Last Night Out with Friends

Currently I am sitting at a Red Roof Inn in a little town in Ohio called Holland. We have successfully completed the first leg of our cross-country trip. We drove about 8 hours today, and arrived around 8:00 p.m. We got a little bit of a late start this morning, since we had some re-packing and cleaning up to do after our fun last night in Washington D.C.

Yesterday was a great day. Stuart took the day off work to hang out with us. My friend Laura also took the day off, so I headed out to pick her and her boyfriend up in Maryland while Joe and Stuart played video games.

Note to all of you - don't try to drive anywhere in D.C. on a work day. It took me forever to get up there, and then after having lunch and stopping by my old work to say hello to my friends there, it took forever to get back to Stuart's. Luckily, we made it in time to have some drinks and head out to dinner. :)

Laura, Trey, Stuart, Me, and Joe in Chinatown

Stuart's 96 oz beer at dinner. Crazy, right?

At dinner.

Drinks in downtown D.C.

Stuart put chopsticks in my hair. They were my 'weapons' for the night.

My friend Claudia came and met us out after work!

Laura and Trey (her boyfriend, the rock star)

Trey's 'scary rocker' look.

Trey said, "I'm not a rock star, THIS guy is!"

Since we were being papparazzi, I had to have my picture taken as well.

I was so happy to be able to spend my last night in D.C. with all my friends. It was really a ton of fun, even though we totally got lost at one point.

Walking the Dogs on the National Mall

I know it's kind of random, but one thing that has been on my life list since we moved to the East Coast was to walk our dogs on the National Mall in Washington D.C. I don't know why - I just thought it was such a cool idea. It's like how I really want to take Ava to New York City or Paris - I just think it's fitting somehow.

You would think we would have had plenty of opportunity to take the dogs to D.C. since we lived in MD for a year, but we never drove down to the city - we always took the Metro. And dogs are not allowed on the Metro. So, I got to check the National Mall off my list this weekend.

It was so much fun! And Stuart got some great "family" shots.

And then I wanted to have my picture taken with Stuart, and he posed like this. haha

It was such a great experience and a fantastic evening for a walk. Loved every minute of it. It's funny - when we were thinking of moving out here, I totally veto'd D.C. I thought it was dirty and crime-filled and I didn't want to live there. But this is such a beautiful city with so much to offer and I loved every minute we spent walking around and being in the midst off all that history. I love sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and knowing many important people with important messages have stood right there - history was changed right where I sit. It's a very cool feeling. I'll definitely miss it.