Thursday, January 31, 2013

Washington DC

This is the phone conversation my mother and I had last week...

Me: Did I mention I was going to Washington, DC? 
Mum: YOU'RE WHAT?!
Me: I'm going to Washington DC. 
Mum: Yeah, I heard you. I just.....wait...what?
Me: My school goes to the Pro Life March in Washington DC every year, and this year I'm going to go. 

Mum: When is it? 
Me: This weekend. 
Mum: What?! This weekend? As in like THIS weekend?
Me: Yeah we leave tonight. 
Mum: Tonight?! 
Me: Yes. As in 4-hours-from-now kind of tonight. In fact, I need to go pack.  
Mum: ............

Yeahhh, I guess I didn't really think to tell my parents about the trip. I didn't think it was that big of a deal, and I didn't think my mother would be so frazzled about it. I mean, I'm a big girl, right? I can just leave the state whenever I want to, right? Right? Right. Okay, I'm glad we got that clarified. 

Here's the schedule of our weekend in DC....
Leave on Thursday @ 8pm
Arrive in Washington DC @ 6:30am
Walk aimlessly around DC 
Pro Life March from 1pm-3pm
Reception for all the walkers from 3-5pm
Leave at 5pm
Return to Cincinnati Saturday morning at 3am

And just for the record, I don't know my history. Like at all. I wish I did some research before going to DC so I actually knew the names of buildings and stuff, but as you can tell by my phone conversation above, I don't really plan ahead. 
And onward with the pictures.... 

7am chai latte at some random coffee shop... 

Walking over the world. No big deal.

I know that if I lived in this city, I would become very plump. 

The sunrise. DC street style. 

Crossing the street and photographing at the same time=Multitasking at it's finest. 

Me in front of the White House...I think that's the name of it. And yes, I know I look like a fat marshmallow. But hey, it was cold (in between 8-13 degrees all day). So I was wearing 7 bajillion layers. 

The buildings there were fantastic. I couldn't get enough of them. 

Getting lost....

The sunrise over a frozen lake....

Andy, my photography buddy. We had plenty of debates about his Nikon verses my Canon. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, just ignore me. I'm just using fancy photography words. 

Anddd the classic Bethany feet photo. This is when I was sitting at the top by Lincoln

The Korean Memorial...


More buildings...This was taken right next the the Holocaust Museum. Which by the way, is awesome. So depressing, but so cool at the same time. 

Thought this was cute :) 

Getting lost.......again.
 Coolest kids ever. Such a creeper shot. 

Getting our signs ready for the March. This was taken outside of the Air and Space Museum. 

This was when the March started. We were close the the front of the parade, so that helped us avoid waiting/standing. We got through the walk very quickly. 

SO MANY PEOPLE!

This is my friend Lauren. Her parents both came on the trip with us...her father knows his way around DC better than his own hometown. At the end of the March, it started snowing. Badly. 

 (Left to Right) Becky, Andy, Julie, Brady, and Myself. 

There are several things I learned while in Washington DC....

1: Security is very tight. They check bags and metal detector scan you for every single building you enter. Even McDonalds. 

2: Apparently it's acceptable to only wear sweatpants and hoodies when it's 8 degrees outside. 

3: Such cold weather does not stop people from exercising. We seriously passed like 2,000 joggers in the 6 hours of walking around DC. 

4: Architecture has never been more beautiful. 

5: Coffee tastes better when you're in an unknown city for the first time. 

6: Crashing a congressman party is very exhilarating. Yes, you did read that correctly. I did in fact crash Congressman, Scott Garett's party at the Congress Building while in Washington DC. Whoops. Hehehe    

7: Police officers there are very grumpy. 

8: They are in fact renovating the west wing of the White House.

9: Having a massive group of people come together from all over the States to support a cause (no matter what the cause) is absolutely heart warming.   

10: It is completely and totally possible to sleep for 10 hours straight while sitting up in the seat of a charter bus.   



Peace Out. 

4 comments:

  1. funny about your convo with your mom :)

    Looks like a great time!!!

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  2. ps...just to set your history straight, your photo labeled Vietnam Memorial is actually the Korean Memorial. Glad you had a great time.

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  3. haha thanks I'll have to change that! like i said i don't know my history!

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  4. Glad that you got to go and have a great experience. Miss you, Mum

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