Washington D.C. weekend trip recap

I spent the end of July/beginning of August in Washington D.C. for my family reunion and it was a trip for the books! I hadn't been to D.C. in years and I've been itching to visit ever since my career interest turned toward politics. We were there for about five days and tried to do as many "classic D.C." things as possible, but there honestly wasn't enough time to cover half of the greatness that city has to offer. I'm sharing a few of my favorite moments from the trip below!

We did a lot of walking in the city and I loved so many of the homes and neighborhoods we spotted throughout the city.

Here's the view from the rooftop of our hotel - I love how D.C. is organized - perfectly squared blocks, clean streets (for the most part), and cool looking buildings. They don't have tons of tall buildings to make a skyline, but the historic buildings and monuments definitely makeup for it!

On our first night, we visited a family friend who lives in a city in Maryland, about 30 minutes away from D.C. I love how D.C. is so close to Maryland and Virginia and how people living in the surrounding states can make trips to D.C. with ease.

We stayed at a hotel with continental breakfast, and while all of the carbs were tempting…this is what my breakfast mainly consisted of, along with some fruit and coffee. I ordered eggless, vegetable omelets with some cheese on top, so good!

Oh, but please believe I experienced some of D.C.'s best and most unclean meals too! It was my last summer 2014 vacation, so I had to live a little! We had beignets with chocolate (above) and fried green tomatoes with spicy shrimp (below) from a New Orleans style restaurant, Acadiana.

So so tasty!

My favorite part of the trip was seeing cousins who I haven't seen in years! It was great catching up with everyone and seeing how much the kids have grown. Milan (pictured above) is now a college student who used to be my little baby cousin!

We toured the Supreme Court and since one of my cousins works at the Supreme Court, we got an exclusive tour which included seeing the basketball court and gym inside the building. It is the "highest (basketball) court in the land" :)

A major highlight of this trip is that I got to do a photo session for a classmate while in D.C. She's interning in D.C. this summer and wanted some photos by the Capitol. This was my first professional photoshoot in D.C. so it was an honor and too much fun! 

See more photos from the session here!

When we visited the National Mall and monuments, there were tons of people everywhere and the weather conditions were not ideal, but I still loved it! So much history has taken place at these landmarks in D.C. and it felt special standing where people have stood, protested, and witnessed incredible moments in U.S. history.

One of the newer additions to the D.C. memorials is the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and it is such a sight. The statue of MLK and the mountain tops speak volumes, but me being a lover of words was more impressed by the two walls with quotations from Martin Luther King Jr. My personal favorite is in the photo above, definitely my goal for my career in public service.

A big thanks to my dad for snapping photos of me throughout the weekend so I could share them with you! 

How gorgeous is this view? The National Harbor is a relatively new attraction in Maryland, about 15-20 minutes away from D.C. and this is where we spent our final night of our reunion. The ferris wheel and water are fantastic additions to the harbor's shopping area and restaurants. And we learned that they plan to add casinos to this area as well.

Our family had lunch on a boat ride down the Potomac River and this was so much fun! The boat had a lower level, main level, a top deck and a deck above that one! Whew, lots of stairs but awesome amenities on each level.

I had never done this type of boat ride, but it was a fun experience with great views!

On our second day in D.C., my parents and I made a trip to the White House and it was quite interesting. People were protesting about immigration and deportation in front of the White House so the police had that area blocked/gated off. If anyone crossed the boundaries, they would be arrested. So, my family decided to walk to the backside of the White House in hopes of a closer look and better photos. And then an officer told everyone how the back of the house was being closed off too. So we snuck in a few selfies (above) before we had to leave! Ha!

As you can see, I LOVED visiting D.C. and I cannot wait to go back! It made me excited for the new seasons of Scandal and House of Cards. And also made me excited for my future career in the government/politics. It's a playground for a history or political-lover! I'm so happy we had our family reunion in such a cool city, and I'm excited for us to reunite in Chicago in 2 years!

Have you ever been to D.C.? If so, what was your favorite part?