The first time I went to DC was with Kyle, 15 years ago, on a road trip that would eventually take us to New York's JFK airport, with me going back to England after 3 months of working here to see if I liked it. (Otherwise known as "will you drop everything you know and move 4,000 miles from home for the man you love?") It was August, it was terribly hot, and we stayed on the floor of a friends dorm room at Georgetown, and it was my first introduction to "dry campuses". I was shocked, well actually I was horrifed. But, I fell in love with the capital. I remember tearing up at Arlington where JFK is buried and being deeply moved by the respect paid at the tomb of the unknown soilder.
The second time I went to DC was the spring of 2000....I think. My brother came over from England and we took a trip together. Poor guy had to hold my hand on the plane when we hit tubulence (something he hadn't done since I was about 2 and he was 7!)
We walked and walked all over the city. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom at the Jefferson memorial and we ate dinner outside in a little Italian resturant in Georgetown.
Now I went back with my husband and my three young boys. The big boys just wanted to get to the air and space museum and the swimming pool at the hotel (and not necessarily in that order). We took them to the White House and we all (well, Kyle and I) were yet again in awe of it, and a little choked up knowing that America voted in their first African American President. As Kyle kept saying, its a much nicer place knowing there's a democrat inside!
DC is an impressive city. The architecture is beautiful, it's not crowded and claustrophobic like London can be, and it holds so much history that you can't help but feel a connection to this wonderful, but at times strange and conflicted country.
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