Our Nation's Capital

We were fortunate enough to be able to not only spend the 4th of July weekend in Washington DC but also with our very close friends Ryan & Rita. We flew out to DC on Wednesday afternoon, taking the lightrail to the airport for the first time. Have to say, it was pretty easy(and about 1/2 the cost of taking a taxi). Thanks to the 3 hr time difference between Tempe and DC, we arrive late Wednesday night. Thursday morning starting our routine of waking up every day around 10 am. Thursday was spent visiting the monuments, museums, the metro, and experiencing DC.

Friday morning, well late morning, we hit the road to do some camping in Shenandoah National Park. As we were entering the park, we noticed a group of about 20 people on the side of the road peering up the hill. We pulled by and spotted what their attention was focused on....a full grown black bear. These spectators were no more the 20 ft. away from this bear of some size, taking pictures as if there were bars or a cage separating them from the bear. Interesting what some people deem "safe". The campground was very green, nice and quite and enjoyable. We enjoyed beers, chipotle burgers and s'mores.

Saturday brought us back the city to enjoy the festivities. We cleaned ourselves up and headed to "Matchbox" for dinner. They have incredible sliders with gouda cheese. After dinner, we made our way down to the Mall to enjoy the fireworks. There tons and tons of people out to enjoy this and we were not disappointed. The fireworks displayed a lot of the standard issue colors/formations but there were some pretty cool new ones added in, and the finale was amazing. Two solid minutes of explosions of sounds and colors!

Our last day in town was spent in Georgetown, having lunch and walking by the Potomac River. All in all, it was a fabulous trip spent in an great part of the country. Thanks to Ryan & Rita for the outpouring of hospitality and the memories!