04.04.2011: DC & Cherry Blossom Festival

Vince and I had to go back to DC for a very important meeting with a potential client for one of our companies..Fedcom. We left Sunday afternoon, and had meetings all day Monday & Tuesday. The company we met with has an office on the other side of the river from DC in Crystal City. The conference room is floor to ceiling windows and this is the view you get...the monuments. It is hard not to take your job seriously everyday...and want to work 24/7....just looking out at the backbone of our country. You feel so much a part of it....not just your little piece of it...but a part of the whole thing. As Federal Contractors it really gives you a different perspective on what you do. It is a great reminder of our the history of our country and how lucky we are to live in it!Our Monday meetings ended a little early in the afternoon, and it turned out to be the most gorgeous day they had had in a long time. So, we took advantage before we had to meet the client back for dinner and headed to the mall....the monument mall....not the shopping mall! Also, we found out once we got to the hotel Sunday night....that this was Cherry Blossom Festival week! Are you kidding me!? We could not have planned a better few day to be there! The blossoms only happen for a few days...and they had been having such bad weather, they postponed the festival to this week. And this day, Monday, was very windy, most of the blossoms were blowing off the trees....so it was by far the best day to get to explore for an hour or two!

We started our adventure with late lunch at Legal SeaFoods....YUMMMY!! I had the best crab soup I have ever experienced in my life. It was ridic beyond ridic proportions! So good! Day could have ended there, and I would have been satisfied. But, luckily it didn't.

We hopped on the Metro rail and headed over to DC proper. We jumped off near the National Archives Museum. The one place that I was dying to go to...and didn't get to on our last trip. So, we headed in! This is Vince in front...actually in back! It was amazing....the Bill of Rights...the Declaration of Independence....the Constitution!! Amazing.... After that, we walked the mall a bit...saw the Capitol Bldg....the Smithsonian Museums....the Washington Monument. We had seen them all before so didn't spend too much time there.

We headed over to the area where the Cherry Blossoms were plentiful! We found this little section of trees near the Washington Monument...before you get to the basin area....where they circle the entire waterway. Right here, we stood under the trees and the leaves were falling like snow....it was so magical....I never thought I would get to experience this!!! Looking at the monuments, having cherry blossoms fall all around you....so beautiful!! We stayed there for a while laying in the grass...just watching! Then we headed over to the Basin and saw all the trees that line the waterway....gorgeous!!!

So, the day could not go without Vince spending a few minutes...many minutes...on the phone! It was a full work day after all...we were just playing hooky for a few hours :) So, I sat in the grass, watched people fly kites around me....under a Cherry Blossom tree...observing Vince walk & talk....so perfect and peaceful....until some lady sat down right in front of me and decided to breast feed her baby in my plain view. Seriously....out of the huge park area, she sits right in front of me....my view was ruined....I got up and left. Luckily coincided with Vince getting off the phone too! So we moved on to the White House....and its gorgeous gardens and beautiful magnolia trees!! They were almost just as amazing as the Cherry Blossoms!!!

And yes, we even got to meet the Obama squirrel....he was hanging on the other side of the fence...so I am sure he was at some point cleared by security. Can you say you have met a squirrel that has a top secret security clearance?? I didn't think so....

So Monday evening, after our dinner at Georgia Brown's....our favorite DC restaurant....we went for a walk to stretch & walk off our amazing dinner. We happened upon the backside of the White House, so decided to go up close to check it out. Right when we were walking up, they were moving people back. All kinds of secret service and regular police and special white house security were all over the place, moving people VERY far back from the usual place where you can get up to the gates. Someone said that is what they do when Obama comes & goes...since he goes out of the back area. So, we waited a while to see if we would see him...then gave up and left. I still say that is him in the main doorway in the picture below.....there is a man with a white shirt & tie standing there looking out...could be him.....what do you think???

Our trip ended with a FULL day of meetings on Tuesday....and great meetings too!! So no more sight-seeing or breaks! We spent the whole day in meetings and working....and I didn't mind because it rained all day and was pretty chilly!! We got so lucky to have our only hours off be on the most gorgeous day of the year!!!!