washington, dc - day 1

Almost two weeks ago now, we drove down to Philly and dropped Katie off at college... and then we headed down to Washington, DC for a little vacation and to visit friends.  PJ went a little picture crazy, so I figured I would break it down into several posts and spare you the crazy.
Our first full day there was a Friday, which we thought would be a great day to check out the Zoo and Arlington... two places we thought would be easy to navigate on our own (we were right).  We started out at the National Zoo, it was perfect weather for all the animals to be out:

these gorillas were super photogenic

monorail sloth!

thats not a bow... its elephant ears!!

mama flamingo feeling her baby

After the Zoo, we headed to Arlington and took a walk around.  I was overwhelmed by the feeling that it was a perfectly beautiful and respectful resting place for the brave people who serve our country.

the view  from the Kennedy graves across to the Washington Monument

JFK and Jackie O

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

We were lucky enough to arrive at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier just minutes before the top of the hour.  This meant that we didn't have to wait long to watch the changing of the guard, a respectful and solemn ritual where the current guard passes the orders of watching the tomb to the next.
After Arlington, we made our way to dinner at Old Ebbitt Grill with my friends Brendan and Andrea.  As Brendan explained, it is a very Washington, DC place- the restaurant has been in existence in some form or another since 1856!  Finally, we headed out and took a walk around the mall to check out the White House and some of the monuments at night.

PJ and me at the White House

Friday was just the start of a really lovely weekend, which I will continue in another post.  I've also put all the best pics from Fridays adventures into a Picasa album, so feel free to check them out as well!

<3 barb