DC Days 1-2

It has been a great 24 hours in DC and surrounding area. We left home at 3p yesterday and arrived in Alexandria around 9:15p to our friends' house. They took us to dinner at a Mexican place in Shirlington, in a cute area reminiscent of far more cosmopolitan cities, with street-side seating and a great variety of restaurants. We then stayed up until about 2a talking and hanging out at their home. We ate breakfast with them on Sat morning (thanks AD for a wonderful meal!) and left around 11-ish for DC.

M and I met up with Rosa from Argentina, her son and his girlfriend, and her granddaughter not long thereafter. While it was a small hassle to find street parking, it was very cool to be in central DC, on Pennsylvania Ave where he lives. GWU students were moving in, people were wandering around due to the long wknd, and there was a great vibe about the streets. We ate a late lunch and then did quite a bit of sightseeing with them: Chinatown, Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Memorial, and Jefferson Memorial. We had both seen about half of those sights on our own and not seen the other half, so it was a nice mix. It was so good to spend time with Rosa and family, and I got to speak a lot of Spanish!

Around 8:15p, we arrived at my aunt's place in Oakton. Went to Cici's for dinner, and hung out watching the US Open. She's in the midst of a few home renovation projects, so M and I will head out tomorrow (perhaps with our 11 year old cousin accompanying us) to check out more sights. H & M, here we come ;)