Part 3: Washington DC and Pittsburgh

On the morning of Wednesday, the 22nd, we got up, had a nice big breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and hit the road for Washington DC. We got to DC mid afternoon and went straight to the National Zoo. That was one of my special requests :) I LOVE going to the zoo and I was definitely going to fit at least one zoo visit in during our trip. It was super hot and humid but luckily the buildings at the zoo were all air conditioned so we survived. We got to see lots of fun animals, and even pandas (I was so excited to see the pandas). The one thing they were missing was giraffes...what kind of zoo doesn't have giraffes? It was still fun though, I had a great time!

With the elephants!

Big ol' gorilla

Panda!

After the zoo we decided to find someplace to have dinner, then go see the Washington DC temple. We ended up eating at this random little Italian restaurant close to the temple and let me tell ya, it was amazing! Probably the best meal we had the entire trip. We ate a ton and even ordered dessert because it was so good. If anyone ever goes to the DC temple, make sure you eat at Paccis Trattoria (technically, it's in Maryland, as is the temple), you won't regret it!
After our large but awesome dinner we went to the temple. We stopped at the visitor's center first and spent some time there talking with a sister missionary. I was so glad we did this, it was just what I needed to be in a place where the spirit was so strong. Then we walked around the temple for a while. That temple is so big and so gorgeous, it's just amazing! I wish we could have stayed there all night. After that we went to Alexandria, VA to our hotel.

I love this temple

The next day we got up and took the metro into DC. I was starving so I grabbed a pretzel at a cart (it was gross), then we hit up a couple of the Smithsonians. First we went to the American History Museum. That was pretty cool, and I'm glad we went there. My favorite part was seeing some of the clothes worn by past presidents and the inaugural gowns worn by some of the first ladies. Next we went to the Natural History Museum. I loved it there! There were lots of animals (real but stuffed, of course) and dinosaur bones, and it was just so cool to me. I'm kind of an animal freak so any place where I get to see lots of animals is a great place to be. Next we took a walk over to the White House. Right as we got there they were closing the road to get to the front, so we only got to see the back, but that was ok.

Washington Monument all covered in scaffolding

Uniform of George Washington

Mary Lincoln's inaugural gown

Natural History Museum

Smithsonian Castle

White House

For lunch we went to Chinatown to Nando's, a place that has really yummy grilled chicken. After that we made our way over to Ford's Theater. When we got there they didn't have any more tickets left for that day, but a really nice guy stopped us and said he had some extra tickets we could use right then. That was so kind of him :) we got to go inside Ford's theater and walk around for a bit and that was awesome. It's a pretty theater and I think it's cool they still use it for plays and whatnot. After that we went to a gift shop to look around for a bit, then walked over to the capital building. We didn't take the time to go inside at all, but I thought the outside was pretty impressive.

The box inside Ford's Theater where Lincoln sat when he was shot

The Capital

For dinner we went back into Chinatown and ate at California Tortilla (we hadn't had any Mexican food yet, so we thought that was a good choice). We also had dessert at Rita's, a place they have back east that has Italian ice and frozen custard. It was pretty dang good...I decided we need Rita's here out west.
After that we hit up the memorials. I wanted to see them all lit up at night and I'm glad we did :) We went to the Vietnam War Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the WWII Memorial, and of course, the Lincoln Memorial. That and the WWII Memorial were my favorite. There is such a cool feeling there and it reminded me how proud and lucky I am to be an American.
That's it for that day in DC!

WWII Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

On Friday, the next day, we got up and went to Arlington National Cemetery. It went from being in the 80's and super hot one day to being in the 50's and cold and windy the next, and we were not prepared for that. Our trip to Arlington was worth it though. We took a tour through the cemetery, during which they dropped us off for a while at different places. We stopped at JFK's grave, at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and at the Arlington House. At the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier we watched the changing of the guard. That was such a neat thing to watch. We also remembered it was Memorial Day weekend, so we picked the perfect time to visit. It was nice to have time there to reflect on how lucky we are to live in this country, and how thankful I am for all those who serve and protect it. Visiting Arlington that day, and being around so many veterans there, was a humbling experience and I'm thankful we had the opportunity to do so.
After our trip to Arlington we went back into DC to see if we could visit the Holocaust Museum. We went to Fudrucker's for lunch, then went over to the museum. We didn't realize that during the summer (the busy season) you have to have tickets to go through the main exhibit, so by the time we got there, they didn't have any tickets left for the time we could go. Since we still had to make the 4 hour drive back to Pittsburgh, we decided just to hit the road. I would have liked to go through the Holocaust Museum, but I have been there before, so it was ok that we didn't. I'll just have to go back again someday :)
That night we made it to Greensburg, (just outside Pittsburgh) to Wes's house.

