Back in January, I went to a fundraising auction where I bid and won a 2 night stay at the National Harbor. And since the expiration date on the certificate said it expires 9/1/09, I figured we better use it. So we spent this past Friday and Saturday night there. It's a little over an hour's drive away - a shopping/eating/living planned community. One downfall, in my opinion, is that there is no free parking anywhere - even though it's kinda out in the middle of nowhere. The nearest subway stop is about a 10 minute drive away. There were parking garages everywhere, which I thought ugly-fied the area. I guess I was comparing it to the planned shopping/living area we stayed at in Myrtle Beach - they had free parking garages which were pretty well hidden - not obvious.
So on Friday after Jacob got home from school, we checked in and did a little bit of swimming. Then walked around the fake town - all the restaurants were busy so we ended up eating at a Potbelly sandwich shop. Then afterward we walked around the beautiful Gaylord National Resort and rode the elevators and watched the water fountain show (I took some videos for Youtube). The place was overrun with Red Hat Society ladies all dressed in purple and red for their annual convention. There was even red hatter overflow staying at my hotel - which was right across the street from the Gaylord. The red hatters all knew better to try to recruit me since it will be decades and decades before I would even be eligible to join.
So on Saturday we rode the subway all over DC (bought a pass good for all day travel). If you've ever been to DC to see the monuments etc, you know how much walking is involved. I started off with going to the Eastern Market and the Eastern Market flea market (the website says its open on Sunday, but it was open last Saturday too). I bought a diet coke.
The strange thing is, I went to the market by myself. When we first got on the subway, DH realized his cell phone battery was dead so he wanted to go back to the hotel with Jacob for a replacement he had. So I stayed on the train and went to the Market and Flea Market by myself. I was just thinking how riding a subway early on a Saturday morning alone to a new destination that I've never been to before is definitely not a typical Saturday for me.
The grossest part of the day was seeing all the bird poop along the reflecting pool near the Lincoln Memorial. I took pics. We just went to one museum and that was because we stumbled upon it during our route - we went to the Corcoran Gallery I didn't know anything about it, but wanted some air conditioning bad. And as luck would have it, it was a "free" day - they normally charge $10 admission (eek!!! there are plenty of free things to do in DC without paying admission). I would have liked to have gone to the Smithsonian's American History Museum (I've been there before but now they have new exhibits like Julia Child's kitchen) but we didn't have time nor the energy.
Late Saturday afternoon we went back to the hotel for a swim and to relax a while. And by relaxing, I mean walking around the Gaylord hotel again so Jacob could ride the elevators again and we took a walk at the Potomac waterfront. My legs are killing me.
Saturday night we took the train back into the city and had dinner. Sunday morning we rode more elevators at the Gaylord and saw more purple and red.
We checked out and went to a Chuck E. Cheese that is on the way home. Today is laundry day.
Check back for pics.
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