Part 2 - Washington D.C.

   This post is a little late, and I apologize. Getting back into the swing of things with work was a little harder than I imagined. I think I became a little too relaxed over break making it harder to go full throttle 6:30am Monday morning.

  Anyway, after Williamsburg, Justin and I made our way up to Washington, D.C. When we arrived, we wanted to explore the National Mall, but the only parking available was either a parking meter or parking garage. We had a dollar in coins, so we slipped into a spot and were prepared to spend our four quarters and see the city. After taking a close look at the meter, we quickly realized that we would need quite a bit more quarters if we were going to stay. Our four quarters were equivalent to 30 minutes of exploring time. A little discouraged, we got back in the car and looked for a parking garage. Without looking at the price, we took a ticket, drove in, and parked.

Lesson Learned:

• Take lots of coins

We retired back to our car pretty early because I was complaining of a headache, but apparently it wasn't early enough. We both expected parking to be pretty expensive, so I pulled out a $10 bill. Surely it wouldn't be more than that for 2 hours! We greeted the guard, she smiled and said, "Eighteen dollars." Shocked, I made the embarrassing trip back into my wallet to pull out an additional $10 bill to pay the rest of our debt.

  Thankfully the following day was New Year's Eve, making it a holiday. This actually is important information because you do not have to pay parking meters on holidays.  Only one problem - if you are not from the city, you do not know that you do not have to pay the meters (until you've already moved from parking space to parking space testing the credit card readers and you're left questioning your ability to comprehend and follow directions.)  Several people were walking by and I'm sure our disdain was clearly palpable, but no one bothered to let us in on their little secret. We were just about to give up for good when a security guard comes prancing around the corner shouting, "No fee today! You don't have to pay on holidays!" Other than our parking frustrations, Washington, D.C. was fabulous.

Here are a few pictures of from our trip:

Smithsonian Castle:

Smithsonian's Natural History Museum:

The view from our room:

Washington Monument:

Lincoln Memorial:

Jefferson Memorial:

Arlington Cemetery:

The White House:

We did make it back to our hotel room to watch the end of the UGA game and the entire USC game. To be honest, I requested we change the channel at the end of the 3rd quarter to keep from having to witness such embarrassment.

   As the new year approached, we began to reminisce. 2010 was a year that really changed our lives, so we were sentimental and somewhat sad to see it end, but realized this is just the beginning of our fun. We celebrated the New Year by climbing into bed and snuggling up to watch the ball drop on TV. We counted down from ten out loud and sharing a good long kiss at midnight. We listened to the neighbors yell and the boom of fireworks from down below. Justin wrapped his arms around me and in that moment, I felt so much happiness and optimism for what lies ahead. 2011, another year to live this wonderful life!