it was still better than walking all the way up there:
That it is the best view in town and those of us who failed to ever go up there when we lived in DC were really missing out:
My fellow alum's house:
That Lincoln is still really big and really cool -- both the statue and the man.
And that the Vietnam Memorial can still cause you to choke up even after seeing it about 15 times.
So, it was worth braving the cold to spend the first part of our Christmas vacation in DC. Stay tuned to hear what happened as the temperature continued to drop and we struck out for the countryside . . .
i just adore your writing style. these photos are all breathtaking!
Posted by: Laura | January 03, 2011 at 07:07 AM
Looks like you had a great time. Photos are amazing.
Posted by: Amanda | January 03, 2011 at 08:47 AM
Looks like you guys had a great time and LOVE the photos!
Posted by: heathergw | January 03, 2011 at 08:51 AM
I'm in the DC area and you are very brave for venturing out into that cold.
Posted by: stacey@Havoc&Mayhem | January 03, 2011 at 11:13 AM
Amazing pictures, as always
Posted by: Lita | January 03, 2011 at 05:52 PM