Washington D.C. Trip

Last week I was fortunate enough to get approved to go to a Financial Grant Management Training in Washington D.C. and I had never been before so I was really excited to go. I mean, I was a little anxious about leaving the girls for 4 days but I know I didn't really have anything to worry about because they were in good hands. My mom also helped out a lot with getting Everly to school so we are super grateful. I took a red eye flight on Sunday night so that I would have some time to explore D.C. on Monday before starting my training on Tuesday. I must be getting old because that red-eye was rough. I normally go to bed at 9-9:30 and my flight didn't even leave until 11:15 p.m. so I was tired and I just couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep well. Surprisingly, I actually felt okay once I got some coffee and food. When I got into D.C. I headed straight for the metro and checked into my hotel to drop off my bags and change into some comfy clothes. The D.C. metro was actually really to use and I thought it was pretty cheap too so that was nice. Once I got changed I headed downtown to explore. My hotel was in the Dupont Circle District of D.C. so it was really close to everything. I got to see the Washington Monument, Holocaust Museum, and the Air and Space Museum. All the walking around got me hungry so I stopped at a food truck for some tacos. I was also really excited to see some cherry blossoms considering the first day I was there the sun never came out and it was a cool 50 degrees. That night I walked to &pizza and got their maverick pizza. It was soooo good. They have a location in the DC airport as well so if you are ever there, get it! On Tuesday and Wednesday my days were spent in a Department of Justice building for my training which was in the Chinatown area of D.C. It was actually a really nice building and a great training. There were also lots of yummy food spots around. One day I had a delicious salad from Sweetgreen and another day I had Shake Shack. I know we have one in AZ now but I have never been so I was excited. After my training Tuesday I walked down to see the White House and the sun was actually coming out. I thought it was really cool and I felt like in real life you are a lot closer that what it appears on T.V. On Tuesday night I also treated myself to a solo happy hour at a little Korean restaurant called Mandu. It was super yummy. I was on a treat-yo-self roll and also stopped into Dolcezza for gelato. It was probably the best gelato I have ever had and while going to their site to get the link I just saw that they ship their gelato so yeah, that is going to have to happen. On Wednesday morning I ran the almost 2 miles from my hotel to the Lincoln Memorial to do a workout with November Project D.C. It was cool because I got to get in a good workout and see the Lincoln Memorial. Also on Wednesday all of D.C. metro was shutdown. It was pretty crazy and most federal employees teleworked but it didn't affect my training too much. It did prevent my cousin from meeting up with me Wednesday night but I get to see her and all of the rest of my family in a few months at the family reunion so no big deal. I used my last night to try out Ted's Bulletin. I actually ate breakfast for dinner which was good but then had to try one of their shakes. It was delicious and I bet their "adult" shakes are good too. I also picked up one of their homemade pop-tarts to bring home from Everly. I really wanted one of everything, haha. Thursday morning I got in one last quick run to check out the World War II memorial and also got to see the sun rising behind the Washington Monument. It is kind of annoying to run through so many intersections which makes it even more crazier how many runners I saw. I seriously have never seen more runners in a city in my life. They run at all times of the day. It's crazy. I wonder if it is because they have less gyms there? I checked out of my hotel and easily got back to the airport since the Metro was running again. I got half a book read on the plane and it really wasn't too bad of a flight but I was really happy to be back home to see my girls. Overall, I really enjoyed getting to explore D.C. and am grateful that I was able to. Hopefully I can go back again with more time to explore because there really is soooo much to see there.

 

My hotel on the left was the Carlyle in Dupont Circle (a Kimpton) and I really liked it.

 

so pretty!

The Air and Space Museum is huuuuge!

I really thought this space vehicle was cool. Like they really drove this on the moon! Crazy!

The adorable neighborhood I was staying in. I think I was obsessed because it is so different from AZ.

I. Ate. The. Entire. Thing.

Chinatown

Department of Tresury

The White House!

local beer and yummy happy hour appetizers.

I had the stracciatella, salted caramel, and chocolate peanut butter. sooooo good!

The Lincoln Memorial before 6 AM.

working on my fitness and enjoying the view

 

I wasn't mad about this.

  

 

 

 

A beautiful last morning in D.C.

Had to take a picture of this.

till next time, D.C.

Portland Trip: The Food!

Of course I would have to do a separate post just about all of the yummy food and drinks we had in Portland. There was just so much. On my list of things to do/see in Portland leading up to the trip, 90% of it was restaurants. What can I say, we like food. We actually hit almost all of the spots that we wanted to. My favorite spot was definitely Pine State Biscuits. I never would have thought I would be a biscuits and gravy person but had seen a lot of people recommend it so I wanted to give it a try. They also served Stumptown coffee there so it was kind of hitting 2 birds with one stone. We rode our bikes in the rain to eat there on Thursday morning and it was 100% worth it. I had a bacon egg and cheese biscuit with a side of sausage gravy and it was just perfect. Justin had the ham and enjoyed his as well. We sipped on coffee and hung out for a while and it was a perfect start to our trip. We also went to several breweries. We ate at HUB, had a couple of beers at Speakeasy tavern after running, ate and had more beers at Base Camp Brewing Company with food from The Hot Box Barbeque and Pacific Pie Co. Those were both food trucks outside of the brewery. Justin really liked his bbq pulled pork but my pastie was just okay. We also had a couple of pints and toured Widmer Bros Brewery. We had donuts from Blue Star Donuts and Ice Cream from both What's the Scoop and Salt and Straw. I had the Chocolate Gooey Brownie from Salt and Straw and it did not disappoint. I think I am going to order my dad some for Christmas. We had coffee from Extracto with treats from Ville Velo Bake Shop next door and also coffee from a little shop near our airbnb called Caffee Destino. They made their own Pumpkin Spice from scratch and had THE BEST banana chocolate chip bread I have ever had. I have been dreaming about it ever since. We also ate at a couple of other places on our list including Kenny & Zukes (Justin had pastrami and I had the best Caesar salad I have ever had) and Lardo which was out of my comfort zone but had great reviews and did not disappoint. Justin had the Pho'rench dip but said my Pork Meatball Banh Mi was better. It was good and I usually limit my pork intake to bacon, haha. I think that about covers everything but it just wouldn't be right if I didn't share some mouthwatering pictures!

 

 



Kenny and Zuke's

 

 

so many baked goods!

 

 

 That banana bread though.

The busiest place we went to our whole trip.

The Thanksgiving flavors were wacky!