Paddle boats, metro stations and an amazing city

Washington D.C. is an amazing place. No matter how long you are able to explore, you still feel like you've only scratched the surface of what there is to see. Luke and I tried our best to fit as much as possible in this weekend, but we left feeling like we'd like to come back very soon!

We have tons of pictures, so this post might be a little long -- but hopefully not too tedious.
Here are the highlights of the weekend:

Saturday:
1) Attending a temple session in one of the most beautiful temples in the world (it is as breathtaking inside as out)
2) Visiting the Smithsonian Natural History museum
3) Walking The Mall end to end and seeing all the monuments (we especially loved the FDR memorial and the new World War II memorial)
4) Renting a paddle boat at Tide Basin (This was a great idea because for a mere $8 we got to see the Jefferson memorial and some of the other sites by water -- also, we got to rest our feet because by that point we'd already walked over 6 miles...)

-Washington D.C. temple -



-The view from the top at the Museum of Natural History -




- Luke with a gigantic elephant in the entry way of the museum -



- This is a hilarious picture that we saw in the photography section of the museum -- check out that stiff-arm -



- Luke thought it would be funny if it looked like I was being slobbered by the giraffe (although if that was really happening, I don't think I'd look so happy) -



- In the gemstone section, they had amazing rock and gem formations and gemstones that were up to 50 carats! -



- The Washington Monument -



- The new World War II memorial -







- Each state is represented at the WWII memorial -- so we had to pay tribute to Texas! -



-We took this ourselves -



- The Lincoln Memorial -





-The Washington Monument and Reflection Pool -



- The FDR memorial -



- The Jefferson memorial -





- Views from the paddle boat -







Sunday:
1) Visiting the Washington National Cathedral
2) Scoring sweet tickets to a Nationals major league baseball game from a friend of Val and Alice's
3) Dinner with Julie and Karl and Heidi

- The stained glass Rose at the National Cathedral -



- A small chapel in the basement -



- The carvings and statues on the outside of the cathedral are so detail oriented and intricate -- no wonder it took over 200 years to build! -



Monday:
1) Visiting the incredible art collection at the National Art Gallery with Val and Alice
2) Nationals game -- Our seats were on the 4th row, right behind home plate! Incredible!
3) Seeing the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and other cool documents at the Archives museum
4) Dinner at an amazing Mexican restaurant (best mexican I've had in years!)

- One of the many atriums in the National Gallery of Art -



- We were right by the action at the game -- I'm pretty proud of this shot -- Maybe I did learn something in photography class!! ;) -





- The archives museum -





The city is just chalk-full of history and I think you'd have to live there for a lifetime to see everything it has to offer -- but we came back very happy that we'd had an opportunity to visit. Even if it was just for a few days. All in all, it was a fabulous way to celebrate our second anniversary.