A 4th of July to Remember

For the 4th of July, we (Nathan, Sarah, Chaz, Andrew, and I) went to Washington DC. We left soon after work - around 4 in the afternoon - and started driving, arriving around 1 in the morning.

Our hotel turned out to be right in front of a club, which must have been closing around the time we got there. Everyone was outside, which was a little nerve-wracking, but we got inside the air-conditioned hotel soon enough. The next morning, we got up and started sight-seeing. First we went to the WWII memorial, and then on to the Museum of National History. We saw some cool stuff like the costume worn by C-3PO in Star Wars, the earliest surviving John Deere plow, and some models that looked extraordinarily life-like. When we found them, we immediately decided to pose with them, resulting in some fun pictures....

We walked to a nearby food court for lunch, and then headed back to the museum for some more historical education. Unfortunately, lunch didn't sit very well with me and I ended up in the bathroom wondering if I'd make it through the rest of the day for about an half hour, but it passed quickly enough and life went on. We saw the Julia Child kitchen, some dresses of the first ladies, and, appropriately enough for five music majors, finished up with the musical instrument exhibit. That evening, Andrew and I walked to the capitol after dinner and found the Capitol Concert! We heard Lang Lang play variation 18 from Rachmaninoff's Variations on a Theme by Paganini. While it wasn't the best performance of all time, it was a fun walk and we took some great pictures of the capitol building at sunset.

The morning of the 4th, we went to church at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, which was a 1.5 mile walk from the hotel. The church was small but beautiful, the priest was English (complete with accent), and the choir was magnificent. Furthermore, the congregation sang heartily, making the service a very satisfying experience for everyone. After church, we ran back to the hotel, then ran to the metro station, from which we went to the National Cathedral. There seems to be a theme in some of my recent travels: whenever going to a cathedral, a long, hot walk uphill is involved. This trip was no exception. Yet again, however, the hike was worth it as the cathedral was beautiful, huge, and full of people listening to organ music. We didn't stay for the concert there (see photo as to why), but we did see a stained glass window with a moon rock as well as the grave of Woodrow Wilson.

This adventure was followed by another walk to the metro station, then a walk to find food, a walk to other food after we found out Chipotle was closed, and yet another walk to the National Air and Space Museum. I found a funny sign in the women's bathroom there.

Finally, to cap off our 4th celebration, we went to the Air Force Band concert at the Arlington Memorial, where we heard some nice patriotic music, watched some fantastic fireworks, and met up with Nathan and Andrew's dad as well as some of Chaz's high school friends. We all thought the memorial was really cool:

In an effort to find some celebratory Mexican food or ice cream, we trekked around the city for another two miles or so until we decided it was time for bed and headed back to the hotel. Total number of miles covered on foot on the 4th of July: more than 13. Go us. Needless to say, we were all pretty exhausted by the end of the day.

On Monday, we said goodbye to Nate, who was staying in DC for awhile longer for a conference of the American Guild of Organists (I think?), got some breakfast at both the whole foods market and Starbucks, dropped of some Chex Mix and head phones that Nate forgot, and started driving back to Massachusetts. On the way back, we stopped in Philadelphia for some lunch (we finally made it to Chipotle!) and visited the Wanamaker organ in the largest Macy's store in the US.

After taking a few...ok, maybe several...wrong turns, we figured out where we were going and made it back home by 11:30 that night. All in all, I think it was probably the best 4th of July experience of my life so far. Maybe we'll do it again next year!