By far, this is the fastest trip I’ve ever done in my life! When time gives you a window of opportunity, I take full advantage of it and go all in. It might not be the best situation but, this was a trip that has been in the back of my mind for a few years now. Thus, packing in as many places as I could, with the time I was given leaving things a bit crazy. However, I’m having fun anyway and that’s all that matters, right? 🙂 My first impression of D.C. was on my way to Maryland. I arrived at the D.C. International airport, took an uber and made my way to Maryland where, I stayed for the rest of this trip.

A short background story for all of you, I was staying in Georgetown, Maryland to meet my brother (where he lives) and the rest of the family were coming in to gather for my nephew’s baptism. It was the only reason why I stayed in Maryland as oppose to D.C. Since, I only had a very short time frame in the east coast, I took my chance within a few hours before the baptism to sightsee in downtown D.C.

I thought D.C. was as big and busy as L.A. Lots of people, cars everywhere, there’s traffic and it’s wide like it is in L.A. In some weird way, I felt like I was home.

My first tourist stop was at the Abraham Lincoln’s monument. My uber driver dropped me off at the National Mall where the monument was located. I didn’t anticipate how big this park was until I got there. Walking in to the park, I literally stood there disoriented. The park was bigger than a football field with lots of trees and well groomed lawns. There were tourists everywhere taking photos, walking up the stairs, taking photos on the stairs, sitting down, talking or just reading.

I decided to walk up the stairs and found my way to Abraham Lincoln’s monument. I stood there staring at the monument and thinking how big it was in real life than I pictured it to be. I felt like a tiny kid standing right in front of it.

Turning around from the monument, the view was quite breathtaking.

I decided to walk across the park and I kid you not, it was at least a 2 mile walk between the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument. As I made my way to the other side, I saw locals jogging, running, walking their dog and going about their Saturday at the park. I totally stood out like a tourist in my Sunday dress with a backpack on. Whatever!

I decided to walk around and took a few shots of the Washington Monument then, decided to head over to the White House.

It was another 20-25 minutes walking distance depending on how fast you walk. Once I got there, I noticed that traffic was blocked off and no cars were allowed to drive thru the area which, makes total sense in regards to security. There were policemen everywhere making me feel like my every move was being watched like a hawk. It was kinda cool and weird at the same time.

In front of the White House and the fence were tourists flocking trying to get a photo in front of the building including me. Somehow, I pushed myself at the front and had a gal from Spain take a photo of me. Truthfully, I was not impressed by the building whatsoever especially, after coming from Quebec City. I was bored, sorry, not sorry.

It didn’t take me longer than 15 minutes until I decided to walk back towards the National Mall and made a stop at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Now that was interesting….

The entrance was FREE and I ended up spending about 2 hours going through every floor and rooms to see the different types of animals shown in the exhibition. I particularly liked the Photography room that showed beautiful photos of wild animals captured on a single frame. It’s amazing to see the different perspectives from other people of animals that we all recognize but, it is captured in a single shot in a different way. I definitely enjoyed my time there. After I was done at the museum, I made my way back to Maryland to join the rest of the family for the baptism. Definitely, I plan to come back in D.C. and see what else there is that the city has to offer without feeling rushed.

On to the next adventure….