After dinner at Old Glory in Georgetown, DG and I made our way to Union Station for the Monuments at Moonlight tour. We were both impressed with this tour and highly recommend it.
The tour goes to 6 monuments and on a great tour around Capitol Hill and the White House. Our tour guide was incredibly knowledgable, and our night was really mild, but incredibly foggy.
Washington Monument at the beginning of our tour.
The first monument we went to was the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Monument. I love the various “rooms” of the monument for each of his presidential terms.
Then we headed over to the Martin Luther King, Jr. monument. I love the stoic look on his face and his position towards the Jefferson Memorial and the symbolism in Jefferson’s idea of liberty for all.
The next monument we went to was the Iwo Jima memoral. It was amazing to see with all the fog surrounding it. It’s such an iconic image anyway, but this was one of my favorite parts to the tour.
We were then let off at the Lincoln Memorial, which is one of my favorite parts to Washington, D.C. I am too emotional about Abraham Lincoln and in reality, he is one of the major reasons I even started to love history.
DG took this picture to show just how much fog had set in.
We then went over to the Korean War Memorial. This monument is so thought-provoking and eerily realistic anyway, but at night, it was ethereal.
We finished our tour at the Vietnam Memorial. We went back in the day to see the wall of the memorial.
We snapped a Christmas Eve picture on our way back to the trolley to send to my parents.
And I took this picture on the tail end of our tour because look at that fog.
On Christmas Day, we woke up early and went and grabbed a bagel again from Bagels, Etc. Then we went on a walking tour of D.C. It was a gorgeous day and there was hardly a soul out.
We then went to the White House to see if we could catch a glimpse of the Obamas.
We asked someone to take a picture of us in front of the White House; instead, we got the Executive Offices, which is still beautiful!
Good ol’ Andy Jackson front and center in front of the White House.
I can’t remember if I ever told y’all, but I have naturally curly hair.
We loved the view from the Washington Monument with the World War II Memorial, reflecting pool, and the Lincoln Memorial in the distance.
David hadn’t been to D.C. since they built the World War II Memorial, so we sent a while walking through and reading the various quotes. He’s not as in to history as I am, but he definitely enjoyed this.
I’ve been to D.C. 4 times prior to this and I have never gotten to the Jefferson Memorial. I have always admired it from a distance, but DG and I made a point to get to it on this trip.
We decided to walk back through some of the memorials from the night before.
This picture was taken on our way over to the FDR Memorial.
We were both just really fascinated with the Korean War Memorial. This wall with the various scenes etched in was amazing at night, and this alone would be worth doing the Monuments by Moonlight tour.
And then we went to check out the reflecting pool.
We went to see the wall in the Vietnam Memorial and DG and I both loved this Christmas tree. There were tributes to people on the tree and there were Vietnam War veterans there to answer questions and who were helping visitors find names. It was really emotional.
We then headed to Georgetown for lunch at J.Paul’s. It was SLAMMED but it was delicious. I got a crabcake sandwich and was really impressed.
We then headed back to the Capitol and Supreme Court building.
The Capitol is undergoing some updates and the scaffolding looked really interesting at night.
We headed back to take a quick nap before getting ready for dinner at Founding Farmers. This came highly recommended and rightfully so. We were really pleased with our meal of chicken and waffles with mac and cheese. I got mashed potatoes and DG got fries as our additional side because what’s a holiday dinner with carb overload?
We went back, changed, and headed back down to the White House to see the trees.
We woke up on Friday, went back to Bagels, Etc. to grab breakfast and to grab lunch for the train. We were much better prepared on the trip home with food because FYI, train food is worse than plane food!
If you made it through the end of this post, THANK YOU! How was your holiday and weekend? You can still link up with Biana and me and tell us all about it! Also, don’t forget about the giveaway I’m co-hosting with some lovely ladies!
Girl you got your walking in on this trip – you pretty much saw all of D.C. by foot!!! I don't think I knew you had curly hair naturally but I demand to see more photos because it looks beautiful!! xo, Biana – BlovedBoston
Love DC! That picture of the Korean War Memorial at night is stunning and so eerie! I think the FDR area is one of my favorites and I'm glad you made the trek out to the Jefferson Memorial. I'm sure you were tired after all the walking on this trip!
You saw everything!!! Y'all must have been busy :)
That dinner at Founding Farmers looked ahhhmazingly delicious! Glad to see y'all had such a great time in DC (despite the fog)! I haven't been and a couple years and I am eager to get back!
The fog actually made the monuments look pretty cool (and kind of eerie) but glad y'all had clear skies the next day too!! And you should've told the stranger to take another photo… isn't it always awkward though?? So glad y'all had a great time.. now I'm ready for a vacation!! xo
Oh wow!! LOVING the pictures! DC is definitely at the top of my vacation destination list! I'd love to go at Christmas time!
I'm glad you had a clear day out there but it's cool to see how the fog changed the scenery!
What an incredible trip, lady! you really did DC proud! I've lived here for over 20 years and never heard about the moonlight monument tours, it looks amazing! That Korea memorial is incredible in the fog, talk about breathtaking. Founding Farmers is sooo soo good! Wish we were in town to hang with you, but glad you enjoyed the city!
the monuments at moonlight tour is the best! i took my students on it when we went to DC and it was so much fun! i love seeing the monuments at night time and it is such a different experience.
Looks like such a great trip and I've now officially added D.C. to my "to-do" list for 2015! I haven't been since I was a kid so it's definitely time to schedule a visit. Sounds like you guys had a great Christmas! xoxo, – M @ The Sequin Notebook
Great pictures!!!! I totally need to go back to DC. So fun!!
How fun!! I've been wanting go up to DC! My cousin moved there last year and she is always doing so many fun things! Glad you had a wonderful Christmas!
<3 Shannon
Upbeat Soles
wow – you got so much done, and i love the pictures! the fog is crazy, we went to NYC recently and we went up to the top of the rock and the fog was insane.
All I could think through these pics is OLIVIA POPE haha! And I died at the "can't remember if I told y'all but i have naturally curly hair." Me too, girl. And I feel like when people find that out for the first time they're baffled haha
The monuments are beautiful at night! Awesome weather on Christmas Day! Love reading about your trip!
~Ashley @ A Cute Angle
acutelifestyle.blogspot.com
I'm catching up on your recap now and this looks like such a fun trip!! I've never been to DC and now I'm dying to visit! I also love that you went over Christmas and started making your own married traditions – I think I'm going to put my foot down about that next year, too :)
The fog on Tuesday was insane!!! So glad that you had a great trip overall tho! Your pictures look like so much fun–maybe next time you're in town we'll meet up! ;) Have a great NYE!!!
The fog rolling in on the Monument and the Iwo Jima Memorial looks amazing! What a great trip. I really liked being able to see the Vietnam memorial with my Dad since he is a veteran of that war, so breathtaking.