Arlington

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

The changing of the guard

On Saturday, we got up and went into Pittsburgh to do a few things before I had to fly back to Vegas. We went to the "strip district" downtown, where they have lots of shops and vendors selling stuff out on the street. There we stopped at the Pittsburgh Popcorn Company to get some delicious popcorn. They really make the best popcorn ever! My favorite flavor was chocolate peanut butter....I wish I could have that stuff all the time! For lunch we stopped at a Pittsburgh original, Fatheads. I had a huge sandwich, called a headwich, because it's almost as big as your head, and it was really good. I can see why the people of Pittsburgh like it so much. We made one last stop to the Duquesne incline before going to the airport. The Duquesne incline is a cable car that runs up the side of a big hill, where at the top, you can look out and see the city of Pittsburgh. That was pretty fun and I'm glad we had time to fit that in. After that we went straight to the airport so I could fly back to Vegas. I was really sad to go, but we had an amazing trip. It was totally worth the time and money spent, I just wish it could have lasted longer :)

The city of Pittsburgh

Part 2: Philadelphia

On Monday, the 20th we started our adventure in Philadelphia. That morning we grabbed some breakfast at a local diner (compared to the other food we had it kinda sucked) and took the 40 min. train ride into the city. We stopped at the Reading Terminal Market first to check it out. The Reading Terminal Market is a farmer's market-type place that has tons of vendors selling food, produce, gifts, and just about anything else you can imagine. We walked around there for a while, I bought some awesome German chocolate at this place selling German food, and then we made our way to the historic district. Once we got there, we got tickets to tour Independence Hall, walked around there for a bit, and saw the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington Square. Then we walked to the Philadelphia Mint, the Betsy Ross House, and to Elfreth's Alley, the oldest street in America. All of that stuff was pretty cool to see. On a side note: we did want to see the Liberty Bell, but there was a gigantic line to get in for that so we decided it wasn't worth it (I've seen it before so that was ok). After our walk around the historic district, we went back to Independence Hall for our tour. I liked that a lot. Our tour guide knew a lot about the history of the building and it was just cool to be in the actual place where the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Philadelphia Mint

Betsy Ross House

Elfreth's Alley

Independence Hall

Signing room

One goal we had while we were in Philadelphia was to have a real Philly cheesesteak sandwich. There are 2 famous places that sell them - Pat's and Geno's - so for dinner we made our way to Pat's for an authentic Philly cheesesteak. We had 2 different maps that we were using to navigate the city throughout the day and somehow between the both of them, we really mistook where Pat's was. Long story short, we got super lost, ended up on the opposite end of Philadelphia, and then walked across the entire city to find this place. I don't know how many miles we walked but it felt like a ton. Once we finally found Pat's we were SO happy. Was it worth it to walk all of Philadelphia for a Pat's cheesesteak sandwich? I didn't think so, but it was still good...and now I can say I ate at the famous Pat's :)
After dinner we headed over to JFK Plaza where the famous "Love" sculpture is. That was also sort of anti climactic (because the sculpture is a lot smaller than it looks in pictures), but it was a nice place to sit and rest for a while...and luckily our train station was close by so we could just head on back to our hotel in Trevose.

Pat's, King of Steaks

Philadelphia City Hall

The City of Brotherly Love

On Tuesday we got up and went right back into Philadelphia. This time we got breakfast at a French crepe place inside the Reading Terminal Market, and that was a great decision. Definitely better than the place we had breakfast at the day before.
The main thing we did on this day was the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This is where the famous Rocky steps are, and also where there are some sweet paintings (which I was most excited about). We caught a bus to the Museum, took a picture of the Rocky statue, walked up the steps, and spent the next few hours in the museum. I have taken a couple of art history classes at school and really like looking at art, so it was so fun for me to be able to see some of the actual paintings that were painted by artists like Monet, Van Gogh, and Renoir. The museum itself was also awesome. It is an amazing building!

Rocky

Lots and lots of steps

View of the city from the museum

Inside the main entrance

Monet

Van Gogh

Once we left the museum we took a short walk over to the Eastern State Penitentiary. It would have been fun to go inside, but we didn't want to take the time or spend the money to do that, so I just took pictures of the outside. Next, we went back to the Reading Terminal Market to find some lunch. I decided I wanted to try another cheesesteak sandwich to see if Pat's really lived up to all the hype, so that's what I got. To some, this may be considered blasphemy, but the sandwich I had at the market was better than the one I had at Pat's...that's just my opinion.
After lunch we walked back over to the historic district to catch a duck boat tour. They have these trolley bus/boat things that are both a bus, and a boat and take people on tours through the city. On the duck boat tour we drove all around the city, learned all about the history of the buildings we had been seeing for the past 2 days, then took a boat ride in the Delaware River. It was really fun and a nice break from all the walking we had been doing.
After the duck boat we grabbed a quick dinner at a train station, then went to the World Cafe Live for the Joshua Radin concert. Wes got us tickets to this concert and I'm so happy he did! (Really, the concert was the main reason we decided to go to Philadelphia) I have been a Joshua Radin fan for a few years, and seeing him live was so great...he is awesome! We had a really fun time at the concert, then went back to Trevose to spend one more night at our hotel there.

Eastern State Penitentiary

On the duck boat!

Benjamin Franklin Bridge

Joshua Radin...love him!