National Mall, part uno

It was the second full day in the DC area, and we headed to the National Mall.  We started at the White House.  There was very little press and protestors, considering this was in the thick of the Supreme Court Justice drama.  We had very good luck with the timing of our visit.  We saw the news upon returning to our hotel a couple of the nights to see that we missed throngs of protestors by a day or only a couple of hours.  It was very much a blessing to miss the crazies.

The Secret Service was out in force.  I think they are trained in the art of the photo bomb.

 I think we kind of color coordinated.  I didn't realize this until we got back to our hotel and I was going through our photos.

 Vietnam Memorial

 Korean War Memorial

At this point of the day we reached places I had not visited before.  When I went with Ryan and Brynne many moons ago, we only spent a single day in DC and there's only so much you can fit into one day.

 We had a ways to go before we got to the Jefferson Memorial.  It was waaaaaaaayyy on the other side.

This next photo is honor of my dad, knowing how much he loves FDR.  Or not.

I had no idea who George Mason was before this.

 Made it to see Jefferson!  He's barely visible at this point.

 Emma found her favorite Thomas Jefferson quote.  This bookmark was $7, so we only took a picture of it.  Later Emma found a lanyard with the quote for about the same price, and got that instead.

 Lots of quotes.

 We had each only eaten about a half of a lunch with the cost of sandwiches being so ridiculous.  Emma and I made use of the granola bars and water I had stashed in my purse, but even still I was ravenously hungry.  My body was completely confused on when was the right time to be hungry and sleep.  So we made it back to our hotel via the Super Crazy Hotel Express, and ordered Chinese delivery once our feet made it back on terra firma.  I offered to go downstairs to grab our order when it arrived, seeing how tired my in-laws were.  Where I authorized a tip for the delivery guy on their credit card.  I felt rather awkward coming back to the room and saying so.  "Hey, I spent your money without asking first!"  So I stashed a little extra cash in their room when I paid for our meals.